“I want to make a tornado on the High Line,” says Meriem Bennani. An animator and artist, Bennani is the recipient of a co-commission from High Line Art, the art programme of the High Line in New York City, and Audemars Piguet Contemporary—the in-house art programme of the venerable Swiss watch manufacturer Audemars Piguet that commissions contemporary artists to create new works and explore a new direction in their practice.
Windy is the result; a sculptural vortex of foam discs spinning defiantly on The High Line, New York’s railway-turned-public space. Standing 9ft tall, the kinetic artwork is inspired by the constant movement and dynamic energy of both the city and The High Line. It’s also an abstract interpretation of the cartoon world’s expressive representation of tornadoes, by an artist who self-proclaims to identify with Taz.
Meriem Bennani was born in Rabat, Morocco and is now based in Brooklyn. Her multimedia work, ranging from video and animation to the experiential, explores the potential of storytelling while amplifying reality through magical realism and humour. Through her work Meriem has been developing a shape-shifting practice of films, sculptures and immersive installations, composed with a subtle agility to question our contemporary society and its fractured identities, gender issues and ubiquitous dominance of digital technologies.
Making her first foray into public sculpture, Bennani unpacks Windy’s power to absorb and reflect unwieldy human emotion through an analogy about a fear of rats. “You’re scared of other things,” she explains. “And you project it onto this animal. It’s easier than saying I’m scared to be an angry person when I feel anger. The day I behave like that sculpture, I’m not going to be scared of rats anymore.”
The fourth film of our Anatomy of an Artist series is directed by Bennani’s collaborator, Orian Barki. It follows the artist as the opening of Windy draws closer. Afforded by the director’s proximity to Bennani, what we get is a raw and honest vérité diary of the creative process behind the sculpture and the tumultuous emotions in its wake. Windy is movement, frenzy, emotive; actions that manifest in Barki’s lens.
The duo previously collaborated on 2 Lizards—an animated series, created during the 2020 lockdown, that centred on the socially disrupted lives of two reptiles, voiced by Bennani and Barki. It quickly went viral, resulting in a New York Times profile piece on the pair.
Windy stays true to Audemars Piguet Contemporary’s mission of commissioning artworks that support a new direction in an artist’s practice and are reflective of “our ever-changing world.” High Line Art and Audemars Piguet Contemporary supported Bennani at every stage of Windy’s realisation—from conception and development to installation.
Windy, co-commissioned by High Line Art and Audemars Piguet Contemporary is on view on the High Line in New York City until May 2023. It is located near the Chelsea Park section of the walkway (10th Avenue and 24th Street).