BAMPFA Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, California
06 May – 23 August 2026
This exhibition is the California debut of Bennani’s acclaimed video trilogy Life on the CAPS (2018–22). Set in a dystopian future, the series takes place in the CAPS, a fictional island where migrants are interned after teleporting “illegally” across borders. The videos themselves mirror the liminal status of the CAPS residents, rendered with layers of live action footage and vivid animations that create an augmented reality. With Fiona, a crocodile and resident of the CAPS, as its guide, Bennani’s film centers the resilience and dynamism of diasporic cultures even as they traverse the conditions of hyper-technological nation states and growing xenophobia.
This presentation brings together Bennani’s complete trilogy, including Party on the CAPS (2018), Guided tour of a spill (2021), and Life on the CAPS (2022), reexamining this ground breaking video series, which has taken on increasing resonance today.