Belhassen Handous (*1980, lives and works in Tunis) is a visual artist and documentary filmmaker with prehistory and archaeology background. He has been practising analogue photography since the early 2000s. “Hecho en casa”, his first film, was completed in five years and is a unique independent project filmed with a mobile phone. His photo series, “Auto-Excavation”, was presented at the Global Film Festival (Berlin 2013). In 2021, the Central Art Space in Tunis hosted his audiovisual and research installation works “La syncope du mérou”. This latest exhibition on the transformation of La Goulette chronicles the mutilation of the memory of this small neighbourhood which hosts Tunis’ port. For the past years, he has been working on his second documentary “On the Hill”.
At philomena+ he collaborates with Joanna Pianka and Tomash Schoiswohl. For November 2023 they will develop the exhibition project “Off Your Shoes” (17/11/2023–13/01/2024).
Belhassen Handous’ residency takes place within the framework of “Carrefour des Possibles”, an annual residency and exhibition program established in 2018, in collaboration with LA BOÎTE Tunis. Each time, an artist from Tunis is matched with one or two artists from Vienna.