Introduction
Afif employs popular forms of culture, such as music, as a tool to bring people together in a moment of shared creativity. His work takes many forms (performance, objects, sculptures, text, posters…), often using the moment of exhibition as an occasion for production. The exhibition Paroles presents an overview of his work of the past 15 years. Since 2004, he has been commissioning writers and artists to create lyrics inspired by his artworks, which are then exhibited alongside them. These lyrics have become key material for Afif, central to the evolution of his practice.
On the occasion of this exhibition, a book, also titled Paroles, is published by WIELS featuring more than 150 lyrics written to date. The exhibition itself presents an overview of his process and a selection of projects from which lyrics have been generated. These range from a coffin in the form of the Centre Pompidou (Anthologie de l'humour noir, 2010) to an installation of electric guitars automatically playing a series of chords (Black Chords, 2006).