In the coastal city of Essaouira, contemporary art steps out of the gallery and into a boxing gym. Moroccan artist Meriem Bennani presents Life on the CAPS Trilogy not as a traditional exhibition, but as a living encounter between bodies, images and space.

Installed inside an active gym where boxers continue their daily training, the work dissolves the usual boundaries between art and everyday life. The sounds of punches, breathing and movement become part of the viewing experience. Here, art does not ask for silence or distance. It shares the space, competes with it, and adapts to it.

The trilogy, developed between 2018 and 2022, is set on CAPS, a fictional island where migrants intercepted for illegal teleportation are sent to live in isolation. Through animated characters, documentary-style footage and pop culture aesthetics, Bennani builds a surreal world that reflects real issues: displacement, borders, surveillance and hybrid identities.

Although CAPS is imaginary, its atmosphere feels deeply familiar. Some scenes were filmed in Essaouira itself, a port city historically shaped by movement, trade and migration. This geographical overlap blurs the line between fiction and reality, turning the city into an extension of the artwork.

What makes this project powerful is its refusal to explain itself. Bennani does not offer clear answers or moral lessons. Instead, she creates a space where meaning is unstable and constantly negotiated. Viewers bring their own experiences, cultural references and emotions into the work, becoming part of its interpretation.

By choosing a boxing gym rather than a museum, the exhibition also challenges the elitism often associated with contemporary art. The audience is not limited to curators or collectors. Athletes, local residents and случай passers-by all encounter the work in the same space, without hierarchy.

In Life on the CAPS Trilogy, art is not a finished object. It is a situation. A friction. A conversation between bodies, screens and stories. Bennani’s project shows that contemporary art in the MENA region is not only about representation — it is about presence, exposure and shared experience.