Here, Karim Sultan, a curator at Tunis’ Kamel Lazaar Foundation and B7L9  an art centre in a rural suburb of Tunis that hosts exhibitions, a music programme, community initiatives, talks, and learning programmes—shares some highlights of the city’s art scene and what makes it unique, as well as some of the challenges that creatives continue to overcome.

“There is a very independent… and flourishing DIY spirit: people will build things, find things, construct things, and really push the limits of what you can do…”

The civil society in Tunis is socially, politically and culturally engaged, which is a very special thing. Centres such as 32bis and Central Tunis, both located in the city’s vibrant downtown, and Mouhit, allow for numerous voices to emerge and evolve. Espace Massart, for example, is an independent theatre and music space deeply connected with the neighbourhood around it. 

This is another thing that is special about Tunis: in many places around the world, theatre can be considered very elite, whereas in Tunis, it is widely popular. So oftentimes, rather than putting on an exhibition to explore certain issues, you might see a theatre performance. A great example of this is the theatrical production Flagranti by the playwright and theatre director Essia Jaïbi with the organisation Mawjoudin We Exist, which highlights the marginalisation of LGBTQI+ communities in Tunis.

“…many people who were not involved in the arts became artists during the revolution, after going out into the streets, taking photographs and responding creatively to what they were witnessing.”

More than in most places, the arts really overlap in Tunisia. The lines between visual art, theatre, cinema and music are often blurred. In a very practical sense, many people here—who do what elsewhere might be called exhibition design—are scenographers working in theatre or architects. You might have somebody who designs theatre sets, who works in cinema, but then will also work with visual artists to design exhibitions. All these sub-sectors are inherently and organically interconnected. Here, if you study one specific part of the arts at university, it is still easy to work in another sub-sector and transfer those skills.

This interconnectedness can be seen in artistic practices as well. While painting has a very long history and tradition in Tunis, especially towards the end of the colonial period and the École de Tunis art movement, for younger generations today, painting is less dominant. Photography has been extremely important, particularly since the revolution. As technology progresses and becomes more accessible, photography is becoming much stronger all over the world. But artists who are under 30, for example, seem to do an amalgamation of things: some artists focus on video and installations but also produce electronic music and short films. Younger artists here are more interested in new mediums. They want to cut the limitations of single practices and live in the spaces in between them.

You can’t really talk about Tunis’ art scene without talking about the festivals. KLF’s own Jaou festival began in 2013 and has evolved into a city-wide biennial format program, with large-scale public and site-specific exhibitions, a music programme with international and local acts, theatre and performance, and a symposium that has brought together forward-thinking minds from around the world.

Cinema, theatre and music have long-standing histories and associated festivals that see international, regional and Tunisian artists share the stage and the screen, such as JCC (Carthage Cinema Days) and JTC (Carthage Theatre Days), which are important spaces for premiering work. Contemporary art festivals such as Dream City, which centres primarily around the Medina of Tunis, are important in the Tunisian art landscape. Others, such as Gabes Cinema Fen, expand the realm of film to include the visual arts through installations and video art, and a focus on a city affected ecologically by industry.

There is a very independent spirit in Tunis. It can be difficult to get readily accessible art materials, tools, technology and books. It can cost many times what it would somewhere else, or sometimes it is just completely impossible to find. Due to this, there is a flourishing independent spirit: people will build things, find things, construct things and really push the limits of what you can do. This can create an anarchic aesthetic which is fascinating, but it also comes out of necessity. It is about working creatively around the limits—and there are many. This often defines how we work at B7L9.

While more established artists can rely on commercial galleries to show their work, emerging artists often struggle to find spaces to exhibit. Many artists show their work in informal ways with pop-ups in bars, houses and apartments, or unused spaces. Sometimes they will open up their studios, wherever they are. These exhibitions may be open for one night only. Despite there being many communities in Tunis, the arts network is very tightly knit, and everybody somehow knows everybody.

For many Tunisians, it is impossible to travel outside of the country because of restraints on mobility. Sometimes it is harder for Tunisians to travel within the Middle East and Africa than to France. The issue of mobility is a very big subject, and it is on everyone’s mind.

Yet we see Tunisian artists that we have worked with work within the other worlds that Tunis is part of, for example, the Rencontres Bamako (African Biennial of Photography) in Mali, and residencies in the broader region.

As Tunis becomes increasingly international, with an influx of tourists and residents from all over the world, and younger generations of multilingual Tunisians become globally connected through the internet and social media, they find themselves stuck. There is a sense of isolation while also being so porous in the other direction. These things have a big impact, and a lot of this comes out in the arts—the independent spirit, the interconnectivity between creative industries, and the burgeoning sense of community all come together to create an authentic space for sharing and expressing, where these creatives can make sense of their realities, together.