Nothing but the Truth — Rien que la vérité — KADIST — Exhibition — Slash Paris

In 23 days: April 5 → July 12, 2025

KADIST Paris presents the exhibition Nothing but the Truth, an exploration of the power of collective narratives and storytelling as a critical tool, based on a selection of works from its collection. Conceived as a space for transmission and confrontation of experiences, this exhibition brings together around eight international artists and three collectives who question prevailing narratives in our contemporary societies and our connection to reality.

Curator
Flora Fettah (independent curator), in conversation with Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc, Bahar Noorizadeh, and Ghita Skali (artists)

Artists
Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc, Asameena, Mercedes Azpilicueta, Salim Bayri, Aslı Çavuşoğlu, Fehras Publishing Practices, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn, Bahar Noorizadeh, Ghita Skali, Eden Tinto Collins & Gystere

Scenography
Mercedes Azpilicueta

In a context marked by major social and political upheavals, Nothing but the Truth highlights the role of fiction as a tool of resistance and a means of deciphering reality. The artists featured deploy narrative strategies that challenge dominant discourses and offer new perspectives on contemporary realities through various videos, installations, photographs, sculptures, and texts.

Nothing but the Truth reveals recurring artistic mechanisms, notably the use of discomfort and uncertainty as storytelling tools. By exploring the violence of constructed spaces—whether architectural, historical, institutional, or memorial—the artists summon unsettling fictions that disrupt, question, and overturn the established order.

Starting point of the exhibition, the video works of Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc (ça va, ça va, on continue; Secteur IX B), Ghita Skali (The Hole’s Journey; The Invaders), and Bahar Noorizadeh (After Scarcity; The Red City of the Planet of Capitalism) blend political fable, essay, and experimental fiction. At the same time, all three artists develop practices that exist outside, within, or alongside the field of art, engaging in a dynamic of knowledge transmission and collective construction. The exhibition has thus been built around their works and conversations held with curator Flora Fettah, with the intention of linking research subjects and working methods.

This dialogue is enriched by the works of invited artists, as well as the contribution of Mercedes Azpilicueta, who co-conceives the space and public reception through her palimpsest work Potatoes, Riots and Other Imaginaries. It is also accompanied by the organization of events within the KADIST space, as well as an editorial collaboration between the Asameena collective and the Palais de Tokyo.

Flora Fettah (1994, Marseille) is a curator, art critic, and independent researcher. Approaching contemporary creation through the lens of its political and social contexts, she is particularly interested in the production of alternative narratives that challenge dominant discourse within a given territory. She first conducted research on “The Border Crisis in Morocco as Seen by Contemporary Artists and Their Role in Public Debates” (EHESS, Paris), before working within the artistic teams of various French and international organizations (Cnap, Manifesta Biennial, AWARE, Triangle — Astérides, KADIST). A member of Jeunes Critiques d’Art and Diamètre/a, she develops curatorial and editorial formats, as well as spaces for exchange. She served as vice-president (2019–2023) and is now a board member of Contemporaines, an association that fights against gender discrimination in the visual arts and promotes intersectional feminism. A member of C-E-A and AICA France, she regularly contributes to the podcast “Pourvu Qu’iels Soient Douxces” and writes for specialized journals, public and private institutions (Documents d’Artistes, Fondation Van Gogh, KADIST, Frac), as well as galleries and artists.