French Algerian artist Mohamed Bourouissa has won the Mario Merz Prize, a biannual award promoting emerging and innovative artists and musicians. He received the award’s art prize alongside composer Natalia Domínguez Rangel, who was recognized in the music category. The prize is named after Mario Merz, an Italian artist and key player in the Arte Povera movement who died in 2003. As part of the award, Bourouissa will be commissioned to create a solo exhibition for the Fondazione Merz in Turin, Italy in 2027.
Bourouissa was chosen for his film reflecting on police brutality, Généalogie de la Violence (2024), from a group of artists that included Elena Bellantoni, Anna Franceschini, Voluspa Jarpa, and Agnes Questionmark. The jury was composed of curator Caroline Bourgeois, independent curator and author Manuel Borja-Villel, New Museum and Fondazione Trussardi artistic director Massimiliano Gioni, and Fondazione Merz president Beatrice Merz. Their opinions were considered alongside a public vote.
Born in 1978 and currently based in Paris, Bourouissa is known for projects that focus on marginalized communities. He often focuses on the social dynamic of control and power, particularly by the state. Perhaps his most well-known series is “Horse Day” (2013–17), photographs and a video documenting a low-income community of Black horseback riders in Philadelphia. His recent solo exhibitions include shows at Fondazione MAST in Bologna, Italy in 2025 and Palais de Tokyo in Paris in 2024.
According to a statement released by the jury, Bourouissa was chosen because his “art carries an energetic charge.” As the award takes an increased focus on social awareness, the jury noted, “Art, for him, has a social role; it belongs to society, and his projects seek depth of meaning by offering us pathways of listening and observation. He opens our eyes to the aggression that lurks within a society standardized by behaviours and representations.”
Previous winners of the Mario Merz Prize in art include Egyptian artist Wael Shawky, Kosovan artist Petrit Halilaj, French artist Bertille Bak, and French Moroccan Yto Barrada.
