The Mnemosyne: inside Abdel Karim Ougri's curated moodboard

Inspired by Aby Warburg’s titanic visual atlas, – the oldest form of moodboard to date – The Mnemosyne: inside curated moodboards is where we ask artists to walk us through their artistic research with an archive of visual bits (archived images, camera roll pictures, book pages, videos), to contrast algorithmic feeds and restore the fun in personally-curated visual boards.

In this chapter, we present Abdel Karim Ougri (b. 1998, Pesaro). His research stems from reflections and studies on identity, origins, and processes of belonging, exploring memory as a critical tool and the body as a cultural archive. With an anthropological and postcolonial perspective, he investigates the tensions between roots and transformation, between the individual and collective dimensions, questioning the boundaries between autobiography and historical narrative.

Drawing 1:

Portrait of a mannequin head with the hijab personified through tears. Original image used for the work Sa9si L3ach9in, in collaboration with Cripta747. Black marker on paper.

Drawing 2:

Portrait of a mannequin head with the hijab personified through tears. Study for a wall intervention. Black marker on paper.

Groupe Liberté:

Poster for the song Italia Mi Amouri by the Algerian group Groupe Libertà. The song is frequently used in Instagram Reels and TikTok videos by 7rraga as a soundtrack for recordings of illegal crossings of the Mediterranean.

Isham:

Catalogue from my trusted barber, Isham, in Pesaro.

MAR-HB4 1–3:

Photographs by Biagio Palmieri of my latest work, titled MAR-HB4, produced by Fondazione Elpis for Una Boccata d’Arte 2026 in Ficulle. The work is on view until October 4 on Via Roma, Ficulle, Umbria.

Some information about the work:

MAR-HB4 transforms a bumper car, modified with elements of North African popular culture, into the wreckage of a spaceship that has crashed into the landscape of Ficulle, shifting the narrative of migration from the realm of political news to that of fiction and mythology.

A radio emanates from the spaceship, broadcasting North African songs connected to the imagery of the 7rraga, alternating with Italian and North African weather forecasts.

Weather thus becomes a practical tool for those crossing the Mediterranean, but also a language capable of producing imaginaries, as in expressions such as “African heat” and 

“African wave.” These expressions are placed in relation to the language of “invasion” through which migration from the Global South is represented in European public discourse.

MAR-HB4 uses fiction, music, and language to question the devices through which migration, otherness, and the Mediterranean are imagined and narrated.

MAR-HB4 Performance:

Video documentation of the performance by Tommaso Genovese.

Screenshot Reel:

Censored screenshot from an Instagram Reel made by an anonymous undocumented migrant during the crossing to reach Italy.