Artist Meriem Bennani has transformed the humble flip-flop into a powerful instrument of collective rhythm with her large-scale installation "Sole Crushing," currently on display at Lafayette Anticipations in Paris through February 8th, 2026. The ambitious project fills the foundation's entire vertical space with 201 flip-flops that are animated by a sophisticated pneumatic system and synchronized to a musical composition created in collaboration with musician and producer Reda Senhaji, also known as Cheb Runner.
Originally presented at Fondazione Prada in Milan, the installation has been completely reimagined for its Paris venue, becoming what Bennani describes as an immense polyphonic instrument. Visitors can wander through an organic environment of moving percussion instruments that includes a sprawling island of sandals crawling across the floor, vertical ladders and spiral structures covered in shoes, and a massive drum suspended from the top floor that commands the entire ensemble. Each flip-flop is connected by two air tubes and strikes against various materials including wood, plexiglass, fabric, and metal, producing a diverse range of percussive tones that merge into a collective pulse.
Bennani's rhythmic structure draws deep inspiration from Moroccan musical traditions, particularly dakka marrakchia, a ritual of drumming and chanting that builds to a peak of spiritual intensity. Working alongside Reda Senhaji, the Moroccan artist translates this traditional energy into a contemporary orchestra, merging the hypnotic repetition of protest chants with the ecstatic cadence of football crowds and communal ceremonies. "I try to recreate moments of collective catharsis, rituals, atmospheres of big stadiums, and chaotic states of exaltation or revolt," Bennani explains. "What interests me is to recreate what we feel in those moments of social utopia, where, without explanation, everyone knows what they are supposed to do within a group."
The installation's title "Sole Crushing" cleverly plays on the English expression "soul-crushing," which describes something emotionally numbing or draining, by substituting "soul" with "sole." This wordplay literally manifests through the slap of rubber soles beating rhythm and creating noise, evoking the sonic unity of bodies in motion. Bennani chose flip-flops as her medium because they represent a democratic object—inexpensive, ubiquitous, and universally understood across cultures.
The artist was particularly drawn to the flip-flop's simplicity and material elasticity, noting its capacity to deform, bounce, and resist rigidity. "They're polymorphic," she explains. "They can change shape and become something else. In a way, they escape the rigidity of authority and rules." This simple slipper, found everywhere from Moroccan markets to international beach resorts, becomes a powerful social metaphor in Bennani's hands, symbolizing the tension between playfulness and resistance, and the joyful, rebellious energy of the crowd.
Bennani connects the object's humorous familiarity with its latent potential for dissent, referencing the flip-flop as weapon, meme, and political symbol. This includes viral clips of shoes thrown at political leaders and sculptures commemorating these gestures of protest. The installation channels what Federico García Lorca described as "duende"—the mysterious force that possesses the flamenco dancer—and fuses it with dakka marrakchia, the Moroccan tradition that summons transcendence through repetition.
These profound cultural references are filtered through Bennani's signature language of irony and pop sensibility, creating a unique blend that merges high and low culture, the sacred and the absurd. Air circulates through the installation's pneumatic network like breath through lungs, while rhythms ripple upward, guided not by a single conductor but by a collective pulse. Bennani compares this to the maâlem, the heartbeat figure in Moroccan ensembles who leads through rhythm rather than traditional authority.
This work represents an extension of Bennani's ongoing investigation into how bodies, technologies, and symbols shape shared human experience. Her artistic practice, which spans sculpture, video, and kinetic installation, consistently combines realistic elements with fantasy to reveal the hybrid nature of contemporary culture. Through "Sole Crushing," she creates a space where visitors can experience the power of collective rhythm and the transformative potential of everyday objects when reimagined as instruments of artistic and social expression.
