Vincent van Velsen:

There is a difference between hope and optimism. Many people act against their better judgment in the hope that things will get better, without necessarily having a positive disposition. Tarek Lakhrissi puts this difference at the heart of his varied body of work – from performance to sculpture, from film to written forms. The latter in particular is significant in his body of work. For example, he provides lyrics of existing songs with their own twist, giving them an extra layer – or uses karaoke to slightly transform their meaning. These are ways of exploring the possibility of life and spending it as pleasantly as one is able to – or with as little damage as possible. They are proposals for a future in which queer and color are accepted. In his work he uses pop culture as much as he uses classical references, and theory as much as lived knowledge. As in his film Out of the Blue, in which nightclub and utopia are combined with a sci-fi aesthetic, used together to explore the possibilities of a differently formed future. Lakhrissi tells stories to explore new possibilities with words; to let them take shape in our minds.