The Bourse de Commerce and Berlin-based music label PAN present Why Did I Choose to Make Music, a performance by Mohamed Bourouissa, marking the release of his eponymous album on the label—a compilation of tracks that run through his body of work. Immersing into this album, the performance takes the form of a performed concert, acting as a relay of his artistic practice. Emerging from Why Did I Choose to Make Music is multidisciplinary artist Le Diouck, who will present Fatéouma, a premiere performance and first stage immersion into the world of his upcoming album Amiral Circus, also set to be released on PAN. Fatéouma traces the contours of a poetic, labyrinthine universe where music, storytelling, and embodiment intertwine.

Why Did I Choose to Make Music questions what music can be—it’s a listening experience, a concert, a play, a manifesto; a space for experimentation infused with frequencies, cries, noise, rhythms, words, and images.

Mohamed Bourouissa conceives sound as a vehicle for storytelling and memory—often charged with trauma Working with frequencies, noise, and breath opens a space for healing, a possibility for catharsis.

His relationship to sound has always echoed hybrid artistic forms, as seen in Temps Morts (2009), a video composed of message exchanges and mobile phone footage. Its title directly references Booba’s cult album, a landmark in French rap.

Bourouissa’s deeper engagement with music began in 2017 in Beirut, when he met musician and guitarist Sharif Sehnaoui. Together they created Sidi Kubi, a compilation blending experimental music and oriental sounds. From that point on, sound became an essential material in his artistic practice, growing increasingly central. In 2021, he collaborated with musician and programmer Jordan Quiqueret on Brutal Family Roots, a sound piece revolving around the mimosa plant, intertwining sound and poetry. That same year, he furthered this exploration with Hara !!, a duet with mushy—she composed the sonic textures while Bourouissa shaped the vocal work, drawing on the cries of lookout boys in Marseille. For the past two years, the artist has deepened this path, with sound now forming a structural axis of his work—as exemplified by his 2024 exhibition Signal at the Palais de Tokyo, conceived as an album.