marrakech biennale 5 catalogue - english / french

1Title Name

MarrakechBiennale

5

3Title Name

WHERE ARE WE NOW? Marrakech Biennale 5

Editors: Hicham Khalidi, Amanda Sarroff, Natasha Hoare

Published on the occasion of WHERE ARE WE NOW?

Marrakech Biennale 5 February 26 - March 31, 2014

Translation: Celine Curiol, Imane Nidae, Matthew Cunning-ham, Ayoub El Mouzaine, Mohamed Elkhadiri, Heba Zohni, Sophie Halart, Abdelkader Loukili, Paul Robion, Sarah Abdu Abdallah, Julia Langbein, Youna Kwak, Jesse Kirkwood, Farid

Zahi, Alexander Toledano, Chlo TuotProofreaders: Aya Nabih, Chlo Tuot, Tara Cunningham

Design: Rowan McCuskey

Printing and binding: ORO Grafisch Project ManagementPaper: Cheap local Turkish papers

Typefaces: Futura, Sabon, Adobe Arabic

Every reasonable attempt has been made to identify owners of copyright. Errors or omissions will be corrected in subsequent

editions.

Published by Jap Sam Books in cooperation with Marrakech Biennale 5

This book was made possible with generous lead support from MMP+

2014 Marrakech Biennale, Jap Sam Books, the editors, au-thors, artists, and photographers. No part of this publication may be reproduced or reprinted or utilized in any form without express permission in writing from the publishers or copyright

holders except in the context of reviews.

Marrakech Biennale Derb Moullay Abdullah Ben Hezzian

Bab El Ksour, Marrakech www.marrakechbiennale.org

Jap Sam Books, Heijningenwww.japsambooks.nl

ISBN 978-94-90322-46-5

WHERE ARE WE

NOW?

5Title Name

Sous le Haut Patronage de Sa Majest

le Roi Mohammed VI

Under the Royal Patronage from his Majesty

The King Mohammed VI

6 7

Where Are We Now? Andr Azoulay

Counselor to H.M. the King Mohammed VI

The Marrakech Biennale has become an indelible part of Moroccos vibrant cultural legacy. Its programming con-nects local and international audiences to new ideas and artistic visions from Morocco and abroad. The title of the fifth edition WHERE ARE WE NOW? speaks to Moroccos current dynamism and to the promise of its future.

La Biennale de Marrakech constitue aujourdhui une part essentielle du patrimoine culturel marocain. A travers sa programmation, elle per-met un public local et in-ternational de se rencontrer autour de dbats dides et de visions artistiques puisant leurs sources au Maroc et ltranger. Comme latteste le titre de cette cinquime di-tion O SOMMES-NOUS MAINTENANT ?, le dyna-misme actuel du Maroc sins-crit aussi bien dans le prsent que dans ses perspectives davenir.

O sommes-nous maintenant? Andr Azoulay

Conseiller auprs de Sa Majest le Roi Mohammed VI

8 9

Visual Arts & Sound /Arts Visuels & Sonores

Curator / Commissaire Hicham Khalidi

Artists / ArtistesAdriana Lara

Agnes Meyer-BrandisAnne Verhoijsen

Asim WaqifBurak Arikan

Can & Asli AltayCevdet Erek

Charif Benhelimaric Van HoveGabriel Lester

Ghita KhamlichiHamid el Kanbouhi

Hamza HalloubiHassaan Kahn & Ibtesam

GazderHiba Khamlichi

Hicham BenohoudIman IssaJelili Atiku

JG ThirlwellKader Attia

Katarina ZdjelarKatinka BockKeren Cytter

Khaled SabsabiLili Reynaud-Dewar

Max BoufathalMohamed ArejdalMounira Al SolhMustapha Akrim

Pamela RosenkranzPatrick WokmeniRanda Maroufi

Sadane AfifSandra Niessen

Saout Radio (Younes Ba-ba-Ali & Anna Raimondo)

Saud MahjoubShezad Dawood

Tala MadaniWafae Ahalouch el Keriasti

Walid RaadYassine BalbziouiYounes RahmounZaynab Khamlichi

freq_out 10:Anna CeehBJ Nilsen

Brandon LaBelleCarl Michael von Hausswolff

Christine dlundFranz Pomassi

Jacob KirkegaardJG Thirlwell

KamarStudiosKent Tankredleif e. bomanLeif ElggrenMaia UrstadMike HardingPetteri NisunenTommi Grnlund

Singing Maps and Underlying Melodies:

Curator / Commissaire Clara Meister, with / avec

S.T.I.F.F. and / et KamarStudios

Cinema And Video / Cinma & Vido

Curator / Commissaire Jamal Abdennassar

Artists / ArtistesAmir RouaniHassan Darsi

Hicham AyouchIsmael El Iraki

Mohamed El BazMohammed LaouliSoukeina Hachem

Yacout KabbajYasmine Hajji

Youssef Ouchra

With a Carte Blanche to / Avec une Carte Blanche la

Cinmathque de Tanger

Marrakech Biennale 5 Participants / Participants

Literature / Littrature

Curator / Commissaire Driss Ksikes

Artists / ArtistesAcha El Beloui

Ali EssafiAsmae Lmrabet

Ghaleb BencheikhHamza BoulazImane Zerouali

Jaouad EssounaniLatefa AhrrareMichael Willis

Mohamed Sghir JanjarMounia Bennani-Chrabi

Mounir BensalahOlfa Youssef

Raja El MouatarifSad BouftassSanae El Aji

Simohammed FettakaSophia Hadi

Taeb Belghazi

Performing Arts / Arts Vivants

Curator / Commissaire Khalid Tamer

Artists / ArtistesCollectif Les Scotcheurs

clairsPhilippe Allard & MBarek

BouhchichiSandrine Dole

10 11

IForeword I

Vanessa Branson

IIIForeword II

Amine Kabbaj

V Preface

Simon Njami

01 Introduction

02 Expanding Access to Contemporary Culture in North

Africa Alya Sebti

10 Marrakech: A Historical Overview

Hamid Triki

14 Exhibition Venues

19Visual & Sound Arts

20 Writing on the Wall

Kaelen Wilson-Goldie

24 Where Are We

Now? Identity as Fiction Hicham Khalidi

34 Artist Biographies

71 Literature

72 The Expansion of the Realm of Literature

Driss Ksikes


83Performing Arts

84 Presenting Artwork in

Public Spaces Khalid Tamer


91 Cinema & Video

92 Reinventing the Boundaries of

Images Jamal

Abdennassar


102 Carte Blanche at the Cinmathque de

Tanger Malika Chaghal

105Parallel Projects

127 Afterword

Karim El Achak

134Organization

Acknowledgments MMP+

Table of Contents

IIAvant-propos I

Vanessa Branson

IVAvant-propos II Amine Kabbaj

VI Prface

Simon Njami

01 Introduction

03 Accrotre laccs

la culture contemporaine en Afrique du Nord

Alya Sebti

11 Marrakech:

Aperu historique Hamid Triki

15 Lieux dexpositions

19Arts Visuels &

Sonores

21 Ecrire sur les murs


25 O sommes-nous

maintenant ? Identit comme fiction

Hicham Khalidi

35 Biographies des

artistes

71 Littrature

73 Lextension du domaine de la

littrature Driss Ksikes

76 Biographies des

artistes

83 Arts Vivants

85 Prsentation des

uvres au sein des espaces publics Khalid Tamer

86 Biographies des

artistes

91 Cinma & Vido

93 R-inventer les

territoires de limage Jamal

Abdennassar

95 Biographies des

artistes

103 Carte Blanche la Cinmathque de

Tanger Malika Chaghal

105Projets Parallles

127 Postface

Karim El Achak

134Organisation

RemerciementsMMP+

Table de matires

IForeword I Vanessa Branson, President and Founder

The Marrakech Biennale was born ten years ago as a response to world events. Western governments seemed to be painting the entire area of North Africa and the Middle East with the same broad brush of distrust and para-noia. There was an increasing need to find a platform to debate ideas and ideologies. What better way to do this than through the arts?

Through the arts, you can discuss contentious issues without causing offense; you can play around with concepts, change your mind, develop a critical language, and hone your debating skills. Engaging in contemporary culture indicates that a country celebrates free thinking and is confident in its future.

The process of producing all the artworks in Marrakech, with the artists engaged directly with students from the university and utilizing the skills of local artisans and technicians, means that the local audience is engaged and curious even before the international public gets to see the work. We knew we were get-ting something right when one commentator described the Biennale as the Davos of the art world.

The Biennale is not simply about discussing parallels and differences among cultures but about connecting different art forms. We revel in contributors who move seamlessly from a filmmaking panel to picking up a ukulele on cabaret night. We understand the contribution that each festival goer makes, not only in sup-porting the event by purchasing a ticket, but by being there to challenge participants and by spreading the word once they leave.

This is a personal opinion, but artists really are special people! It never ceases to amaze me how they see the world through a prism differ-ent from us mortals. They have an extrasenso-ry system that is open to hidden stimuli, and the ingenuity to transform this into something tangible for us to marvel at.

Until now Marrakech had virtually no arts in-frastructure. The city, with its rich soup of an-cient traditions, beautiful light, exotic sounds and smells, and astonishing number of skilful artisans full of enthusiasm and ingenuity, is an exciting, if at times challenging, environment for an artist. The Biennale spotlight and its ensuing press interest lend the town a crea-tive surge. Artist residencies are opening, the Marrakech Museum for Photography & Visual Arts (MMP+) was recently inaugurated, and a number of good galleries and arts organiza-tions are looking at spaces to open next year.

The Marrakech Biennale is the longest-running arts festival in the Maghreb. From its humble beginnings back in 2005, it has grown into an organic beast, alive with energy and enthusi-asm. They say that, in Morocco, anything is possible but nothing is certain. This has been our mantra. Anything is possible, and who knows what direction the Biennale will take. One thing that is certain is that it is always going to be unexpected.

II

La Biennale de Marrakech est ne il y a dix ans, en raction certains vnements mondiaux. Les gouvernements occidentaux semblaient alors donner toute la zone de lAfrique du nord et du Moyen-Orient un portrait uni-forme, entach par la mfiance et la paranoa. Il devenait alors vraiment ncessaire de trou-ver une plateforme pour quides et idologies soient dbattues. Le meilleur moyen de le faire ntait-il pas de passer par lart ?

Lart nous permet de discuter des questions controverses sans offenser personne, il nous permet de jouer avec les concepts, de changer davis, de dvelopper un discours critique et daffter nos argumentaires. En prenant part la culture contemporaine, un pays montre quil rend hommage la libre-pense et quil a confiance en son avenir.

Grce au processus de production de toutes les uvres dart Marrakech, qui passe par une collaboration directe des artistes avec les tu-diants universitaires et lutilisation par ceux-ci des talents des artisans et techniciens locaux, le public marocain est sollicit et curieux bien avant que les visiteurs internationaux ne voient ces uvres. Nous savions dailleurs que nous avions russi quelque chose lorsquun commentateur dcrivit la Biennale comme le Davos du monde de lart .

La Biennale nest pas simplement loccasion de discuter des parallles et des diffrences entre cultures, mais aussi de crer des passerelles entre diffrentes formes dart. Nous adorons que lun de nos collaborateurs puisse, sans ef-fort apparent, contribuer une table ronde sur le cinma avant de semparer dun ukulele pour jouer lors dune soire cabaret. Nous compre-nons la contribution quapporte chaque par-ticipant, non seulement en soutenant lvne-ment par lachat dun billet, mais aussi en tant

prsent pour interroger les artistes et, plus tard, en parlant de la manifestation autour de lui.

Il sagit dun point de vue personnel, mais les artistes sont vraiment des gens uniques ! Je ne cesse dtre fascine par la manire dont ils voient le monde, travers un prisme bien diff-rent du ntre, mortels. Ils possdent un systme extrasensoriel qui ragit des stimuli cachs et le gnie de transformer ceci en une chose tan-gible que nous puissions admirer.

Jusqu aujourdhui, Marrakech ne possdait presque aucune infrastructure ddie lart. La ville, avec son riche mlange de traditions ancestrales, sa lumire magnifique, ses sons et odeurs exotiques, et sa quantit impression-nante dexcellents artisans pleins denthou-siasme et dingniosit, constitue un environne-ment stimulant, bien que parfois difficile, pour un artiste. Lclairage de la Biennale et lintrt quelle suscite auprs des mdias provoquent dans lendroit un sursaut de crativit. Les r-sidences dartistes sont en train dtre ouvertes, le Marrakech Museum for Photography & Vi-sual Arts (MMP+) a t rcemment inaugur et un certain nombre de galeries et de centres dart recherchent des locaux en vue dune ou-verture lan prochain.

De tous les festivals des arts du Maghreb, la Biennale de Marrakech est celui qui a dur le plus longtemps. Ayant dbut de faon trs modeste en 2005, il a grandi pour devenir une crature bien vivante, gonfle dnergie et den-thousiasme. Au Maroc, on dit ceci : Tout est possible mais rien nest sr. Nous en avons fait notre devise. Tout est possible, et qui sait quelle direction prendra la Biennale. Une chose est sre toutefois, cest quelle sera toujours inattendue.

Avant-propos I Vanessa Branson, Prsidente et Fondatrice

III

Foreword II Amine Kabbaj, Vice President

WHERE ARE WE NOW? This is the theme and leitmotif of Marrakech Biennale 5, held from February 26 to March 31, 2014. Yes, the Marrakech Biennale is back, to pro-vide unforgettable experiences through exhi-bitions, performances, and screenings, con-ceived under the direction of Hicham Khalidi for Visual & Sound Arts, Jamal Abdennassar for Cinema & Video, Driss Ksikes for Litera-ture, Khalid Tamer for Performing Arts, and with the participation of Karim El Achak for Architecture. I wish to pay tribute to Vanessa Branson, who launched this exceptional event ten years ago and has supported it financially. I would like to thank Alya Sebti for her important work as artistic director, Stefan Holwe, our managing director, and Alia Radman, our director of op-erations. Organizing an event like this is not easy given the resources at our disposal. The Marrakech Biennale should and will become a Moroccan event financed in part by Moroccan govern-ment agencies, by private, domestic, and in-ternational institutions and sponsors, as well as by organizations that have a general affili-ation with art. The Marrakech Biennale intends to occupy a prominent place in the network of international biennials, from Buenos Aires in Argentina to Gwangju in South Korea, from North America to Europe to the Middle East. From an early stage of this fifth edition, we benefitted from the high patronage of His Maj-esty the King Mohammed VI. This has given our event visibility and helped us raise funds from national and international organizations.

The fourth edition of the Marrakech Biennaleso beneficial to the city of Marrakech and to the art world in our country made it possible to achieve international standing and look for-ward to a long future. The four previous edi-tions were made possible thanks in large part to Vanessa Bransons determination, will, and faith in art, as well as to Marrakechs ability to host the events. Vanessa Branson, along with all the people who have helped and supported her over the past ten years, will ensure that Marrakech Bi-ennale 5 is a fitting culmination of all the tire-less hard work invested, reflecting the efforts of everyone involved. This initiative was born of a desire for open-ness, in order to promote encounters and ex-changes between cultures. Today, it is a means of rising up against displays of hatred and in-tolerance between cultures and civilizations. That this event takes place in Marrakech and in Morocco is not trivial. These have always been places where the East, Africa, and the West meet, and it is important for this to be preserved. I am very honored to have been appointed to lead this exciting venture with our team and I hope that, together, we will be equal to the task.

IV

Avant-propos II Amine Kabbaj, Vice-prsident

O SOMMES-NOUS MAINTENANT ? Tel est le thme et le leitmotiv de la 5me dition de la Biennale de Marrakech qui se tient du 26 fvrier au 31 mars 2014. Oui, la Biennale de Marrakech est de retour pour vous faire vivre des moments inoubliables grce aux expositions, performances et pro-jections conues par Hicham Khalidi pour les Arts Visuels & Sonores, par Jamal Abdennas-sar pour le Cinma & Vido, par Driss Ksikes pour la Littrature, par Khalid Tamer pour les Arts Vivants, et avec la participation de Karim El Achak pour lArchitecture. Je tiens rendre hommage Vanessa Bran-son qui a lanc Marrakech, il y a dix ans, cet vnement exceptionnel et qui la soutenu financirement. Je remercie Alya Sebti pour son important travail la direction artistique, Stefan Holwe, notre directeur gnral, et Alia Radman, qui est charge de la direction des oprations. Organiser un tel vnement nest pas chose fa-cile tant donn les moyens notre disposition. La Biennale de Marrakech veut et doit devenir un vnement marocain financ en partie par les instances gouvernementales marocaines, par les institutions et mcnes privs nationaux et internationaux ainsi que par les organismes affilis lart en gnral. La Biennale de Marrakech veut aussi occuper une place de choix dans le concert des bien-nales internationales, de Buenos Aires en Ar-gentine Gwangju en Core en passant par les biennales nord-amricaines, europennes et du Moyen-Orient.

Pour cette 5me dition, nous avons bnfici trs tt du haut patronage de Sa Majest le Roi Mohammed VI, ce qui a donn une visibilit notre vnement et aid lever des fonds au-prs des organismes nationaux et internatio-naux. La 4me dition de la Biennale de Marrakech a permis datteindre un rayonnement inter-national et de prtendre la prennisation de cette manifestation bnfique la ville de Mar-rakech et au monde de lart dans notre pays. Les quatre ditions prcdentes ont pu se tenir en grande partie grce la dtermination de Vanessa Branson, sa volont et sa foi en lart ainsi qu la capacit de la ville de Mar-rakech de les accueillir. Vanessa Branson, de mme que toutes les per-sonnes qui lont aide et soutenue durant ces dix dernires annes, feront en sorte que la 5me dition de la Biennale de Marrakech soit laboutissement dun travail intense, sans re-lche, limage des efforts de tous. Cette initiative est ne dun dsir et dune volon-t douverture afin de favoriser les rencontres et les changes entre cultures. Aujourdhui, elle apparat comme un moyen de slever contre les manifestations de haine et dintolrance entre les cultures et les civilisations. Quelle se droule Marrakech et au Maroc nest pas anodin : ces endroits ont toujours t un carre-four entre lOrient, lAfrique et lOccident et il est important de prserver ceci. Je suis trs honor davoir t dsign pour diri-ger cette aventure passionnante auprs de notre quipe et espre que nous serons, ensemble, la hauteur de la tche.

VPrefaceA Permanent Heterochrony

Simon Njami

It already begins to ring out through our inter-pretation of a simple pitcher; then as the a pri-ori latent theme of all the plastic arts, though it is really central to all the magic of music; then, finally, in the ultimate self-encounter, in the comprehended darkness of the lived moment, as this one thing leaps up and hears itself in the inconstruable, absolute question, the prob-lem of the We in itself. 1 Ernst Bloch

Every exhibition is addressed to someone. To a receiver whom we commonly call a public or audience. And the difficulty of conceiving this event, called an exhibition or biennial, is that the public is anonymous and vague, an invisible entity. Still, we would be wrong to confuse invisibility with a kind of non-existence that would give total de facto power to the exhibitions director. For the latter, although struggling with his own ideas, must subject himself to at least one obligation: to envi-sion the absolute question that Ernst Bloch evoked, and to consider the watchword We as a starting point for all projects intended for a public. How then to negotiate the very idea of a public?

The question inevitably takes us back to the question of time, since the notion of public that we constantly evoke is fluid, shifting, and sometimes intangible. By interrogating the present, we refer to the past, while being en-tirely preoccupied by the future, as Maurice Merleau-Ponty explains:

Time remains the same because the past is a previous future and a recent present, the present is an impending past and a recent future, and finally, the future is a present and even past to come. This is to say that each dimen-sion of time is treated or intended as something other than itself--which is to say, in short, because there is at the core of time a gaze . 2

This gaze at the core of time is what forges the intimate relationship that each of us maintains with history or with current events. And it is this special gaze that helps us in our attempt to respond to a few questions, which are not exhaustive: Whom are we targeting? What public do we want to address when we con-ceive of exhibitions outside of spaces intended for this purpose? How can we make contem-porary art accessible, including in countries where infrastructure is lacking? 2

This is the challenge that Marrakech Biennale 5 intends to meet, by engaging with two es-sential concepts at the center of this millenni-ums self-questioning: time and community. By posing this seemingly simple but obviously complex question, Where are we now? this Biennale invites us on an ontological quest. No future is imaginable, as Merleau-Ponty writes, if it does not weave itself into times weft, in a permanent heterochrony.

1 Ernst Bloch, The Spirit of Utopia, Trans. Anthony A. Nassar (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000) 3.

2 Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception, Trans. Donald A. Landes (New York: Routledge, 2012) 445.

VI

PrfaceUne htrochronie permanente

Simon Njami

[L]eur chant se fait entendre dj dchiffr sur les flancs dun simple pichet, dchiffr comme le thme latent a priori de tout art plastique et le thme central de toute magie de la mu-sique, dchiffr enfin dans la dernire rencontre possible de soi-mme, dans lobscurit lucide de linstant vcu tel quil souvre dun coup et se peroit lui-mme dans la question incons-tructible, la question absolue, le problme en soi du Nous. 1 Ernst Bloch

Toute exposition sadresse quelquun. un rcepteur que nous appelons commun-ment public ou audience. Et la difficult de la conception de cet vnement que nous nom-mons exposition ou biennale provient du fait que le public est une entit anonyme et floue, invisible. Mais nous aurions tort de confondre cette invisibilit avec une inexistence qui don-nerait de fait les pleins pouvoirs au commis-saire de lexposition. Ce dernier, au moment o il se dbat avec ses ides, doit se soumettre au moins une obligation, celle denvisager la question absolue quvoquait Ernst Bloch. Et considrer ce mot dordre comme point de dpart de tout projet destin un public. Com-ment, ds lors, ngocier avec lide mme de public ?

Cette question nous renvoie invitablement celle du temps puisque cette notion que nous voquons sans cesse est fluide et mouvante, parfois intangible. En interrogeant le temps prsent, nous nous rfrons au pass tout en tant entirement proccups par lavenir, comme lexplique Merleau-Ponty :

Le temps demeure le mme parce que le pass est un ancien avenir et un pr-sent rcent, le prsent un pass prochain et un avenir rcent, lavenir enfin un prsent et mme un pass venir, cest--dire parce que chaque dimension du temps est traite ou vise comme autre chose quelle-mme, cest--dire, enfin, parce que il y a au cur du temps un regard (...). 2

Ce regard au cur du temps est ce qui forge le rapport intime que nous entretenons chacun avec lHistoire ou lactualit. Et cest ce mme regard particulier qui nous aide dans notre tentative de rpondre ces quelques questions dont je ne dresse pas la liste exhaustive : Qui visons-nous ? quel public voulons-nous nous adresser lorsque nous concevons des exposi-tions en dehors des lieux destins cet effet ? Comment pouvons-nous rendre lart contem-porain accessible, y compris dans les pays o les infrastructures manquent ?

Cest ce dfi que la 5me dition de la Marrakech Biennale se propose de relever, en sintressant deux concepts essentiels sur lesquels notre millnaire sinterroge : le temps et la collecti-vit. En posant cette question simple en appa-rence, mais dont la complexit nchappera personne, Ou sommes-nous maintenant ? , cette Biennale nous invite une qute ontolo-gique. Aucun avenir nest envisageable, comme lcrit Merleau-Ponty, sil ne sinscrit pas dans la trame du temps, en une htrochronie per-manente.

1 Ernst Bloch, The Spirit of Utopia, Trans. Anthony A. Nassar (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000) 3.

2 Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception, Trans. Donald A. Landes (New York: Routledge, 2012) 445.

18 01

Expanding Access to

Contemporary Culture in North

Africa Alya Sebti

Marrakech:A Historical Overview

Hamid Triki

ExhibitionVenues

Accrotre laccs la culture

contemporaine en Afrique du

Nord Alya Sebti

Marrakech:Aperu

historique Hamid Triki

Lieuxdexpositions

Introduction Introduction

03

Introduction

Expanding Access to Contemporary Culture

in North Africa Alya Sebti, Artistic Director

The ideal concept behind a Biennale is two-fold: culturally re-lated to the local traditions of the exhibition site but open to international exchanges. Hou Hanru

For centuries Marrakech has been an intellectual and political crossroad of North Africa. Its plural and porous roots, as described by the philosopher Edouard Glissant, are nurtured by its sundry cultural influences stretching south across Sub-Sa-haran Africa, east by way of the Middle East and Asia, north through Europe, and west to the Americas. Yet Morocco, and more extensively North Africa, has reached a critical juncture: the regions complex socio-political landscape is merging with a widespread urge to democratize access to culture. We are witness to a new momentum, and it is urgent both to question the circumstances and to invite a broader audience to take part in a constructive dialogue of aesthetics.

The Marrakech Biennale was founded to address challeng-ing socio-political debates through the lens of the arts. It aims to create a trilingual artistic platform in French, English, and Arabic that leverages the work of Moroccos contemporary cultural scene by stimulating conversations between local and international artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians, and chore-ographers. After ten years this festival has become not only a critical site of experimentation in exhibition making, it has extended the parameters of the exhibition form to incorporate more discursive, conversational, and geo-political discussions.

WHERE ARE WE NOW? seeks to bolster the biennials role as an invaluable contributor to cultural and social transformation in Morocco today. This unstable institution, as Carlos Basual-do defines biennials, does not completely belong to the system and it can give rise to subversive possibilities. The Marrakech Biennales strength lies in its instability: it is an open laboratory, revealing interstices and creating hyphens.

Marrakech Biennale 5 was conceived as a dialogue among four disciplines: visual and sound arts, literature, cinema and video, and performing arts. The titles open question address-es the activated spectator to analyze his or her reality from

03

Introduction

Accrotre laccs la culture contemporaine

en Afrique du Nord Alya Sebti, Directrice artistique

Le concept idal qui sous-tend une Biennale est double : avoir un lien culturel avec les traditions locales du lieu dexposition mais tre ouvert aux changes internationaux. Hou Hanru

Depuis des sicles, Marrakech est une plaque tournante intel-lectuelle et politique en Afrique du nord. Ses racines multi-ples et poreuses, telles que dcrites par le philosophe Edouard Glissant, se nourrissent de ses diverses influences culturelles qui stendent vers le sud travers lAfrique sub-saharienne, vers lest en passant par le Moyen-Orient et lAsie, vers le nord travers lEurope et vers lOuest en direction des Amriques. Cependant le Maroc - et plus gnralement lAfrique du nord est arriv un carrefour dterminant : le paysage socio-poli-tique complexe de la rgion est en train dtre pntr par une demande croissante de dmocratisation de laccs la culture. Nous assistons lmergence dun lan nouveau et il est urgent den interroger les circonstances comme dinviter un public plus large participer un dialogue constructif sur lesthtique.

La Biennale de Marrakech a t cre pour initier des dbats socio-politiques dlicats en adoptant la perspective des arts. Elle vise btir une plateforme artistique trilingue franais, anglais et arabe qui met en valeur le travail des membres de la scne culturelle contemporaine au Maroc et sollicite des discussions entre artistes, crivains, ralisateurs, musiciens et chorgraphes marocains et trangers. Aprs dix annes dexistence, ce festival est devenu non seulement un lieu dexprimentation important pour la ralisation dexpositions, il a diversifi les paramtres dterminant la forme dune exposition afin dy inclure des dis-cussions plus discursives, plus spontanes et plus gopolitiques.

O SOMMES-NOUS MAINTENANT ? cherche accrotre le rle de la Biennale en tant que contributeur inestimable aux transformations culturelles et sociales qui se produisent actuel-lement au Maroc. Cette institution instable, pour reprendre la dfinition des biennales donne par Carlos Basualdo, nap-partient pas totalement au systme et peut susciter lclosion de possibilits subversives. La force de la Biennale de Marrakech tient son instabilit : cest un laboratoire ouvert, qui revle les interstices et cre des traits dunion.

05

new perspectives. The concept of an open political arena, the agora, or the Jamaato use the Arabic expression for a site of community and a space for dialogueruns as a thread throughout the multiple, concurrent presentations.

Visual & Sound Arts, curated by Hicham Khalidi, hosts a ma-jority of site-specific artworks, produced in and inspired by the context of Marrakech. This exhibition is integrated into con-versations of duality, plurality, heritage, socio-political change, and contradiction posed by the citys unique legacy and its contemporary cultural predicament.

Artists and authors selected by Literature curator Driss Ksikes, a Moroccan writer and playwright, intervene in Jamaa El Fna square, Marrakechs spiritual heart and the principal site of transmission of the citys oral heritage. Ksikes presents a series of round tables and performative lectures connecting perform-ing arts to literature, and comic art to visual art and literature. These incursions into public arenas rid literature of its classical, elitist boundaries in a country still plagued by illiteracy, propos-ing art as an experience of emancipation.

Cinema & Video is curated by Jamal Abdennassar, founder of the pioneering video installation festival Casaprojecta. His exhibition, showcasing video installations in unconventional lo-cations, considers contemporary creations from North Africa in conversation with other regions, particularly Sub-Saharan Afri-ca and the Middle East. Film screenings and round tables are enhanced by a Carte Blanche at the legendary Cinmathque de Tanger.

This year the Biennale also inaugurates a Performing Arts pro-gram organized by Khalid Tamer, founder of the Awalnart street artist festival in Marrakech. This important addition gives prominence to street performances that invite passersby to take part spontaneously. Tamers presentation interrogates tensions between the contemporary and the traditional, connecting the Biennales two primary sites: the more traditional space of the Medina and the modern area of Gueliz. WHERE ARE WE NOW? hosts a further ten, independently organized and funded Parallel Projects that have been select-ed by the Biennales artistic steering committee. They feature a range of satellite exhibitions, including several focusing on sound as a means of disseminating and diffusing art in public space. These local and international projects scattered through-out Marrakech reflect the creativity and rapidly changing per-

Introduction Expanding Access to Contemporary Culture in North Africa Alya Sebti

La Biennale de Marrakech 5 a t conue comme un dialogue entre quatre disciplines : les arts visuels et sonores, la littrature, le cinma et la vido, ainsi que les arts de la scne. La ques-tion ouverte, qui lui a t donne pour titre, invite le spectateur stimul analyser sa propre ralit sous de nouveaux angles. Le concept dune arne politique ouverte, lagora ou la Jamaa pour reprendre lexpression arabe qui dsigne un lieu commu-nautaire et un espace de dialogue constitue le fil rouge qui relie les nombreuses expositions simultanes.

Lexposition Arts Visuels & Sonores, dont le commissaire est Hicham Khalidi, comprend une majorit duvres in situ, pro-duites Marrakech et stant inspires de cet environnement. Elle sintgre des discussions sur la dualit et la pluralit, lh-ritage, le changement socio-politique et la contradiction qui se pose entre le patrimoine unique de la ville et sa situation ac-tuelle, culturellement difficile.

Les artistes et les crivains choisis par le commissaire littraire Driss Ksikes, un crivain et dramaturge marocain, intervien-dront sur la place Jamaa El Fna, cur spirituel de Marrakech et principal lieu de transmission du patrimoine oral de la ville. Ksikes prsente une srie de tables rondes et de lectures-perfor-mances qui lieront les arts de la scne la littrature, lart de la comdie aux arts visuels et la littrature. Ces incursions dans des espaces publics permettent de sortir la littrature de son cadre classique et litiste dans un pays encore min par lanal-phabtisme, lart tant ici propos comme exprience manci-patrice.

Cest Jamal Abdennassar, fondateur du festival pionnier dins-tallations vido Casaprojecta, qui sest occup de Cinma & Vido. Son exposition, qui prsente des installations vido dans des endroits atypiques, sintresse aux crations contemporaines dAfrique du nord en lien avec dautres rgions, en particulier lAfrique subsaharienne et le Moyen-Orient. Aux projections de films et aux tables rondes viennent sajouter des Cartes Blanches organises la lgendaire cinmathque de Tanger.

Cette anne, la Biennale inaugure galement un volet Arts de la scne, conu par Khalid Tamer, fondateur du festival des arts de la rue Awalnart Marrakech. Cet important dveloppement permet de mettre en avant des performances de rue qui suscitent la participation spontane des passants. La programmation de Tamer interroge les tensions entre le contemporain et le tradi-tionnel, mettant en relation les deux principaux sites de la Bien-

Introduction Accrotre laccs la culture contemporaine en Afrique du Nord Alya Sebti

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spectives alive in the city and across the country. By involving partners and fringe programs, the Biennale highlights the work of local cultural initiatives in Marrakech and expands the perim-eters of its flourishing creativity.

After growing organically for over a decade, the Marrakech Biennale has arrived at a turning point. It must find a way both to anchor itself permanently in Morocco and to augment its role as a site of international exchange. To accomplish this, it must participate in the countrys economic and political reali-ties while maintaining autonomy and freedom of speech. Mar-rakech Biennale 5 is taking significant steps toward embedding itself in the city, while raising awareness of the cultural chal-lenges to and opportunities for its local audience.

WHERE ARE WE NOW? is committed to raising the Mar-rakech communitys access to contemporary art through effec-tive, alternative education and a widespread internship pro-gram. Raising the critical awareness of young Moroccans not only helps to create a more receptive audience, it cultivates the professionalization of this audience over time. Entwining itself in the citys social fabric by engaging with its youth will enable the Biennale to one day achieve its primary objective of fostering equitable access to cultural goods and services for Marrakech inhabitants.

The Marrakech Biennale has long aspired to be completely tri-lingual. WHERE ARE WE NOW? aims to go one step further and to intervene verbally in the public space using Darija, or Moroccan Arabic. Although Darija is not recognized as one of Moroccos official dialects, it is the countrys most geograph-ically widespread and commonly spoken language. Asking Where are we now? in Darija is not only confirmation that the Biennale speaks to its local audience, it also fulfills an abid-ing dream: to become a platform that fosters permanent cultural structures capable of gathering a more receptive and profes-sionalized local audience, where the access to cultural services is no longer solely dedicated to an elite.

With this approach, WHERE ARE WE NOW? aims to con-tribute to a fundamental reflection on our society, encouraging participants and a broader, activated Moroccan community to take part in a cultural process open to absolutely everyone.


nale : lespace traditionnel de la Mdina et le quartier moderne de Gueliz.

O SOMMES-NOUS MAINTENANT ? accueille de surcrot dix Projets Parallles, organiss et financs de manire indpen-dante, qui ont t slectionns par le comit artistique direc-teur de la Biennale. Ces projets offrent une varit dexpositions annexes, dont certaines emploient des dispositifs sonores pour propager et diffuser leur contenu dans des espaces publics. Ces projets nationaux et internationaux, dissmins travers Mar-rakech, refltent la crativit et les points de vue en volution rapide qui animent la ville et le pays tout entier. En impliquant dautres partenaires et programmes indpendants, la Biennale valorise des initiatives culturelles locales Marrakech et largit le primtre de sa crativit foisonnante.

Aprs avoir suivi sa croissance naturelle pendant plus de dix ans, la Biennale de Marrakech est parvenu un tournant. Elle doit trouver le moyen, et de sancrer de faon permanente au Maroc, et daccrotre son rle en tant que lieu dchange international. Pour ce faire, elle doit prendre part aux ralits conomiques et politiques du pays tout en conservant son autonomie et sa libert dexpression. La Biennale de Marrakech 5 est en train de prendre des mesures significatives pour sinstaller dans la ville, tout en favorisant une prise de conscience des dfis et des op-portunits culturels quelle apporte son public au niveau local.

O SOMMES-NOUS MAINTENANT ? sengage amliorer laccs des habitants de Marrakech lart contemporain au tra-vers de formations alternatives efficaces et un programme de stages significatif. Aider les jeunes Marocains dvelopper leur sensibilit critique permet non seulement de disposer dun pu-blic plus rceptif, mais contribue la professionalisation de ce public sur le long terme. Pntrer dans le tissu social de la ville en se faisant connatre auprs des jeunes permettra la Bien-nale datteindre un jour son objectif premier : offrir un accs quitable aux biens et aux services culturels aux habitants de Marrakech.

Depuis longtemps, la Biennale de Marrakech aspire devenir totalement trilingue. O SOMMES-NOUS MAINTENANT ? cherche faire un pas de plus en proposant des interventions dans des espaces publics en Darija ou arabe marocain. Bien que le Darija ne soit pas reconnu comme dialecte officiel au Maroc, il sagit de la langue la plus couramment parle dans le pays et la plus rpandue gographiquement. Demander O sommes-nous maintenant ? en Darija ne prouve pas seulement


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que la Biennale sadresse au public marocain, mais permet aussi de raliser un rve incessant : devenir une plateforme accueillant des structures culturelles permanentes, susceptibles de rassem-bler un public plus rceptif et plus professionel au niveau local, et o laccs aux services culturels ne soit plus rserv exclusive-ment une lite.

Par cette approche, O SOMMES-NOUS MAINTENANT ? espre contribuer une rflexion fondamentale sur notre soci-t, en encourageant ses participants et un plus grand nombre de Marocains motivs prendre part un processus culturel ouvert tous, sans exception.


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Introduction

Marrakech:A Historical Overview

Hamid Triki

Marrakech is one of the most prestigious impe-rial cities of Morocco. Its name, whose mean-ing remains enigmatic, has been used for cen-turies to refer to the entire country. The term maroquinerie, an artisanal activity of crucial importance to the economic life of the city, is also derived from its name.

A holy city of numerous mausoleums that still remain the object of a fervent popular faith, Marrakech is also known as Madinat SabAtourijal, or the city of the seven patron saints. A man-made oasis created for leisure and human survival, the city was subsequently given the name Al-Bahja, or city that warms the heart.

Set in the Haouz basin, between the hills of the Northern Jbilet and the High Atlas in the south, Marrakech stands at the crossroad of many transit routes. Its location has allowed it, throughout history, to serve as a depot as well as a place of exchange.

Beginning at distant riverbanks in Niger, the caravan routes traverse the Atlas after the way stations of the oases of the pre-Sahara and then converge at Marrakech, where they open up toward the harbors of the Atlantic and Mediterranean. The fluctuations of these trade routes dictated the citys stages of expansion and contraction. Its prosperity also depended on its function as a capital, as well as on the control that the city was able to exert over the wider regions system of commercial trade.

The history of the city appears as a line bro-ken into three distinct periods of remarkable expansion: the Almoravid and Almohad pe-riod from the late eleventh to the middle of

the thirteenth centuries; the Saadian period of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centu-ries; and the Alawite period beginning in the mid-eighteenth century. The twentieth century has revolutionized the historical role of the city, although Marrakech has once again be-come the hub for relations with the Moroccan provinces of the Sahara.

It was not by chance that Saharansthe Al-moravidsfounded, circa 1070, the first nu-cleus of this city that was destined to become, in the space of one generation, the capital of an empire. At the beginning of the twelfth century, Ali ibn Youssouf urbanized the site by building a water supply, paved roads, and the mosque that still bears his name, which be-came the main center of the city. In 1127, he surrounded the city with a nine-kilometer wall that still exists today.

With the Almohads, Marrakech, including the Kasbah, a fortified city, became the most important metropolis of the Muslim West. At the end of the twelfth century, its population is estimated to have reached 100,000. As the capital of an empire encompassing the entire Maghreb as well as Muslim Spain, its prosper-ity owed to its domination of the trans-Saharan trade routes and its ability to redistribute the regions products. It was also an intellectual capital that attracted the best minds of the era, including Ibn Toyfal, Ibn Zohr, and Ibn Rochid.

After the Almohads, Marrakech, abandoned as a capital, entered a phase of urban decline that continued until the mid-sixteenth century. The recovery of the Saharan trade routes and the development of cross-Atlantic relations with Europe created a favorable environment

Introduction

Marrakech:Aperu historique

Hamid Triki

Marrakech est lune des plus prestigieuses villes impriales du Maroc. Son nom, dont le sens de-meure nigmatique, est utilis depuis des sicles pour dsigner lensemble du pays. En drive dailleurs le terme de maroquinerie, une activi-t artisanale limportance sans conteste dans la vie conomique de la cit.

Ville sainte aux innombrables mausoles qui font encore lobjet dune fervente foi po-pulaire, Marrakech est aussi dsigne sous le nom de Madinat Sabatourijal ou ville des sept saints protecteurs. Oasis btie par la main de lhomme, cre pour le loisir et la survie des hommes, elle a reu par la suite le nom imag de Al-Bahja ou ville qui rjouit le cur.

Implante dans la dpression du Haouz, entre les collines des Jbilet au Nord et le Haut-Atlas au Sud, Marrakech se situe au carrefour dun large nombre de voies de circulation. Sa situa-tion lui a permis, au fil de lhistoire, de servir de lieu dchanges et de ville-entrept.

Partant des lointaines rives du Niger, les pistes caravanires traversent lAtlas aprs les relais des oasis prsahariennes et convergent vers Marrakech do elles se dploient en direction des ports atlantiques et mditerranens. Les fluctuations de ces voies dchanges ont dict les phases dexpansion ou de rgression de la ville. Sa prosprit dpend ainsi la fois de sa fonction de capitale et du contrle quelle a pu exercer historiquement sur ce systme dchanges commerciaux au large primtre.

Lhistoire de la ville se prsente plutt comme une ligne brise o se distinguent trois priodes dexpansion remarquables : de la fin du XIme sicle au milieu du XIIIme sicle, avec les Al-

moravides et les Almohades ; tout le XVIme et le dbut du XVIIme sicles avec les Saadiens ; enfin, partir du milieu du XVIIIme sicle avec les Alaouites. Le XXme sicle a boulevers ces fonctionnements historiques habituels, bien quaujourdhui, Marrakech tende redevenir le centre nvralgique des relations avec les pro-vinces marocaines du Sahara.

Ce ne fut pas par pur hasard que des Saha-riens, les Almoravides, fondrent vers 1070 le premier noyau de cette cit appele devenir, en lespace dune gnration, la capitale dun empire. Au dbut du XIIme sicle, Ali Ibn Youssouf urbanisera le site grce ladduction deau, au pavage des voies et la construction de la mosque qui porte toujours son nom et qui devint le principal ple de lagglomration. En 1127, il entoura la ville dun rempart de 9 kms qui subsiste encore ce jour.

Avec les Almohades, Marrakech, qui comprend dornavant la Qasba, vritable ville fortifie, devint la cit la plus importante de lOccident musulman. A la fin du XIIme sicle, sa popula-tion est estime une centaine de milliers dha-bitants. Capitale dun Empire englobant tout le Maghreb et lEspagne musulmane, elle doit alors sa prosprit notamment au commerce trans-saharien dont elle domine les axes et re-distribue les produits. Cest aussi une capitale intellectuelle qui attire les esprits les plus mi-nents de lpoque: Ibn Tofayl, Ibn Zohr, Ibn Rochd y ont diffus leur savoir.

Aprs les Almohades, Marrakech, abandon-ne en tant que capitale, entre dans une phase de rgression urbaine dont elle ne se relvera quau milieu du XVIme sicle. La reprise des changes commerciaux sahariens et le dve-

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for the city, which once again became the capital of the country under the Saadians. The citys revival was reflected in the rehabilita-tion of the water supply system, the develop-ment and emergence of new neighborhoods equipped with new infrastructure, the creation of the Mellah for the large Jewish community, and the refurbishment of the Kasbah around Palais Badii.

Beginning in 1669, Marrakech was called upon to assume, alongside Fez, the role of capital and became the residence of the ruling Alawites. Under the reign of Mohamed ben Abdallah (17571790), the city became re-juvenated. The rulers strong interest in Mar-rakech and his tireless efforts provided the urban center with a unique artistic character. Historical texts describe Mohamed ben Ab-dallah camping amid the Kasbah ruins and personally directing the restoration process, which led to the rise of palaces, gardens, for-tifications, mosques, and madrasas. This re-markable work also affected the old Medina, transforming it from a public building where the mark of the great ruler-builder could not be seen, paving the way for his successors.

Among them, Sidi Mohamed Ibn Abderrah-man deserves special mention. He ordered the replanting of the large gardens of the Agdal and the Mnara, the construction of charming pavilions within them, the restoration of wa-ter basins, and the creation of the first mod-ern factories. These projects were destined to confront the European economic expansion of the nineteenth century, which marked the end of the traditional history of Marrakech, now ready to face the demands of the twentieth century.

Introduction Marrakech: A Historical Overview Hamid Triki

loppement des relations outre-Atlantique avec lEurope crent une conjoncture favorable pour la ville, qui redeviendra la capitale du pays avec les Saadiens. Sa renaissance se traduit par la re-mise en tat du rseau dalimentation en eau, le dveloppement et lapparition de quartiers nouveaux dots des infrastructures ncessaires, la cration du Mellah destin limportante communaut juive, le ramnagement de la Qasba autour du Palais Badii.

A partir de 1669, Marrakech est appele assumer, avec Fez, le rle de capitale et de-venir rsidence des Souverains alaouites. Et ce sera sous le rgne de Mohamed Ibn Abdallah (17571790) que la ville retrouvera son ani-mation. Lintrt particulier que le souverain lui porte et les efforts sans relche de celui-ci donnent au centre urbain une vritable em-preinte artistique spcifique. Les textes his-toriques dcrivent Mohamed Ibn Abdallah, campant au milieu de la Qasba en ruine et diri-geant personnellement les travaux de restaura-tion. Palais, jardins, mchouars, fortifications, mosques et mdersas y surgissent. Ce travail remarquable touchera galement lancienne mdina, de sorte quil nest point ddifice public o lon ne relve lempreinte du grand Souverain btisseur, qui ouvrira la voie ses successeurs.

Parmi eux, Sidi Mohamed Ibn Abderrahman mrite une mention particulire. Marrakech lui doit la replantation des grands jardins de lAg-dal et de la Mnara, la construction des char-mants pavillons de plaisance dans ces mmes jardins, la restauration des anciens bassins et la cration des premires usines modernes, desti-nes affronter lexpansion conomique euro-penne du XIXme sicle, qui marquera la fin de lhistoire traditionnelle de Marrakech, prte alors affronter les exigences du XXme sicle.

Introduction Marrakech: Aperu historique Hamid Triki

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Introduction

Exhibition Venues

Palais Badii Palais Badii was constructed in the six-teenth century as the palace of Sadid Sharif Ahmad al-Mansur. Its name translates as in-comparable, and at the time its beauty, opu-lence, and architectural grace were legendary. The palace was stripped of its ornamentation only a century later to furnish the palace of Alawid Sharif Moulay Ismail in the new cap-ital of Mekns. Today only the bare bones of its former glory remain. Palais Badii is now the site of the Marrakech Museum for Photography and Visual Arts (MMP+).

Dar Si Said Dar Si Said was original-ly a mansion built by royal chamberlain Sidi Sad in the nineteenth century. Its inter-connecting courtyards and beautiful Andalusian-style wooden ceilings today house the Museum of Moroccan Arts. The museum hosts a collection of Berber crafts, including carpets, jewelry, weaponry, pottery, and textiles from Marrakech, the Atlas moun-tains, and more distant places across Moroc-co.

Bank Al Maghrib The historic Bank Al Maghrib is located on Marrakechs Jamaa El Fna square. Once a pillar of the central bank of the Kingdom of Morocco the structure now stands empty.

Dar Cherifa Dar Cherifa is a private home and histor-ical cultural monument in Marrakech that has

been transformed into a literary caf, restau-rant, and art gallery. It was restored in 2000. Its original architecture was protected with the help of professional artisans who used tradi-tional craftsmanship and materials. Dar Cherifa means holy house; the building was named after the spiritual feel-

ing that one has upon enter-ing. Today, the painting and sculpture exhibitions, literary events, concerts, storytelling events, and calligraphy and ceramics workshops that it hosts have made it into one of the Red Citys major cultural hotspots. It is a lively, authen-tic, and interactive space that is open to everyone.

El Fenn The building, which now houses the boutique hotel El Fenn dates back to the six-

teenth century. The aptly named Riad El Fenn, meaning house of art, has been the epicenter of the Marrakech Biennale since its inception in 2004. Throughout the festival the hotel hosts official Biennale parties, lunches, and talks. It is also the current home of a unique collection of contemporary art.

Riad Denise Masson This riad, formerly the Riad El Hafdi, be-longed to Denise Masson, a nurse, social worker, and noted translator of the Koran. She died in Marrakech in 1994 at the age of 93. Massson donated the riad to the French Institute of Marrakech, which now organizes cultural events there.

Bank Al Magrib

Introduction

Lieux dexpositions

Palais Badii Le Palais Badii a t construit au XVIe

sicle par le sultan saadien Ahmed al-Mansour Dhahb. Son nom signifie lincomparable . La beaut architecturale du palais et son opulence devinrent vite lgendaires. Un sicle aprs son dification, ses ornements furent en-leves pour dcorer le palais dAlawid Sharif Moulay Is-mail dans sa nouvelle capitale de Mekns. Aujourdhui bien peu de la splendeur originelle reste visible. Le Palais El Badii accueille aussi le Muse de la Photographie et des Arts Vi-suels de Marrakech (MMP+).

Dar Si Said Dar Si Said fut construit lorigine pour le chambel-lan royal Sidi Sad au XIXe sicle. Ses patios en enfilade et ses magnifiques plafonds en bois de style andalou abritent dsormais le Mu-se des Arts Marocains. Le muse possde une collection dartisanat berbre : tapis, bijoux, armes, poteries et textiles de Marrakech, des montagnes de lAtlas et des rgions alentours.

Bank Al Maghrib La Bank historique Al Maghrib slve sur la place Jamaa El Fna de Marrakech. Na-gure lun des piliers de la banque centrale du Royaume du Maroc, la structure est dsormais vide.

Dar Cherifa Dar Cherifa est une maison prive et un monument historique de Marrakech, qui a t transform en caf littraire, restaurant et

galerie dart. Cette maison a t restaure en 2000 dans le respect de son architecture origi-nelle en utilisant des matriaux traditionnels et des techniques sculaires. Dar Cherifa signifie la maison sainte. Elle a t nomme ainsi du fait de latmos-phre spirituelle qui rgne dans le lieu. Au-

jourdhui, des expositions de peintures et de sculptures, des rendez-vous littraires et des concerts y sont organiss. Cela fait de Dar Cherifa une institution culturelle incon-tournable de la ville rouge, un authentique lieu de vie et de rencontre ouvert tous.

El Fenn Le btiment, qui abrite aujourdhui lhtel boutique El Fenn, date du XVIe sicle. Le Riad El Fenn, porte bien son nom, puisque cela signifie

maison des arts. Il a t lpicentre de la Bien-nale de Marrakech depuis sa cration en 2004. Durant toute la manifestation, lhtel accueille les rceptions officielles de la Biennale, des djeuners et des discussions. Il abrite aussi au-jourdhui une collection unique dart contem-porain.

Riad Denise Masson Ce Riad, anciennement appel Riad El Hafdi a appartenu Denise Masson. Cette in-firmire, travailleuse sociale et traductrice de rfrence du Coran, dcda en 1994 lge de 93 ans Marrakech. Elle fit don de son logis LInstitut franais de la ville, qui y organise dsormais des manifestations culturelles.

Thtre Royal

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Introduction Exhibition Venues

Introduction Lieux dexpositions

Thtre Royal Thtre Royal de Marrakech is an un- fin-ished opera house and outdoor theater situat-ed in Gueliz. Plans for the theater began in the 1970s with Tunisian architect Charles Boccara at the helm. The exterior, reception hall, and outdoor theater were completed andinaugurated in 2001 after 25 years of con-struction. However the 800-seat opera house remains an unin- habited, cavernous concrete edifice.

LBlassa LBlassa is housed in an abandoned Art Deco building on the corner of Rue Libert and Rue Yougoslavie. Erected in 1932, the building is situated in the district of Gueliz, developed while Morocco was still a French protectorate. This building is typical of Gue-liz, characterized by wide boulevards, round-abouts, and modern buildings inspired by Haussmanns urban transformation of Paris in the late nineteenth century.

Cinema Colise The Cinema Colise is an iconic movie theater located in Marrakechs Ville Nouvelle neighborhood. It was designed by the archi-tect Georges Peynet, who also redesigned the Parisian movie theaters Max Linder, Vendme-Opra, Cambronne, and Paramount-Elyses. Entirely renovated in 1995, its two-storey pro-jection room is now digitally equipped. The Colise screens a wide variety of doc-umentaries, participates in the opening and closing ceremonies of Marrakech festivals, and actively promotes Moroccan, Arab, and international film.

Introduction Exhibition Venues

Introduction Lieux dexpositions

Thtre Royal Le Thtre Royal de Marrakech, une salle dopra inacheve, est situ dans le Guliz. Les plans de construction du thtre datent des annes 1970, confis larchitecte tunisien Charles Boccara. Lextrieur, la rception et un thtre ciel ouvert ont t construits et inau-gurs en 2001 aprs 25 ans de travaux. Toute-fois, la salle dopra prvue pour accueillir 800 personnes demeure une caverne de bton.

LBlassa LBlassa est tabli dans un immeuble Art Dco abandonn, au coin de la rue de la Liber-t et de la rue de Yougoslavie. rig en 1932 durant le protectorat franais, le btiment est situ dans le quartier du Guliz. Le btiment est caractristique de ce quartier, marqu par les larges boulevards, les ronds-points et les immeubles modernes inspirs des travaux ef-fectus par Haussmann pour remodeler Paris dans la deuxime partie du XIXe sicle.

Cinema Colise Le Colise est le cinma mythique de la nouvelle ville, agenc par larchitecte Georges Peynet, qui a galement remodel les salles pa-risiennes du Max Linder, du Vendme-Opra, du Cambronne et du Paramount-Elyses. En-tirement rnov en 1995, sa salle de projec-tion sur deux niveaux est aujourdhui quipe du numrique. Il projette des documentaires, participe aux ouvertures et cltures des grands festivals de la ville (comme celui du film), et promeut des films marocains arabes et internationaux.

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Visual & Sound Arts

Arts Visuels & Sonores

Writing on the Wall


Where Are We Now?

Identity as Fiction Hicham Khalidi

Artist Biographies

Artists+

freqout+

Clara Meister

Ecrire sur les murs


O sommes-nous maintenant?

Identit comme fiction Hicham Khalidi

Biographies des artistes

Artistes+

freqout+

Clara Meister

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Visual & Sound Arts

Writing on the Wall Kaelen Wilson-Goldie

In the summer of 2008 and in the spring of 2010, two curious acts of vandalism occurred in Beirut. The first took place during a solo exhibition for the artist Walid Raad at the Sfeir-Semler Gallery in Karantina. The second took place during a solo exhibition for the art-ist Walid Sadek at the Beirut Art Center in Jisr El Wati. Both instances featured the deface-ment of text-based works in Arabic.

Raads Part I_Chapter 1_Section 79: Index XXVI: Artists, which belongs to his ongoing project Scratching on Things I Could Disa-vow about the development of infrastructures for contemporary art in the Arab world, con-sisted of a list of randomly selected names of Lebanese painters active from the nineteenth century until today. Strung together in a hori-zontal line that wrapped more than two me-ters around the gallery, the names were ren-dered in three layers of cut, white vinyl on white-painted walls.

Sadeks show featured three interrelated se-ries: Learning To See Less, which the artist de-scribed as an itinerary for eyes stamped with violence; Love Is Blind, about the survivors of civil wars inhabiting ruins; and Mourning in the Presence of the Corpse, about the inabil-ity to put conflicts to rest (built around an es-say of the same name featured in Lebanons inaugural pavilion at the 2007 Venice Bien-nale), that dealt with, coincidentally, the theft, destruction, and vandalism of other artworks. Taken together the three series included deli-cate pencil drawings, tiny silkscreened texts, and the mouthpieces of two trumpets jammed into the wall like a pair of eyes over a cap-tion that read, Or what my father sees, most probably.

In both exhibitions, someone took a pen and, writing directly on the wall, corrected appar-ent mistakes in the artists Arabic. In Raads case, the veteran critic Joseph Tarrab fixed his misspelling of the artist Johnny Tahans name. In Sadeks case, two men identities unknown but said to have been elder artists or a pair of critics or friends of the artists father, the car-toonist Pierre Sadek, used proofreading marks to address grammatical errors and inconsist-encies.

Raad gamely turned Tarrabs objection into an artwork in its own right, with the mistake in Tahans name leading to a wealth of new work (using archival material) about the forgotten oeuvre of a second-rate artist. Sadek, mean-while, took profound offense. Counterintuitive-ly, each act seemed driven by elders scolding the young for their poor language skills and lack of respect for the culture, for history, for the world in which they were born.

This generational divide, in and of itself, was part of the problem. The quasi-vandalism of these two exhibitions in Beirut speaks of a wid-er rift in the experience, understanding, and value of contemporary art in the region, var-iously described as the Arab world and the Middle East. That rift falls primarily on issues of identity and authenticity, which have been aired elsewhere but remain far from resolved in cities ranging from Casablanca, Algiers, and Tunis to Cairo, Damascus, Ramallah, Am-man, Istanbul, Baghdad, and Beirut.

Raad and Sadek, like many of their peers and colleagues, were educated abroad. It is often said that they came back with strange ideas about what art was and could be, and that


Ecrire sur les murs Kaelen Wilson-Goldie

Au cours de lt 2008 et du printemps 2010, deux actes de vandalisme tranges se produi-sirent Beyrouth. Le premier eut lieu pendant lexposition en solo de lartiste Walid Raad la Galerie Sfeir-Semler la Quarantaine. Le second eut lieu lors de lexposition en solo de lartiste Walid Sadek au Beyrouth Art Center de Jisr El Wati. Dans les deux cas, des pices ralises partir de textes crits en arabe furent endommages.

Lexposition Part I_Chapter 1_Section 79: In-dex XXVI: Artists de Raad, qui fait partie dun projet en cours de ralisation, Scratching on Things I Could Disavow, sur le dveloppement des infrastructures destines lart contempo-rain dans le monde arabe, se compose dune liste de noms de peintres libanais, choisis au hasard parmi ceux qui ont exist du XIXe sicle nos jours. Relis les uns aux autres en une ligne horizontale qui se dploie sur plus de deux mtres autour de la galerie, les noms ont t matrialiss par trois couches de vinyle blanc sur des murs peints en blanc. Lexposition de Sadek prsentait trois sries en lien les unes avec les autres : Learning To See Less, que lartiste dcrit comme un itinraire destin aux regards marqus par la violence, Love Is Blind, qui sintresse aux survivants des guerres civiles qui vivent dans des ruines, et Mourning in the Presence of the Corpse (ralise partir dun essai du mme titre qui fut prsent dans le pavillon libanais lors de la Biennale de Venise de 2007). Cette dernire traite de lincapacit mettre un terme aux conflits et notamment - comme par hasard - du vol, de la destruction et de la dgradation dautres uvres dart. Dans leur ensemble, les trois sries comprenaient de fins dessins au

crayon papier, de petits textes srigraphis et les embouchures de deux trompettes encastres dans un mur telles une paire dyeux penchs au-dessus dune phrase inscrite l : Ou ce que mon pre voit, trs probablement.

Dans les deux expositions, quelquun, arm dun stylo, crivit directement sur le mur pour corriger les erreurs quavait apparemment faites les artistes en arabe. Dans le cas de Raad, lan-cien critique Joseph Tarrab a corrig une faute dorthographe dans le nom de lartiste Johnny Tahan. Dans le cas de Sadek, deux hommes, aux identits inconnues mais qui ont affirm avoir t des artistes plus gs, ou des critiques, ou des amis du pre de lartiste, le dessinateur de BD Pierre Sadek, ont employ des signes de correction pour souligner les erreurs gramma-ticales et les inconsistances du texte.

Raad a transform, par jeu, lobjection de Tar-rab en une uvre dart part entire, lerreur dans le nom de Tahan stimulant la conception dune profusion de nouvelles pices (employant des documents darchives) sur luvre oublie dun artiste de seconde zone. Pour sa part, Sadek sest senti vritablement offens. De fa-on surprenante, chaque acte de vandalisme a sembl avoir t commis par des artistes plus gs reprochant aux plus jeunes leurs faiblesses linguistiques et leur manque de respect pour la culture et lhistoire dun monde dans lequel ils taient ns.

Ces divergences entre gnrations constituent, en elles-mmes, une part du problme. Le qua-si-vandalisme que subirent ces deux exposi-tions Beyrouth rvle de grandes diffrences dans la faon dont est vcu, compris et consid-r lart contemporain dans cette rgion, appe-

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these ideas were at odds with an older under-standing of art as an expression of national identity. As in Egypt after Nassers putative revolution of 1952, Palestine in the throes of revolutionary fervor, or Algeria after the war for independence from France, art in Lebanon has long been tangled up with nationalist pro-jects, which are particularly (if not uniquely) complicated in the Levant due to the diversity of communities that live there (from resident foreigners to itinerant workers to the splinter-ing factions of religious groups).

The systems we recognize as functional, in-dependent, and flexible contemporary art scenes across the region have been coming into being since the 1990s. The development of Townhouse in Cairo, Platform in Istanbul, Ashkal Alwan in Beirut, Lappartment 22 in Rabat, Cinmathque de Tanger, and the re-cently shuttered Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum coincided, to their benefit and det-riment alike, with the emerging discourse of globalization and neoliberal economics, such that all three of these thingscontemporary art, globalization, and neoliberalismare of-ten confused and entangled, considered one and the same, and political to the core. As a result, earlier strains of cosmopolitanisms and the kind of dazzlingly deliberate intellectual contamination (to borrow Kwame Anthony Ap-piahs term) that stretch back decades, even centuries, have been obliterated by a pater-nalistic, chauvinistic, and ultimately provincial view that to be mixed up, complicated, and streaked by otherness is, inherently, to be a western imitator and a colonialist fool.

The defensiveness and distrust of contempo-rary art from within the region run parallel to political discourse (fey nationalism, the failures of the left) that speaks to stagnation and imma-turity. To put forth ideas about nationalism as a fiction, national identity as a fiction, a country such as Morocco itself as a fiction, and to do so in a productive manner, as constructive cri-tique, is provocative but also necessary. In the strategies of Walid Raad, who plays with the slippage between fact and fiction; Iman Issa, whose studied nondisclosures require viewers to look differently at material they think they know; and Kader Attia, who takes a radical approach to archeology and history and mu-seological display, all of the arguments about what art is and who its for are present. To follow those arguments through to the possible construction of new identities and political or-ders is as sophisticated as it is generous, and a fine, lion-hearted response to having your work, or that of your peers and colleagues, unceremoniously corrected.

Visual & Sound Arts Writing on the Wall Kaelen Wilson-Goldie

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le monde arabe ou Moyen-Orient. Ces carts apparaissent surtout propos des questions didentit et dauthenticit, qui ont fait lobjet de dbats ailleurs, mais sont loin davoir t r-solues dans des villes comme Casablanca, Alger et Tunis ou encore Le Caire, Damas, Ramallah, Amman, Istanbul, Bagdad ou Beyrouth.

Comme nombre de leurs pairs et de leurs col-lgues, Raad et Sadek ont fait leurs tudes ltranger. On raconte souvent quils en sont revenus avec dtranges ides sur ce que lart tait et pouvait tre, et que ces ides sopposent une autre forme de comprhension de lart en tant quexpression de lidentit nationale. Tout comme en Egypte aprs la rvolution pu-tative de 1952, en Palestine en pleine ferveur rvolutionnaire ou en Algrie aprs la guerre dindpendance contre la France, lart au Liban est depuis longtemps ml aux projets natio-nalistes, qui sont, au Moyen-Orient, particuli-rement (si ce nest uniquement) compliqus en raison de la diversit des communauts qui y vivent (des rsidents trangers aux travailleurs itinrants, en passant par les factions dmulti-plies des groupes religieux).

Les organisations que nous estimons repr-senter des scnes dart contemporain fonc-tionnelles, indpendantes et adaptables tra-vers la rgion nexistent que depuis les annes 90. Louverture de Townhouse au Caire, de Platform Istanbul, de Ashkal Alwan Bey-routh, de lAppartement 22 Rabat, de la Ci-nmathque de Tanger et du Forum des Arts contemporains dAlexandrie, qui a rcemment ferm ses portes, ont concid, tant en leur fa-veur qu leur dtriment, avec lmergence du discours de la mondialisation et des conomies nolibrales, de telle sorte que ces trois choses lart contemporain, la mondialisation et le nolibralisme en sont venus tre confon-dus et mlangs, considrs comme une seule et mme chose, foncirement politique. Par consquent, les courants antrieurs en faveur du cosmopolitisme et le genre de merveilleuse

contamination intellectuelle dlibre (pour emprunter les termes de Kwame Anthony Ap-piah) qui sont apparues il y a plusieurs dizaines dannes, voire plusieurs sicles, ont t touf-fs par une vision paternaliste, chauvine et en fin de compte assez provinciale qui considre qutre ml, perturb, contamin par laltrit quivaut, de fait, ntre quun imitateur de lOccident et un colonialiste fou.

La mfiance et le manque de confiance que ma-nifeste la rgion lgard de lart contemporain vont de pair avec un discours politique (le na-tionalisme moribond, les checs de la gauche) dans lequel rsonnent la stagnation et limma-turit. Mettre en avant des ides qui montrent le caractre artificiel du nationalisme, le carac-tre artificiel de lidentit nationale, le caractre artificiel dun pays tel que le Maroc lui-mme, et le faire dune faon productive, sous la forme dune critique constructive, est aussi provoca-teur que ncessaire. Dans les stratgies mises en place par Walid Raad, qui joue avec la ligne de partage entre fiction et ralit, celles dIman Issa, dont les masquages tudis ncessitent que le public regarde diffremment des ob-jets quils croient connatre, et celles de Kader Attia, qui a adopt une approche radicale de larchologie, de lhistoire et de la musologie, se retrouvent tous les arguments du dbat sur ce quest lart et qui il sadresse. Suivre ces arguments jusquau bout, jusqu lventuelle construction de nouvelles identits et de nou-veaux ordres politiques, est aussi complexe que gnreux, et constitue une manire digne et subtile de ragir au fait que votre travail, ou celui de vos pairs et collgues, soit corrig de faon aussi cavalire.

Arts Visuels & Sonores Ecrire sur les murs KaelenWilson-Goldie

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Visual & Sound Arts

Where Are We Now? Identity as Fiction

Hicham Khalidi, Visual & Sound Arts Curator

WHERE ARE WE NOW?, the title of Mar-rakech Biennale 5, is an interrogation of place and time. If WHERE is a question of site, the context in which the Biennale takes place, NOW is an enquiry into its past, its present, and its future. The Biennales Visual & Sound Arts exhibition explores the relationship be-tween the place of Marrakech and the now of the contemporary, contemporary art practice, and contemporary Morocco through artworks that reflect on the personal and collective, the historical and the fictional.

The Contemporary Is Now

According to philosopher Peter Osborne, NOW does not exist. What he designates as the contemporary is but a disjunctive unity of times, or more specifically, the coming to-gether of the times of human lives within the time of the living.1 The contemporary, by na-ture, can never be experienced as a whole. Rather, it consists of a fragmented together-ness of the past and future, a continuous pro-jection of individual, personal encounters and aspirations.

Delay and distortion are inherent to the expe-rience of time and the communication of expe-rience. No two people can see the same thing at the same instant, from the same location through the same senses. When we look up at the night sky, we see stars that have long since ceased to exist but whose light has only just reached our eyes. Similarly, moments, once no longer in the act of being lived, are relegated to the past.

Deferral renders mutual experience impossi-ble. How, then, can the coming together of discrete, personal encounters give rise to a col-lective understanding of time we call NOW? Moreover, if shared experience is impossible, then the prospect of a shared place is also un-tenable. Expansion of this view to a discussion of nationality reveals that an objective Mo-rocco too is illusory, and that a universal Mo-roccan identity is but a fallacy. How, then, can it be that we feel or experience Morocco as a coherent entity? Can the concept of a fictional present be used to challenge received ideas of historical, national, and religious identity?

In his essay, The Site of Imaginative Conten-tion, Rob Marks advocates for greater spec-ulation in science. He argues that imaginative speculation can achieve what science never doesan unbounded capacity to consider unproven and unprovable conditions and outcomes.2 The imagination, like art, is an inexhaustible platform for research and ex-perimentation. Artistic strategies that accept the ambiguity and improbability of a unified national identity make way for a better under-standing of the possibilities of a future Moroc-co.

The more than forty artists presented in Visual & Sound Arts examine notions of the contem-porary through speculative frameworks that place the viewer, participant, or inhabitant at their center. The exhibition, which consists of over twenty site-specific commissions, is dis-tributed across five locations in Marrakech: Palais Badii, Dar Si Said, Bank Al Maghrib, LBlassa, and Thtre Royal. Here I highlight only a few of the many extraordinary artworks produced in three of the five exhibition venues:


O sommes-nous maintenant? Identit comme fiction

Hicham Khalidi, Commissaire Arts Visuels & Sonores

O SOMMES-NOUS MAINTENANT ?, titre de la Biennale de Marrakech 5, est une interro-gation sur lespace et le temps. Si O est une question de lieu, le contexte au sein duquel se droule la Biennale, MAINTENANT est une

manire dvaluer son pass, son prsent et son avenir. Lexposition de Arts Visuels & Sonores explore la relation entre Marrakech en tant que lieu et le contemporain maintenant, la pratique artistique contemporaine et le Maroc contem-porain travers des uvres dart qui refltent sur le personnel et le collectif, lhistorique et la fiction.

Le contemporain, cest maintenant

Daprs le philosophe Peter Osborne, le MAINTENANT nexiste pas. Ce quil dsigne

comme le contemporain nest rien dautre qu une unit disjointe des temps ou, plus pr-cisment, la rencontre des temps des vies hu-maines au sein du temps du vivant 1. Lex-prience du contemporain, par nature, ne peut jamais tre totale. Celui-ci consiste plutt en un rassemblement fragment du pass et de lavenir, une projection continue des rencontres et des aspirations individuelles, personnelles.

Le dlai et la distorsion sont inhrents lex-prience du temps et de la communication de

Hicham Benohoud, Bienvenue Marrakech, 2014. Photo: Pierre Antoine

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Palais Badii, Dar Si Said, and Bank Al Magh-rib. Each artist responds to and reimagines the historical narratives of these unique spac-es, and of the country as a whole. From this exhibition emerges a dynamic reconception of Moroccan identity. One that is speculative, but nevertheless indelible.

Of Art and War Palais Badii

Each dynasty that ruled Morocco, including the French (which I view here as a dynasty), attempted to wipe out traces of its predecessor. The history that remains is one of strug-gle, defeat, and victory. The artworks presented at the Palais Badii, the former pal-ace of ruler Ahmed Al-Man-sur, exhume these vestiges of art and war, construction and destruction.

Kader Attias artistic practice is based on the excavation and repair of remnants of marginalized histories. His commission for the Biennale centers on the French protec-torate, who used heavy shell-ing, to violently repress the Rif mountains independence movement in 1922. Resonances of this con-flict are found in objects made with leftovers of shells and bullets. Attia worked with local Mo-roccan craftsmen to unearth these remains and to reappropriate them through the creation of new, hybrid objects and musical instruments. At Palais Badii Max Boufathals amalgam, high-tech tribe of sculptural warriors, animals, and weapons combines ancient tribalism with modern consumerism. His formidable cast of characters obeys a new order of natural se-lection. For the Biennale, Yassine Balbzioui introduces a very different kind of monster.

During his new performance, Grosse Tte (2014) the artist plasters objects and liquids onto his head, transforming himself into a mu-tant. Through the performance the artist aims to bring the audience to a state of despair and astonishment. As the mutant appears to slowly suffocate beneath its masking, the public be-comes witness to an unutterable situation.

For his site-specific performance I Will Not Stroll With Thami El Glaoui (2014) Jelili Atiku draws attention to a subtly nuanced Moroccan history in which the tenuous line between the

present and the past, reality and fiction, is blurred. The ti-tle is a reference to the Lord of the Atlas, a feudal Moroc-can warlord alive during the second half of the nineteenth century. In Towards A Possible Film (2014), a film project by Shezad Dawood, two astro-nauts emerge from the sea in a martian landscape, where they are violently confronted by its inhabitants. Shot on location in Sidi Ifni, Morocco the films dialogue is record-ed in Tamazight, a wide-spo-ken, Berber language only recently recognized as offi-cial in Morocco. Dawood em-ploys the parlance of science

fiction to challenge anthropological concepts of indigenousness.

Imagining Marrakech Dar Si Said

In Dar Si Said, a Moroccan museum that hous-es old Berber carpets, cabinets, and jewelry, artists explore, in different ways, the fiction of contemporary Morocco. The artworks pre-sented respond to the museum space while addressing issues far beyond the confines of the site and the initial scope of the artists re-search.

Visual & Sound Arts Where Are We Now? Hicham Khalidi

Kader Attia, Political Anthropophagy, 2014. Photo: Pierre Antoine

lexprience. Il nexiste pas deux personnes qui peuvent voir la mme chose au mme ins-tant, partir du mme endroit et avec la mme sensibilit. Lorsque nous regardons le ciel, la nuit, nous voyons des toiles qui ont depuis longtemps cess dexister mais dont la lumire atteint seulement alors nos yeux. De la mme faon, les instants, une fois quils ne sont plus en train dtre vcus, sont relgus au pass.

Diffre, toute exprience commune est impos-sible. Comment la runion de rencontres per-sonnelles et ponctuelles peut-elle alors donner

naissance une comprhension collective du temps que nous appelons MAINTENANT ? En outre, si le partage dune exprience est impos-sible, la perspective de partager un mme lieu nest galement pas envisageable. Si lon tend ce point de vue la question de la nationalit, il en dcoule que le Maroc, en tant que tel, est galement une illusion et que lexistence dune mme identit marocaine pour tous nest autre quune affirmation fallacieuse. Comment, dans ce cas, est-il possible que nous prouvions et exprimentions le Maroc comme une entit cohrente ? Le concept dun prsent fictionnel peut-il tre utilis pour remettre en cause des

ides reues sur lidentit historique, nationale et religieuse ?

Dans son essai The Site of Imaginative Conten-tion (Le Lieu de la dispute imaginative), Rob Marks se prononce en faveur dune plus grande spculation en science. Il dfend lide que la spculation imaginative peut atteindre ce que la science natteint jamais une capacit illi-mite prendre en compte les conditions et les rsultats qui nont pas t et ne peuvent tre prouvs. 2 Comme lart, limagination est une source intarissable pour la recherche et

lexprimentation. Les stratgies artistiques qui acceptent lambigut et limprobabilit dune identit nationale homogne favorisent une meilleure comprhension des possibilits pour un futur Maroc.

Les quarante et quelques artistes prsents dans Arts Visuels & Sonores examinent di-verses notions du terme contemporain travers des cadres spculatifs au centre des-quels se trouvent le spectateur, le participant ou lhabitant. Lexposition, qui consiste en plus de vingt installations in situ ralises pour locca-sion, se rpartit sur cinq lieux Marrakech : le

Arts Visuels & Sonores O sommes-nous maintenant? Hicham Khalidi

Shezad Dawood, Towards the Possible Film, 2014.

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Visual & Sound Arts Where Are We Now? Hicham Khalidi

Eric Van Hove, V12 Laraki (work in progress), 2012.

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Palais Badii, Dar Si Said, la Bank Al Maghrib, LBlassa et le Thtre Royal. Je ne mattarderai que sur quelques-unes des nombreuses uvres extraordinaires mises en place dans trois de ces cinq lieux : le Palais Badii, Dar Si Said et la Bank Al Maghrib. Chaque artiste ragit aux rcits historiques de ces lieux uniques et de lensemble du pays afin de les rinventer. Lex-position permet lmergence dune reconcep-tualisation dynamique de lidentit marocaine, qui se veut spculative bien quimprissable.

A propos de lart et de la guerre Palais Badii

Chaque dynastie ayant rgn sur le Maroc, y compris les Franais (que je considre ici comme une dynastie), sest efforce deffacer les traces de ses prdcesseurs. Lhistoire quil en est rest est une histoire de luttes, de dfaites et de victoires. Les uvres prsentes au Pa-lais Badii, lancien palais du souverain Ahmed Al-Mansur, exhument ces vestiges de lart et de la guerre, de la construction et de la destruc-tion.

Le travail artistique de Kader Attia se fonde sur lexcavation et la rparation des vestiges dhis-toires oublies. Luvre quil a conue pour la Biennale sinspire de la violente rpression me-ne par le Protectorat franais contre le mouve-ment dindpendance des montagnes du Rif en 1922 coups de lourds bombardements. Les chos de ce conflit se retrouvent dans les objets fabriqus partir des restes dobus et de balles. Attia a travaill avec des artisans marocains pour dterrer ces restes et pour les rutiliser dans la cration de nouveaux objects hybrides et dinstruments de musique. Au Palais Badii, la tribu high-tech et htrogne de Max Boufathal, compose de sculptures de guerriers, danimaux et darmes, voque un mlange de tribalisme ancien et de consum-risme moderne. Son incroyable assemble de personnages obit un nouveau principe de slection naturelle. Pour la Biennale, Yassie

Balbzioui nous prsente une sorte de monstre trs diffrent. Au cours de sa nouvelle perfor-mance Grosse Tte (2014), lartiste recouvre sa tte dobjets et de liquides, se transformant lui-mme en mutant. Par cette performance, lar-tiste veut conduire les spectateurs un tat de dsespoir et dtonnement. Au fur et mesure que le mutant semble suffoquer lentement sous son masque, le public est pris tmoin dune situation indescriptible.

Pour sa performance in-situ I Will Not Stroll With Thami El Glaoui (2014), Jelili Atiku attire lattention sur une histoire du Maroc subtilement nuance dans laquelle la ligne de partage fragile entre prsent et pass, ralit et fiction, sefface. Le titre fait rfrence au Sei-gneur de lAtlas, un guerrier marocain fodal qui vcut au cours de la moiti du XIXe sicle. Dans Towards A Possible Film (2014), un film ralis par Shezad Dawood, deux astronautes, sortant de la mer au milieu dun paysage mar-tien, sont violemment pris partie par les ha-bitants de la plante. Le film a t tourn en extrieur Sidi Ifni au Maroc et ses dialogues sont en Tamazight, une langue berbre lar-gement utilise et qui na t que rcemment reconnue comme langue officielle du Maroc. Dawood utilise les codes de la science-fiction pour remettre en question les concepts anthro-pologiques dindignat.

Imaginer Marrakech Dar Si Said

A Dar Si Said, un muse marocain o sont rassembls de vieux tapis, meubles et bijoux berbres, les artistes explorent, de diffrentes manires, la fable du Maroc contemporain. Les uvres prsentes sintgrent dans lespace du muse tout en soulevant des questions qui vont bien au-del du primtre de lendroit et du cadre de recherche quavaient au dpart les artistes.

Lartiste nomade Eric van Hove sest engag

Arts Visuels & Sonores O sommes-nous maintenant? Hicham Khalidi

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Nomadic artist Eric van Hove is committed to creating links between local and global issues. In Marrakech he presents V12 Laraki (2013), the result of nine months of work. V12 Lara-ki is a non-working replica of the Mercedes-Benz V12 engine. Each of its 465 components were handcrafted in 53 traditional materials, including ceramic, bone, tin, goatskin, and terracotta, by 42 Moroccan artisans. Both the Mercedes-Benz V12 and the V12 Laraki are equal, if non-transferable, products of human excellencethe former of a hundred years of

Western engineering, the latter of a thousand years of Moroccan heritage.

Adriana Lara is among the many other Bien-nale artists who collaborated with local crafts-men. The work she presents is a continuation of Interesting Theories (since 2010), a project she began in 2010, that de-emphasizes object making in favor of a conceptual reimagining of artistic production and the exhibition space. A new manifestation of this artwork is woven into traditional Moroccan rugs destined for

both the art and carpet markets.

Like Lara, Sadane Afif privileges intangi-bility, creating works about in

marrakech biennale 5 catalogue - english / french

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