Curated by
Reem Fadda, the 6th edition of the Marrakech Biennale announces its
curatorial concept.
Abstraction
/ Action art / Africa / Arab world / Civic Awareness / Cultural Resistance
/ Decolonization / Defeat / Ecology / Folklore / Incendiarism/
Intangibility / Junk art / Materiality / Minimalism / New / Now / Play /
Purpose / Recycling / Responsibility / Responsiveness / Survival
Technologies / Urgency
How do we surpass the
cultural orientation towards newness? That same culture inherited from the
modern ideal which, in pursuing advancement, has caused for hollow
consumption; the postmodern order recycling the past and packaging it in
the mere service of "progress." Then, is the search for the New, with its
inherent aspirations for discovery and truth, a mere escapism? Can we
simply reject the New?
We are caught in a temporal ping
pong, oscillating between future and past while seemingly disregarding the
present. For if the New, as a cultural and material trope, is bound to the
future, and history is anchored to the past, how and when are we left to
emphasize the Now? The surmounting political urgencies, the tremors of
earth—that growing wasteland, the vestiges of materials, bones, and
boats in shores and art alike—the calls for responsibility and
ecology—could all be heard beckoning for this shift of time focus?
This is the time for a heightened civic awareness, focusing on action and
responsiveness.
Marrakech is Africa and the Arab world,
throbbing all at once. The city lends itself as a site, bare of white
walls, to look at art from within the larger continent. Through the
biennale, we will examine how art is used formally as a means for cultural
resistance, and how ideas ranging from abstraction and minimalism to
recycling, junk art, and creative survival technologies are becoming
pervasive from past present experiences that occurred there. The biennale
looks at the legacies of decolonization, in addition to its failures, as
one of the origins that has inspired contemporary art to embrace
incendiarism, criticality and radicalism. The biennale's premise also
builds on the intangible, a longstanding history of Pan Afro-Arab &
Afro-Asian unity, through critically investigating socio-political
projects, cultural partnerships, intellectual provocations, and art
movements that have led to many shared artistic tendencies.
Public heritage sites of Marrakech, such as Palais El Badi and Palais
Bahia, will witness a variety of works, from installations to site-specific
commissions, by a group of international artists, focusing on Africa, the
Arab world, and its diasporas. Performances, exhibitions of archives, film
programs, seminars, lectures, and conferences will provide for an art
structure that looks at and interrogates these cultural commonalities and
interlaced relationships.
The Marrakech Biennale 6 will
consist of the main exhibition curated by Reem Fadda and assistant curator
Ilaria Conti. It will also include interjections by collaborating curators
Omar Berrada, Salma Lahlou and Fatima-Zahra Lakrissa. Simultaneously, a
selection of Partner and Parallel Projects will also be on view across
various parts of the city.
About the Marrakech
Biennale
Founded in 2004 by cultural entrepreneur Vanessa
Branson to address social issues through the arts, the Marrakech Biennale
has become a celebration of creativity in a city that has for centuries
been the focus of artistic investigations. An internationally recognized
event, the Biennale features a thriving interdisciplinary art
program.
For the first time, the 2016 Biennale will
present its program in public spaces and free of charge, in an effort to
welcome a wider public and reinforce the Biennale's connection to
Marrakech's urban historical landscape. The Biennale will also be in view
for the first time over a prolonged period of 11 weeks. Each week the
Biennale will present a diverse program of artist talks, performances, and
symposiums.
Executive President: Amine Kabbaj
President of Supporting Committee: Aziz Mekouar
Honorary President:
Mr. André Azoulay |
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