Dar El Bacha — Musée des Confluences

What’s on

Dar El Bacha – Musée des Confluences, Is staging an exhibition entitled Étoffes des sens : Résonances (Fabrics of the Senses – Resonances) underlining the impact Marrakech had on Yves Saint Laurent and Serge Lutens, whose paths crossed in the Ochre City and whose imaginations were fed by its dazzling light, its colours, its smells and its perfumes. Both men, devoted to the world of women, found endless inspiration in Morocco in their quest for beauty expressed with self-assured and unashamed audacity. The exhibition showcases a collection of kaftans acquired by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, and in resonance with this there will be a series of photographs taken by Serge Lutens in the eighties capturing traditional gestures and ingredients of beauty.
 

Dar El Bacha — Musée des confluences
Route Sidi Abdelaziz, Marrakech
+212 5 24 38 17 63
contact@fnm.ma

 

About Dar El Bacha — Musée des confluences

Located in the old Medina of Marrakech, Dar El Bacha is a stately residence built at the start of the 20th century and is a perfect example of a typical Moroccan riad, comprising a rectangular-shaped garden with 6 octagonal rooms on the 4 sides. It displays both the know-how of Moroccan craftsmen and rich decorative elements taking inspiration from Europe, notably Italy. The building was taken over in 2015 by the National Museum Foundation, which carried out its restoration in order to create a museum of ‘confluences’ and show the multi-faceted richness of Moroccan culture.

www.fnm.ma

Dar Si Saïd – National Museum of Weaving and Carpets

What’s on

The Creations of Yesterday and Today exhibition showcases the splendour and diversity of Moroccan weaving. Rural or sophisticated, the level of know-how stands out, both in the materials used and in the finished items (kaftans, bags, babouches, wedding blankets, djellabas, etc.). This collection is complemented by a display of jewellery, women’s ceremonial accessories, arms, daily objects, etc., coming from the collections of the National Museums Foundation. Another section of the exhibition is dedicated to carpets as important social and historic references. The accent is on techniques used and their representation, while focusing on the diversity between the centres of production, which fall into two broad categories – rural carpets and urban carpets.
 

Dar Si Saïd — National Museum of Weaving and Carpets
8 rue de la Bahia, Marrakech
+212 5 24 38 17 63
contact@fnm.ma

 

About the National Museum of Weaving and Carpets – Dar Si Saïd de Marrakech

In the heart of the old medina of the Ochre City, Dar Si Saïd is an architectural gem. This palace, which was built for Si Saïd Ben Moussa – who held the position of Minister of War under the regency of his brother Ba Hmad – Is an excellent example of 19th century local Moroccan architecture, both through its decoration and its structure. After it was handed over to the Moroccan National Museums Foundation and following its restoration, it re-opened its doors to offer visitors the perfect venue for admiring the ancestral arts of weaving and carpets.

www.fnm.ma/musee-dar-si-said-de-marrakech/

Yves Saint Laurent Museum Marrakech

What’s on

More than just a retrospective showing key pieces from Yves Saint Laurent’ career, the exhibition staged at the YVES SAINT LAURENT Marrakech Museum is a journey to the heart of his inspirations. Fifty models around themes dear to Yves Saint Laurent (‘Masculine-Feminine’, ‘Black’, ‘Africa and Morocco’, ‘Imaginary journeys’, ‘gardens’ and ‘art’) offer an original look at the designer’s work through pieces rarely shown to the public, presented in stark relief in a dark, minimalist setting. The creative process and the world of the designer are shown with the help of sketches, photographs, fashion shows, films, voices and music which complement the models on display. The museum is also presenting the first retrospective dedicated to the work of Jacques Azéma, the French artist who discovered Marrakech in 1931. His paintings, heavily influenced by symbolism, present a very personal view of Morocco.
 

Yves Saint Laurent Museum Marrakech
Rue Yves Saint Laurent, Marrakech
+212 5 24 29 86 86
info@museeyslmarrakech.com

 

About the Yves Saint Laurent Museum Marrakech

Near the Majorelle Garden, this building, covering 4,000 square metres and inaugurated in 2017, was created to be a true cultural centre. It houses an exhibition room with a permanent display showing 40 years of creation from the Yves Saint Laurent couture house, a temporary exhibitions room, a photography gallery, an auditorium, a research library, a bookshop and a cafe-restaurant. An underground area dedicated to the collections provides the best conditions for preserving works of art.

www.museeyslmarrakech.com

Majorelle Garden

What’s on

Marorelle Garden is one of the most charming and mystical gardens in Morocco. Created over a period of 40 years, it consists of a maze of criss-crossing alleys and Art Deco, Moorish buildings in bold colours. The garden itself is a huge and opulent collection of exotic plants and trees coming from distant lands, conceived as both a sanctuary and a laboratory by the French painter Jacques Majorelle from 1922 onwards. In 1980, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé bought the garden to save it from destruction as part of a hotel complex development project. Located in the painter’s former workshop, the Berber Museum offers a panorama of the incredible creativity of these people. From the Rif to the Sahara, more than 600 objects collected by Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent bear witness to the richness and the diversity of a still-thriving culture.
 

Majorelle Garden
Rue Yves Saint Laurent, Marrakech
+212 5 24 29 86 86
info@jardinmajorelle.com

 

About the Majorelle Garden Foundation

A Moroccan public institution, recognised as a self-financing, non-profit organisation, the Majorelle Garden Foundation looks after the preservation and the operation of the Majorelle Garden, the Berber Museum and the Yves Saint Laurent Museum Marrakech. Its revenues enabled it to open the Berber Museum in 2011 and the Yves Saint Laurent Museum Marrakech in 2017. All profits are reinvested within Morocco to finance the cultural, educational and social programmes that it supports.

www.jardinmajorelle.com

MACAAL — Museum of Contemporary African Art

What’s on

From 21st September 2019 to 5th January 2020, the MACAAL is staging an exhibition entitled New Waves – Mohamed Melehi and the archives of the Casa School, curated by Morad Montazami and Madeleine de Colnet for Zamân Books & Curating. Presented for the first time in The Mosaic Rooms, this chronological exhibition traces the artistic career of Mohamed Melehi between 1957 and the 1980s through the artist’s major works, posters, photographs and previously unseen archives. From his Roman period to the artistic revolution coming out of the Casablanca school, of which he was one of the leading lights, alongside Farid Belkahia and Mohamed Chabâa, New Waves showcases his prolific and fruitful career and the key role he played in the development of art instruction and experimental practices in Morocco, as well as his important work as a designer and muralist.
 

MACAAL
Al Maaden, Sidi Youssef Ben Ali, Marrakech
+212 6 76 92 44 92
info@macaal.org

 

About MACAAL

The Al Maaden Museum of Contemporary African Art in Marrakech is an independent, non-profit art museum and one of the first of its kind on the African continent. The MACAAL is dedicated to the promotion of contemporary art through different exhibition and conference programmes, with the aim of encouraging interest among a wider public. Apart from its permanent collection, exhibitions are organised of both established and emerging African and international artists, focusing on art from the African continent. The Museum is both encouraging the understanding of contemporary art and showcasing the creative energy and the cultural diversity of the continent.

macaal.org

Farid Belkahia Foundation

What’s on

In keeping with the spirit of Farid Belkahia and his interest in tradition arts, the Farid Belkahia Foundation has created a prize of 50,000 Dirhams to be awarded to two graduates of the Casablanca Academy of Traditional Arts. The prize-giving and the inauguration of an exhibition of the work of the two winning artists will take place on 21st December 2019 at the Farid Belkahia Foundation.
 

Farid Belkahia
Dar Tounsi, Marrakech
+212 5 24 32 89 59
fondationfaridbelkahia@gmail.com

 

About the Farid Belkahia Foundation

Founded in March 2015, the Farid Belkahia Foundation is dedicated to increasing awareness of the work of the artist Farid Belhahia. The Mathaf Farid Belkahia Museum was inaugurated In February 2016, located in the very studio where the artist worked for nearly 30 years. The Foundation’s intention is to keep the memory alive of the founder of artistic modernity in Morocco and to share this with a wider public through exhibitions and encouraging research through grants and prizes.

www.fondationfaridbelkahia.com

Montresso* Foundation

What’s on

From 16th December 2019 to 8th January 2020 the Montresso* Foundation is presenting the FUTURE PRIMITIVE exhibition by the artist TILT at the Montresso* Art Centre. An iconic artist of the urban scene, TILT has been working on the decontextualizing of graffiti for the last five years. With such a huge field of possibilities for the artist, this exhibition offers a head-on view of his world, where the signs and references of the legacy of graffiti are dissimulated and juxtaposed in order to arrive at a perfectly filtered extract of the Street.

 

Montresso* Foundation
KM20 route de Fès, Marrakech
Visits by appointment
info@montresso.com

 

About the Montresso Art Foundation

The Montresso* Art Foundation has been in Morocco since 2009, it is a hybrid establishment whose twin missions are to support artistic creation and to promote diversity in the fields of current artistic research. Through its Jardin Rouge artists-in-residence programme, its art area and its extra-mural activities, the Montresso* Art Foundation is fully invested in the promotion of its artists through multiple approaches while also participating in the artistic rise of Marrakech, working alongside local cultural players. The Foundation encourages meetings and dialogue between different pictorial and intellectual approaches.

www.montresso.com

David Bloch Gallery

What’s on

Arthur Dorval has been artist in residence at the David Block gallery since 2015 and he is now presenting his first personal exhibition in Marrakech. Fascinated by geometric abstraction, its balance and the power of shapes, he sees his painting as a coloured vibration. Since his early beginnings he has been developing a technique skilfully mixing arrangements of colours and shapes, in a principle of construction and balance driven by attention to detail and perfection. Comparable to ‘painted sculptures’ his geometric Eclosions are lively and vibrant compositions, full of sensitivity and energy, where open and closed basic shapes are arranged in new forms, enhanced by colours and transparency, liberating a unique architecture, credible or not. A modern vision of geometric art, Artur Dorval’s Eclosions also resonate with a futuristic imprint, marking him as one of the most promising talents of the Art Construit movement.

 

David Bloch Gallery
8 bis rue des Vieux Marrakchis, Marrakech
+212 5 24 45 75 95
contact@davidblochgallery.com

 

About the David Bloch Gallery

David Bloch Gallery is a contemporary art venue intended for everyone – novice, connoisseur or serious collector. The gallery encourages long-term artistic collaborations and takes a particular interest in the moral convictions of the artist and his or her work.

www.davidblochgallery.com

Voice Gallery

What’s on

The VOICE Gallery in Marrakech is presenting the exhibition DOUNIA RELOADED. Using photographs from the art duo ARTIMONS as a starting point, these are then put in opposition, confrontation and contradiction with the works of 15 other artists to provoke the public into thinking about the arguments around creation, formalisation, aesthetics and beauty. The art duo ARTIMONS reveal their world – Morocco, their roots and their love for fashion and the images are drawn from this legacy which they appropriate and turn towards the future. Their interpretations are dramatic, hybrid, sensitive and extravagant. As part of the gallery’s global vision, this exhibition is promoting interest in Moroccan identity as a country at the crossroads of Africa, the Arab world and Europe, linking and facilitating exchanges between these cultures.
 
Rue Salah Eddine El Ayoubi, Marrakech
+212 6 62 09 80 55
info@voicegallery.net

 

About the VOICE Gallery

Established in Marrakech in 2011, the main aim of VOICE Gallery is to create a programme of socially and geographically committed exhibitions which will challenge western perceptions of art, especially the stereotypes of African art, while also paying tribute to the history of the city’s interactions. Driven by the principles of transformation and exchanges, VOICE works to create dialogues reflecting cultural ferment and artistic traditions. By highlighting both local and international artists, the gallery is creating networks where emerging artists work together and escape the bounds of identity and of cultural origins.

www.voicegallery.net

Venise Cadre Casablanca Gallery (GVCC)

What’s on

On the occasion of this year’s Marrakech Art Week, the gallery is presenting a collective exhibition addressing the great questions of life in the future – ultra urbanisation, drought, climate change, theories and pessimism. Artists exhibited are imagining what life or what kind of life will exist in the various futures which different thinkers, scientists and philosophers are predicting. Houda Terjuman will be presenting, for example, this work where she develops the idea of a landscape
 

Temporary exhibition in Marrakech
Rue Dar el Bacha, Marrakech
+212 6 61 42 26 61
sowan.annelaurence@gmail.com

 

About GVCC

Founded in 1946, GVCC is the oldest gallery in Morocco and now one of the country’s major institutions. It has built its reputation by presenting orientalist painters, such as Jacques Majorelle, José Cruz Herrera and Henry Pontoy and by discovering artists who have since become internationally recognised, such as Farid Belkahia, Fatema Hassan, Jilali Gharbaoui and Hassan El Glaoui. The gallery is driven by a commitment to be constantly presenting emerging artists and experimenting with new fields of expression.

www.gvcc.ma

Khalid Art Gallery

What’s on

Khalid Art Gallery is presenting a series of photographs entitled 1001 Dreams by artists Yasmina Alaoui and Marco Guerra. Visitors to the exhibition will be enthralled with representations of bodies frozen in time, covered from head to foot in meticulously detailed patterns in Arab henna. Each artwork begins with a nude photograph in black and white taken by Marco Guerra, onto which complex transfers are applied by Yasmina Alaoui. Originally from Chile and Morocco respectively, the couple have been working together since 2005 and have exhibited internationally with much success.
 

Khalid Art Gallery
51 rue Dar El Bacha, Marrakech
+ 212 5 24 39 08 86
khalidartgallery@gmail.com

 

About the Dar El Bacha Khalid El Gharib Gallery

The Khalid Art Gallery was founded 10 years ago by renowned antique dealer Khalid El Guarib. From the very beginning the gallery has always specialised in Moroccan and Orientalist art and has become an indispensable address for connoisseurs and collectors. The gallery also holds major exhibitions on Moroccan textiles along with producing reference catalogues.

Dar El Bacha Gallery

What’s on

The Dar El Bacha Gallery is presenting an exhibition dedicated to the Chilean photographer Marco Guerra. The exhibition consists of 3 series of photographs: Volume and Lines – a contemplative project developed over several years capturing the calm and the poetry of the cisterns in the palms groves of Marrakech, Moroccan Landscapes – a neutral and contemporary vision of landscapes, in contrast to traditional representations and Tangier – documenting the comings and goings of men and women taken from the top of a single building at around 4:30 am.
 

Galerie Dar El Bacha
47 rue Dar El Bacha, Marrakech
+212 5 24 39 09 86
galerie.darelbacha@gmail.com

 

About the Dar El Bacha Gallery

The Dar El Bacha Gallery was born out of a desire by the connoisseur and collector Fatim-Zohra Bennani Bennis to promote the view that photographers should be seen as true artists. Her collections have been built during specifically targeted journeys around the world and the final destination of a life dedicated to art is in Marrakech and its Medina. Photography is an inclusive step in the field of art, which is itself an essential and constructive element of enduring societies.

47galeriedarelbacha.com

Tindouf Gallery

What’s on

The Tindouf Gallery is presenting a collective exhibition entitled Timeless Morocco, a coming together of Moroccan and foreign artists who each deliver their own representations of Morocco. Works by Mohammed Melehi, Fouad Bellamine, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Saad Hassani, Omar Bouregba, El Houssaine Mimouni, Ilias Selfati and Mohamed Anzaoui will be displayed alongside works by Bill West and James Brown, artists also passionate about Morocco.
 

Galerie Tindouf
22 Boulevard Mohammed VI, Marrakech
+212 5 24 43 09 08
gallerytindouf@gmail.com

 

About the Tindouf Gallery

The Temli family created this history gallery in Tangier in the twenties, which in 2007 moved to Avenue Mohamed VI in Marrakech on the initiative of Boubker and Hadia Temli, father and son. The ‘Tindouf’ signature is to mix artworks – from antiquity to contemporary art, to put works by different artists, with different inspirations, alongside one another, all curated under the shrewd, generous and extremely efficient eye of Boubker Temli.

www.galerietindouf.com

SINIYA28 Gallery

What’s on

The SINIYA28 Gallery is presenting two events on the occasion of this year’s Marrakech Art Week. Houda Terjuman – Untold Stories is an exhibition of fine and surreal paintings and sculptures which address the questions of immigration and identity through poetic themes and take us on a journey to the artist’s childhood and her roots. The Gallery is also organising a conference with the photographer Alia Ali around her latest series, entitled FLUX; wax prints of silhouettes wrapped in cloth representing the collision of political, economic and historic realities.
 

Galerie SINIYA28
28 rue Tarik Ibn Ziad, 1st floor, Apt 4, Marrakech
+212 6 61 10 74 66
galeriesiniya28@gmail.com

 

About the SINIYA28 GALLLERY

Located at the heart of the Gueliz artistic centre, the SINIYA 28 gallery was created in 2016 by Hadia Temli with the objective of supporting young Moroccan and international artists – both established and up and coming. Committed to the democratisation of art among young enthusiasts as well to the promotion of universal cultural heritage, the gallery supports artists expressing themselves through many different media – ceramics, textiles, design, photography, painting and drawing.

www.galeriesiniya28.com

Loft Art Gallery

What’s on

Following the success of Mon rêve est Pop in Casablanca, Loft Art Gallery is joining with El Fenn to bring the event to Marrakech, from 31st October 2019 to 31st January 2020. This luxury boutique hotel in Marrakech is the ideal place to enjoy the city in a shady setting near the Djema El Fna square. The exhibition showcases a comprehensive and ambitious selection of artists of different origins, taking their inspiration and their individuality from their African roots. Artists presented include Mohamed Melehi, Hicham Benohoud, Abdelkrim Ouazzani, Joana Choumali, Nicolas Henry and Evans Mbugua, who have one thing in common – the rapport they maintain with the world and with man in particular. Bearing witness to their own era, here they are expressing themselves in unison to highlight the universal quest for identity, where art plays a major role.

 

In Marrakech during MAW :
El Fenn
Derb Moullay Abdullah Ben Hussain, Marrakech
+212 5 24 44 12 10
contact@loftartgallery.net

 

About Loft Art Gallery

Myriem and Yasmine Berrada Sounni founded Loft Art Gallery in 2009, and since then it has been dedicated to raising awareness of the modern and contemporary art scene on the African continent. With its continuous work of research into and publications about the history of art and a programme which alternates between collective and single-artist exhibitions in its Casablanca premises, the gallery has been contributing to the growth of the artistic scene since its very beginnings. Loft Art Gallery is a regular participant in international art fairs and supports artists at the various biennales. The gallery is also closely associated with various museums around the world.

www.loftartgallery.net

Artcurial

What’s on

With a subsidiary in Marrakech since October 2019, Artcurial will be staging its first auction at the Mamounia Hotel on 30th December 2019. Entitled Majorelle and his Contemporaries, the first session will offer a selection of works by the greatest orientalist artists, including Le fils d’un Saint M’rabeth by Etienne Dinet, a large oil on canvas dating from 1900 and reproduced many times in reference books about the artist. Out of sight for 40 years, this masterpiece will be appearing for the first time on the art market. The second session will be dedicated to Made in Morocco, presenting a panorama of Moroccan decorative arts from the 17th century to today.

 

In Marrakech during MAW :
La Mamounia
Avenue Bab Jdid, Marrakech
+212 5 24 20 78 20
contactmaroc@artcurial.com

 

About Artcurial

Artcurial is a multi-disciplinary auction house, with its head office based in Paris, which has confirmed its place in the first rank of the art market with annual sales volume of over 200 million Euros. Around 100 auctions per year take place, covering more than 25 specialised categories, from Beaux-arts to decorative arts by way of jewellery, clocks and watches and classic cars. Decidedly international, Artcurial’s expertise extends well beyond the French borders, with representative offices in Brussels, Milan and Munich and subsidiaries in Monaco and Marrakech.

www.artcurial.com