L’ Art contemporain rayonne au festival Orient'Art Express. Oujda s’érige t’elle en un nouveau rendez-vous de l’ art contemporain dans la région du Maghreb ? Je dirais que oui et peut-être bien qu’elle joue la carte de l’incontournable à travers son Festival Orient’Art Express dédié à l’expression artistique contemporaine du Grand Maghreb, dont la cinquième édition se tiendra du 13 août au 13 septembre prochain. Ce festival fait partie d’une programmation artistique et culturelle Initiée par l’association «Réseau d’Art A-48», l’association œuvre pour la promotion, la sensibilisation et la diffusion de l’ art contemporain à travers des actions de proximité au public et particulièrement les scolaires. Fayçal Baghriche, Mecca, 2011 Copyright et courtesy de l’artiste Courtesy Galerie Campagne première, Berlin. Il demeure l’événement annuel phare de l’association. Mounir Fatmi, History is not mine, 2013 Copyright l’artiste, courtesy Galerie FJ Casablanc.
Artistes exposants : Fayçal Baghriche Sean Hart Mohammed Benhamza William Kentridge Oussama Tabti. The Branson Biennale for Morocco. Vanessa Branson stands, hands on hips, her loosely hanging skirt tails give her the figure of a Western women making modest concessions to the predictable inquisitive gaze of an Arabic polis. Her trainers are burnished gold — a playful note — and what you wouldn’t be forgiven for calling “ethnic jewellery” is slung around her neck. She has just organized the 4th Marrakech Biennale and looks proud of this achievement. Next to her, one of the young curators, Carson Chan, is dressed entirely in black, wearing statement glasses, with folded arms submitting mournfully to the publicity shot, any visible reluctance counterbalanced by a quiet confidence.
It’s quite clear who has the money, and who already suspects he knows how this image will be read. There have been internet rumblings around the biennale — called Surrender — which opened two weeks ago. The centerpiece is an exhibition — Higher Atlas — which runs until May. Q: Does the discussion feel liberating? Chan is ying to Samman’s yang. Boldly Bringing New Art to Old Morocco. In a former branch of the Banque du Maroc earlier this autumn, sound from a dozen video installations met the cacophony of the historic Djemaa el-Fna square, where food vendors peddled their fare to tourists, snake charmers lined up their cobras and monkeys were paraded on leashes. At dusk, a call to prayer sounded from the Koutoubia Mosque’s landmark minaret.
“It’s a symbolic act to be here,” Hicham Daoudi, founder of the Marrakesh Art Fair, said as he looked out at the teeming agora where 16 people were killed in a terrorist bombing in April. The exhibition “Images Affranchies,” showing video art and photography from important young Moroccan and Middle Eastern artists, was part of the fair’s desire to reach out to Marrakesh residents who have little experience with contemporary art and may have been put off by a visit to the fair’s white-walled booths at the luxurious Es Saadi Palace, where the well-heeled sipped Champagne and nibbled hors d’oeuvres on a rambunctious opening night.
The Branson Biennale for Morocco. Docks Art Fair. Retour sur. FIAC - Foire Internationale d'Art Contemporain. Frieze.