Arts in Marrakech Biennale 2012

"While trying to curate an exhibition that could become part of a contemporary Moroccan cultural identity, we can also challenge the received methods of biennale making that is routinely practiced elsewhere. Do we have to show art? Why not commission a novel, a symphony, an album or a prayer?".

Carson Chan, architecture writer, Harvard Graduate and co-curator of this year's Arts in Marrakech (AiM) International Biennale is certainly talking big. Biennales are, after all, notorious for looking fairly similar the world over (if you're interested in the debate you can read this lovely piece published last summer in The Arts Newspaper).

But still, the concept behind 'Higher Atlas', the biennale's visual arts exhibition, is certainly alluring. Not so much because of the description that "Higher Atlas suggests a cartography of the beyond”. But rather the explanation that "all works will be new site-specific commissions, conceived and created on location with local craftspeople and manufacturers".

If successful, the exhibition could provide alternative reflections on the state of current events provided by popular and activist media and that would be invaluable.

The truly special part of AiM and that which sets it apart from similar efforts around the globe, however, isn't its visual arts exhibition. Rather it is AiM's special events programme which boasts among its previous participants a rich diversity of names including Turner Prize nominee Isaac Julien, actress Kim Catrall, artist Julia Schnabel, TV Executive Alan Yentob and novelist Zadie Smith. Running for only five days, between February 29 and March 4, this year's programme promises the mouthwatering prospect of seeing the work of the likes of WJT Mitchell (critical theorist at the University of Chicago), Negar Azimi (editor of Bidoun magazine, member of the Arab Image Foundation), Driss Ksikès (director of the CESEM research center, and its magazine Economia, and co-founder of DABATEATR in Rabat) and artist Matthew Stone, whose one-off performance will require audience members to appear in Hamam attire.

The following stand out:

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29

Artistic identities in Africa and the Middle East

4:30 | Venue: Riad Denise Masson

With Aziz Daki (art historian, director of the Atelier 21 in Casablanca), Khadija El Bennaoui (coordinator of Young Arab Theater Fund and Art Moves Africa and Board member of Arterial Network), Catherine David (independent curator , Director of Contemporary Arab Representations), Simon Njami (curator and art critic, co-founder of Revue Noire), Hamza Serafi (founder ofAthr Gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia)

A Spring of images?

17:00 | Venue: Riad Denise Masson

WJT Mitchell (theorist of art, media and literature, University of Chicago, and editor of the journal Critical Inquiry), in conversation with Rasha Salti (independent art critic, curator and film programmer) and Omar Berrada (director of the Dar al-Ma’mûn library)

THURSDAY, MARCH 1

Art and Public Space

10:00 | Venue: Riad Denise Masson

With Negar Azimi (editor of Bidoun magazine, member of the Arab Image Foundation), Hassan Darsi (artist, co-founder of La Source du lion), Abderrahim Kassou (architect, President of Casamémoire & General Coordinator of Les Abattoirs de Casablanca), Katarzyna Pieprzak (Professor at Williams College, author of Imagined Museums: Art and Modernity in Postcolonial Morocco), Driss Ksikès (director of the CESEM research center, and its magazine Economia, and co-founder of DABATEATR in Rabat

FRIDAY, MARCH 2

Blowing in the Wind

10:30 | Venue: ESAV

New Wave from Morocco
Screening The End
Riding the counterculture wave, rising star Hischam Lasri, Morocco’s latest director (and author of Morocco’s first science fiction novel, Stati ©)

Are you modern?

16:00 | Venue: Riad El Fenn

We have come to identify modernity with the west, and being modern, when you are from elsewhere, has come to mean catching up with the west. With Khadija Carroll La, Pankaj Mishra, Zahia Rahmani, moderated by Ali Benmakhlouf

1395 Days without Red, Anri Sala screening

17:30-18:30 | Venue: Bank Al-Maghrib

Marrakech Biennale presents, in association with Artangel, the North African premiere of 1395 Days without Red.
Šejla Kamerić and Anri Sala, in collaboration with Ari Benjamin Meyers. 1395 Days without Red was conceived, developed and filmed as a collaborative film project by Šejla Kamerić and Anri Sala. The project has given life to two separate films, which are both being presented at the Biennale. This presentation was generously supported by Marian Goodman Gallery, and Hauser & Wirth.

A special one-off performance by Matthew Stone and Phoebe Collings-James

23:00-01:00 | location to be disclosed

Hamam attire required.

SATURDAY, MARCH 3

West Beyond the Wire

10:30 | Venue: ESAV

Far West, a conversation with the celebrated actor Dominic West. With writer Anthony Horowitz screening highlights of West’s work – The Wire.

Truthful traitors

11:00 | Venue: Riad El Fenn

Sometimes betraying your family, or your country, is the only way to be true to yourself. Two subtle writers rise above the simplifications of nation and morality, and give their nuanced, radical, and personal views of the tumultuous legacies of Apartheid in South Africa, and French colonization in Algeria. With Rian Malan, Zahia Rahmani, moderated by Driss Ksikès

Moroccan (short) stories

16:00 | Venue: Riad El Fenn

The short story is perhaps the most lively literary form in Morocco, and a genre in which women writers have been particularly brilliant and productive. A conversation with Latifa Baqa and Rabia Raihane, two of Morocco’s most talented and respected short story writers. With Latifa Baqa, Rabia Raihane, moderated by Ayoub El Mouzaine

Cinema Conference: Ali Bemaklouf

18:00 | Venue: ESAV

Philosopher Ali Benmakhlouf presents his conference ‘Is Film the Epic poem of the day?’, discussing the parallels between drama and the epic by analysing the three films.

SUNDAY, MARCH 4

Partners in Crime

11:45 | Venue: Riad El Fenn

Husband and wife, Anthony Horowitz and producer Jill Green, chaired by Matthew Bannister. Prolific writer and author, Horowitz has written numerous successful television series including the Midsomer Murders and Foyle’s War.

Blowing in the Wind

14:30 | Venue: ESAV

New Wave from Morroco
L’Amante du Rif and Q&A with Director Narjiss Nejjar and Producer Lamia Chraibi with Mohammed Bakrim
Narjiss Nejjar’s third feature follows Aya, daydreaming of love.

1395 Days without Red, Šejla Kamerić screening

17:30-18:30 | Venue: Bank Al-Maghrib

Marrakech Biennale presents, in association with Artangel, the North African premiere of 1395 Days without Red.
Šejla Kamerić and Anri Sala, in collaboration with Ari Benjamin Meyers. 1395 Days without Red was conceived, developed and filmed as a collaborative film project by Šejla Kamerić and Anri Sala. The project has given life to two separate films, which are both being presented at the Biennale. This presentation was generously supported by Marian Goodman Gallery, and Hauser & Wirth.

For "further reading", The Biennial Foundation provides a nice and succinct overview of the concept and history behind the biennale, while Higher Atlas’ own website can be found here.

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