Dedicated to the valorization of African art through its didactic offers and its various exhibitions, the Al Maaden Museum of Contemporary African Art (MACAAL) of Marrakech is autonomous and social in nature.
Privileging the public interest, this place of contemporary art, cultural and artistic organizes in its space, until November 14, 2021, a collective exhibition on the theme « Outsiders/Insiders? » in Essaouira, Morocco, in order to reach a wider audience and make art even more accessible.
« Outsiders/Insiders? » a showcase of iconographies with a particular plasticity at the Al Maaden Museum of Contemporary African Art (MACAAL)
Beyond a simple exhibition, « Outsiders/Insiders? » is a set of cultural events including a didactic and cultural component, guided school visits, conferences, interventions of artists, craftsmen and cultural promoters, initiations to creation and projections.
« Outsiders/Insiders? » takes place in a space in which the visitor is immersed in the fanatical and imaginary universe of the artists, a work of art room that presents the contemporaneity of Morocco.
Photo : © Ayoub-El-Bardii
The diversity of works by unclassifiable and heterogeneous artists in the exhibition « Outsiders/Insiders? »
« Outsiders/Insiders? » reveals self-taught creators, iconographic paintings and fantastic sculptures that highlight the creative richness of Essaouira and its socio-cultural realities. The works presented to the public are of a cultural, artistic and cultural nature. They are sometimes instinctive, sometimes reflective, and have in common this reflection of the invisible world imbued with great complexity with the assistance of supernatural forces.
Photo : © Ayoub-El-Bardii
The exhibition « Outsiders/Insiders? » offers a panel of artists such as Boujemâa Lakhdar, who, concerned with the preservation of traditions and ancestral rites, is inspired by spiritual symbols derived from his bookish knowledge of popular magic to sculpt his creations. These creations bear the imprint of an ancestral craft practice. As for Mohamed Tabal‘s paintings, they relate the cultural diversity, the manifestations of daily life as well as the rituals of Gnaoua. Ali Maimoun is inspired by daily life and African legends to design his sculptures reflecting the beauty of its habits and customs that he highlights. For his part, Regragui Bouslai is a visual slammer by presenting the universe as a paradise on earth and invites the audience to a scenographic painting the cosmos as a set of sinuous lines. With a harmonious and homogeneous mixture of blue and white, Abdelkader Bentajar, a native of Marrakech, is impregnated with the traditional colors of the city, to paint pictures in the image of the luminous oceans and clouds loaded with creatures.
Photo : © Ayoub-El-Bardii
Other artists namely : Abdelghani Htihet, Abdelmalek El Kebir, Hamou Ait Tazarin, Youssef Ait Tazarin, Rachid Amarhouch, Mustapha Asmah, Abdelghani Ben Ali, Ali Ben Allal Didouh, Regraguia Benhila, Said Ouarzaz, Redouan Khalid, Azzedine Sanana, Abdelmalek Berhiss, Brahim Trifis, Abdellah El Atrach, Abderramane Ziani, Mohamed Zouzaf, Mustapha El Hadar, are also present on the exhibition « Outsiders/Insiders? » until July 25, 2021.
The Al Maaden Museum of Contemporary African Art (MACAAL): What is it?
Consisting of a collection of 2,000 works of modern and contemporary African art, the Al Maaden Museum of Contemporary African Art in Marrakech was designed to contribute to the influence of African art internationally.
To this end, it organizes exhibitions, provides cultural mediation and initiates meetings on the evolution of art in order to make it accessible to all but also to demonstrate the creative energy and cultural diversity of the continent.
Today, through digital technology and in response to the global health crisis, the Al Maaden Museum of Contemporary African Art in Marrakech develops regular digital programming with artists, curators, art critics and cultural promoters in order to reach a wider audience. These exchanges are held on various themes and are available on its digital channels.