At this event, which forms part of the "Entretanto" event series and coinciding with the end of the exhibition "Moroccan Trilogy", we will be tacking stock of the ability held by artistic creativity to affect and enable new ways of sensing the collective amd, in particular, how this has taken within the context of contemporary Moroccan society.
Through a dialogue between Abdellah Karroum, the exhibition curator, and playwright and thinker Driss Ksikes, we will perform an overview of the cultural ecosystems that emerge from and pervade three periods proposed by Karroum in this exhibition of contemporary Moroccan art at the Reina Sofia Museum, ranging from the transition to independence (1950-1969), then what were known as the "Years of Lead" (1970-1999), followed by the period lasting up to the present (2000-2020).
The event will be conducted by Susana Moliner, curator of the "Entretanto" event series, in which we hope to provide a path towards a collection about what took place and what remains from these uncertainty, reviving the emancipating and transformative aspects that have been triggered y artistic practices occuring in Morocco.
Driss Ksikes (1968, Casablanca) is a researcher, writer and literary critic. He directs “Economia,” an interdisciplinary research center at the Institut des Hautes Études de Management in Rabat, where he is a professor of Media and Culture. Prior to that, he was the editor of the magazine Telquel and director of the Arabic language magazine Nichane. He has been greatly involved in the organization of cultural activities on art, knowledge and public space in Morocco in collaboration with universities and international, Arab and African entities. He recently published the novel Au détroit d’Averroès (2017, Le Fennec & 2019, Fayard.)
Abdellah Karroum is a curator, writer and educator (b. 1970 Rif - Morocco). He is the Artistic Director of L’appartement 22 in Rabat - Morocco, and the Director of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha - Qatar since 2013. Karroum is also the founder and artistic director of a number of art initiatives, including L’appartement 22 in Rabat, and has curated numerous exhibitions, such as, most recently, “Moroccan Trilogy 1950 - 2020” at Reina Sofia in Madrid (2021); “Our World Is Burning” (2020) at Palais de Tokyo, Paris; “Kader Attia: On Silence” (2021), “Revolution Generations” (2018), “Shakir Hassan Al Said: The Wall” (2017), Wael Shawky: Crusades and Other Stories (2015), Farid Belkahia: Aube(s) (2015), and Shirin Neshat: Afterwards (2014), all at Mathaf. He was artistic director of Inventing the World: The Artist as Citizen for the Biennale Benin (2012), curator of Sous nos yeux [Before Our Eyes] at La Kunsthalle de Mulhouse (2013) and at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (2014), and associate curator of Intense Proximity for La Triennale, Paris (2012). Other curatorial and research projects include the Sentences on the Banks and other activities at Darat Al-Funun, Amman (2010); A Proposal for Articulating Works and Places for the 3rd Biennale of Marrakech (2009); the R22 art experimental web radio station established in 2007; Le Bout Du Monde art expeditions (ongoing since 2000); the Editions hors’champs series of art publications established in 1999. He received his PhD in Communication, Art and Performance from the Michel de Montaigne University - Bordeaux in 2001 with a dissertation titled “Nomadic Works: Towards a Post-Contemporary Art,” accomplished while working full time at the capcMusee in Bordeaux (1991-1996). He was alumni of MoMA-Columbia University Curatorial Leadership program (2014) and he regularly writes for specialized art publications.
Further information: https://en.casaarabe.es/event/a-dialogue-between-abdellah-karroum-and-driss-ksikes-around-and-through-three-times
