The 5th edition of the Marrakech Biennale took place, from February 28 to March 30, 2014, under the patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI. The MB5 was attended by over 450 artists including more than 100 Moroccan artists, it had over 30,000 visitors. It mobilized more than 80 sponsors and patrons and invited over 150 international and national journalists and professionals.
A key focus was also ensuring that the event extended as far as possible into the local community. A partnership with Cadi Ayad University saw students interning alongside the biennale team as part of their graduation accreditation. The event was triple translated into English, French and Darija to ensure maximum accessibility. And this extensive programme, as well as the quality of the artists and media coverage, saw this edition ranked among the top 20 bienniales in the world. In recognition of her work to cement Morocco in the contemporary African art scene, Vanessa was awarded the King’s Medal for Services to the Arts by Mohammed VI.
Visual Arts The exhibition, curated by Hicham Khalidi, invited 43 artists from Morocco and several other countries. The vast majority of the artworks were site specific, produced in and inspired by the context of Marrakech. The artpieces were diffused between the venues of the 16th century El Badi Palace, the Dar Si Said, which houses the Museum of Moroccan Arts, the former Bank Al Maghrib in the middle of the Jemaa El Fna square - This square is the pulsing heart of the Medina of Marrakech, and it has been defined by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity- and a unique art deco building in the area of Gueliz called L'Blasa, Which is now the headquarters of the 6th edition of the Marrakech Biennale in 2016.
Artists Adriana Lara - Agnes Meyer-Brandis - Anne Verhoijsen - Asim Waqif - Burak Arikan - Can & Asli Altay - Cevdet Erek - Charif Benhelima - Eric Van Hove - Gabriel Lester - Ghita Khamlichi - Hamid el Kanbouhi - Hamza Halloubi - Hassaan Kahn & Ibtesam Gazder - Hiba Khamlichi - Hicham Benohoud - Iman Issa - Jelili Atiku - JG Thirlwell - Kader Attia - Katarina Zdjelar - Katinka Bock - Keren Cytter - Khaled Sabsabi - Lili Reynaud-Dewar - Max Boufathal - Mohamed Arejdal - Mounira Al Solh - Mustapha Akrim - Pamela Rosenkranz - Patrick Wokmeni - Randa Maroufi - Saâdane Afif - Sandra Niessen - Saout Radio (Younes Baba-Ali & Anna Raimondo) - Saud Mahjoub - Shezad Dawood - Tala Madani - The Naked - Wafae Ahalouch el Keriasti - Walid Raad - Yassine Balbzioui - Younes Rahmoun - Zaynab Khamlichi
Film Cinema and Video considered contemporary creations from North Africa in dialogue with other regions, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Curated by the pioneering founder of the festival of video installation Casaprojecta, Jamal Abdenassar, video installation as a hyphen between film, visual art, and performing art was very present in this edition. The film screenings and roundtables were combined by a carte blanche to the legendary Cinematheque de Tanger. With a Carte Blanche to "La Cinematheque de Tanger
Participants Amir Rouani - Hassan Darsi - Hicham Ayouch - Ismael El Iraki - Mohamed El Baz - Mohammed Laouli - Soukeina Hachem - Yacout Kabbaj - Yasmine Hajji - Youssef Ouchra
Literature Led by the Moroccan writer and theater author Driss Ksikès, the Literary discipline promoted access to public space through a series of roundtables as well as performative lectures, connecting performing art and literature. These events took place in the Royal Theater, a contested theater and opera house built in the late 70s yet never used as such. Playing on this, it was also the main venue of the previous edition of the Marrakech Biennale. The literature section also took place in Riad Denise Masson, the house of the first woman who ever translated the Koran into French and Dar Cherifa, the oldest house of the Medina. Finally, the exhibition opened to the most public space of the city as it merges with the visual art exhibition in the main square Jemaa El Fna, fusing the new and the old.
Participants Abdelmajid Arrif - Aïcha El Beloui - Ali Essafi - Asmae Lmrabet - Ghaleb Bencheikh - Hamza Boulaïz - Imane Zerouali - Jaouad Essounani - Latefa Ahrrare - Michael Willis - Mohamed Sghir Janjar - Mounia Bennani-Chraïbi - Mounir Bensalah - Olfa Youssef - Raja El Mouatarif - Saïd Bouftas - Saloua Zerhouni - Sanae El Aji - Simohammed Fettaka - Sophia Hadi - Taïeb Belghazi - Yves Gonzalez-Quijano
Performing Arts Performing Arts was organized and curated by the founder of Alwaln’art, the public space festival in Marrakech, Khalid Tamer. He created a circulation that reimagines the relationships of public space to both outsiders and natives between several venues of the Biennale. This movement is organized as a dialogue between the contemporary and the traditional, connecting the two areas where the Biennale took place: the more traditional space of the Medina and the modern area of Gueliz, the first area built outside of the Medina fortification starting in 1913. The main purpose of this circulation in the public space is to invite the immediate and spontaneous audience to participate in the Biennale by interconnecting the main venues.
Participants Collectif "Les Scotcheurs Eclaires" - Philippe Allard et M’Barek Bouhchichi - Sandrine Dole
