Hence the change. Hence the opportunity.
Galleries in the new town area boast artists from across the African continent. Even Sub-Saharan artists are getting their due. The David Bloch Gallery, Galerie Rê and the Matisse Art Gallery are popular venues for the culture crowd. Yves Saint Laurent famously lived in the city during its mid-20th century heyday, and a new fashion scene is also burgeoning. Sir Richard Branson’s sister Vanessa has opened both a hotel, El Fenn, and founded a biennial art fair in Marrakesh.
Sotheby’s joined the fray last year, holding its first ever contemporary African arts sale. It was a significant statement. The auction house, founded in 1744, rarely steps outside proven art terrain. It showed 100 works, mostly by artists from South Africa, the largest and most active African fine art market. Many of the works fetched six figures and El Anatsui, a globally en vogue artist originally from Ghana, sold one work, Earth Developing More Roots, for just shy of a million dollars.
Artnet News reports that demand for African contemporary art has risen exponentially over the past few years. Marrakesh is wise to cater to patrons.
The courtyard of the Mandarin Oriental Marrakech, next to the Museum of African Contemporary Art, allows visitors to leave behind the crazy crowds. Its courtyard offers a sculpture garden, a pool, a fine restaurant and a bit of relaxation.
“Before we had the museum, there were offices here,” says Gaëlle Dieudji. “We wanted it to remain calm.”
On exhibit was “Africa Is No Island”—works by 40 artists and photographers who create from a distinctly African perspective. They examine visually relevant cultural concepts of tradition, spirituality, family and the environment. One particularly provocative display was on food waste. An entire room, set as a dining room, was filled with refuse, something people contend with differently around the world. In the developing world, there is no food to waste, while the developed world enjoys abundance, and those norms are explored by the art.
A photography series, meanwhile, shows African locals in a variety of contexts: working, playing, at home. Some are featured in traditional garb. Some reveal customs, such as ritual facial scarification. Other images are historical and exposed in black and white. And there are contemporary pictures in full color of everyday people at work.
A City In Flux
The changes in Marrakesh are visible. Commerce in Africa has been turning toward more global trade, and North Africa is vying to become the renewable energy capital of the Middle East-North Africa region.