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School of Casablanca
Curated by Krist Gruijthuijsen, Hoor Al Qasimi, Salma Lahlou, Inka Gressel, and Alya Sebti
A collaboration between ifa Gallery, Berlin; KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; and ThinkArt, Casablanca, 2023
School of Casablanca started in 2020 and was realized with the support of the Sharjah Art Foundation, the Goethe-Institute Morocco, and Zamân Books & Curating. Drawing from the innovative approaches of the Casablanca Art School from the 1960s, it aims to shed light on a crucial turning point in Moroccan art history after the country’s independence in 1956.
During this time, Casablanca radically broke with traditions and developed a completely new self-image in the arts. The Casablanca Art School played a pivotal role in this development with its modern approaches, artistic ideas, and new pedagogical methods. Drawing inspiration from the 1919 Bauhaus Manifesto by Walter Gropius, among other sources, it soon became a groundbreaking forum. The interdisciplinary research, residence, exchange, and exhibition project School of Casablanca is a collaborative initiative that furthers the legacy of the historical Casablanca Art School in contemporary thought.
School of Casablanca brings newly commissioned work into a dialogue with archival material that contextualizes the politically troublesome and culturally productive history in which modern Moroccan art was formed. The project revisits and reinterprets the radical ideas and actions of the group of individuals Farid Belkahia (1934–2014), Mohammed Chabâa (1935–2013), Bert Flint (1931–2022), Toni Maraini (b. 1941), and Mohamed Melehi (1936–2020), who shaped the original school at its peak (1964–69). In doing so, it draws from the spirit of experimentation, discourse, self-organization, and community building embodied by Souffles, a now-iconic Moroccan cultural magazine of the time.
CLIENT
KW Institute for Contemporary ArtLINK
https://schoolofcasablanca.com/CREDITS
Project Coordination: Salma LahlouDesign: Marc Hollenstein