22 Jun 2012

Horizons Croises

Curated by : Brahim Alaoui

As part of its 34th edition, the Assilah cultural International Festival organizes a series of cultural manifestations in order to celebrate the Maghreb artistic scene, this year's guest of honour.
The organizers asked Brahim Alaoui to set up an exhibition of contemporary art, which he untitled 'Horizons croisés'.
He brings together the works of about fifteen artists who offer a global vision of the contemporary art in Maghreb.

Thus, 'Horizons Croisés' presents the works of founder artists, who are at the root of Maghreb artistic modernity, gets them getting in tune with the works of young contemporary artists from different countries in this region.
The artistic practices which dominate the post-colonial cultural area in Maghreb, practices marked by the affirmation of an identity which faces up to 'the other', are embodied by the works of artists like Farid Belkahia, Abdallah Benanteur, Mohamed Melehi and Sahli Abderrazak.
To their side, the young generation of artists shows how to recreate a new modernity, in order to confront the contemporary world issues and the mutations of our environment.
This is the case of Amina Benbouchta, Amel Bennys, Zoulikha Bouabdellah, Meriem Bouderbala, Safaa Erruas, Mohamed El Baz, Mounir Fatmi, Mohamed Mourabiti, Driss Ouadahi, Yazid Oulab, Dora Dhouib and Nicène Kossentini.

This contrast between periods end experiences, this meeting with the convergent but still different imaginaries helps to determinate in which way the research of an 'other modernity', which was already one of the distinctive lines of the artistic production in the sixties in Maghreb, stays significant for contemporary artists.

Therefore, these Horizons croisés become the 'stamp' of contemporary artists in Maghreb.

To Brahim Alaoui, historian of art and curator of many international exhibitions: 'The art scene in North Africa has been experiencing a great deal of excitement in the past several years, a desire for expression propelled by a freedom of tone. This is being sustained by a new generation that is actively taking part in these global dynamics of connections and interactions between so-called local artists and those who live or spend large amounts of time away from their home country. They manage to give shape to their personal visions and open a path to the viewpoints of others by producing works which, although the product of a particular context, attain a universal language and offer up an art to be shared. And this has given them gateways allowing them to mingle with the international art scene and nourish passionate dialectics between the local and global'.

The Assilah Cultural International Festival will take place in northern Morrocco near Tangiers. It celebrate its 34 years this summer, since it is a place of convergence for researchers, scholars, writers, plastic artists, intellectuals, and representatives from the international media.
It was started in 1978 by Mohamed Benaïssa, the mayor of Assilah, former minister of Culture and Foreign Affairs, and Cooperation, and by plastic artist Mohamed Melehi.