22 | http://www.nomadafricamag.com | ...Celebrating the world’s richest continent | Issue 11Twenty kilometres outside Marrakech, a haven for street art artists
has emerged in recent years. Jardin Rouge has attracted more than 40 artists
from all around the world to develop their style for weeks or months. Everybody
invited by a foundation and the anonymous owner of the large garden.Words: Urban Nilmander | Photos: Carin TegnerMARRAKECH
DISCOVERING
A N O A S I S F O R S T R E E T A R T
n 2016, the 13 hectare large gar-
den also opened to the public
with a 2500-sqm art gallery
called Art Space. Well-known
French photographer Gerard
Rancinan opened the new gallery
with photos 9 by 15 metres large.
Later four street art artists, Jonone, Tilt,
Fenx and Cedric Crespel, had a much
praised exhibition and recently Russian
artist Yuri Averin showed his art. It's an
odd feeling to go by car from Marrakech
and leave the bustling city behind.
After about 15 km driving past nothing
except a few odd houses, the driver turns
right, being surrounded by a dry waste-
land with the occasional goat passing by.
But suddenly, something green and lush
in the flat landscape. And even before we
enter the huge green area, you see walls
covered with street art.
Inside the gates, famous German street
art artist Hendrik Beikirch aka ECB has a
Morrocan man on a large wal. A face cre-
ated when ECB was invited guest at
Jardin Rouge.
"In that way, I want to transform people I
met and talked to here from anonymous
to iconic. And to talk about their profes-sions probably disappearing soon", says
ECB. His giant portraits are shown in
many places around the world, among
them are the United States, Italy and Ger-
many.
One is still here, the man who never left
his village, not even for Marrakech. The
22 paintings have recently been pub-
lished in a book "Trades - Tracing Mo-
rocco".
At Jardin Rouge, we talk with communi-
cation manager Elise Lavigne, curator Es-
telle Guilié and others working at the
impressive art centre and we shake
hands with Jean-Louis; founder and
builder of Jardin Rouge.
Politely but firmly he declines publicity.
He wants to remain anonymous and
refers to his foundation, Montresso. A
foundation created to fund the large con-
struction site and develop it as an ambi-
tious part of Marrakech as an
international art centre.
Montresso is linked to the ambitious
Marrakech Biennale. Created by Vanessa
Branson, the Biennale attract artists, col-
lectors, journalists and art lovers from all
over the world for three months.
The creator of Jardin Rouge - the nameJardin Rouge is simply the property name- has designed and created the huge
area himself. Jean-Louis has a Russian
wife and does business with Russia.
A couple of the invited street art artists
at Jardin Rouge are from Russia, such as
SY / Vitaly Tsarenkov, Vitaly Rusakov and
Denis Tevekov. The French founder dis-
covered his interest in art and artists early
in life, and began collecting art in the
early 1980s. In 1981 he started the Mon-
tresso Foundation.
Forty years ago, he started coming to
Marrakech regularly, but it was not until
2007 that the construction of Jardin
Rouge began. From the beginning, it was
supposed to be a riad, a home for himself
with extra spaces for artists the founder
invited. But here the creator's interest in
publicity ends. He refers everything else
to curator Estelle Guilié, handpicked for
the job in 2014. She built a new organisa-
tion, where specially invited street art
artists could stay and live in the area for
shorter or longer periods.
Those invited present an idea they want
to carry out, a project with something
they had long wanted to try. "In this way,
we also create a relation and cooperation
i