Art_Africa_2016_03_

ARTAFRICA

Reem Fadda

Reem Fadda is currently the assistant curator of Middle

Eastern art for the Abu Dhabi project of the Solomon

R Guggenheim. This precedes a Directorship of the

Palestine Association for Contemporary Art; helping

found the International Academy of Art-Palestine, in

which she served as the Academic Director; and co-

curating many international exhibitions and projects

considering art, architecture and geopolitics in

the Middle East.

Photograph: © Sofia Dadourian

ART AFRICA: Congratulations on your appointment as the curator for the

sixth Marrakech Biennale! Please tell us a bit about the theme for this year’s

event, ‘Not New Now.’ How did you arrive at this theme and how is it reflected

in the work on show?

Reem Fadda: The theme for the sixth Marrakech Biennale is quite broad and has

many angles and focuses, which was deliberate because this is art that has to inhabit a

city. I have been debating some of the core ideas and strategies in my head for many

years. The biennale is a great opportunity to present them all on a grand scale in a

way that not only inhabits a gallery space but envelops a city.

The starting point for me was to focus on the place; I’m really just presenting art

that, for the most part, emanates from a regional access that spans Afro-Asia and its

diaspora. Yes, there will be European artists but they are mostly those who have ties

with these regions. This is not about purity or ethnicity. This is about solidarity in a

train of thought. I believe that in this turbulent world, solidarity, action, collectivity

and empowerment is essential. Europe is extended and is African too. So what does

it mean to see art from Africa and the Arab world – to see it in its place? The title

consolidates many concepts of time. It is quite complex but also rather simple. I

want to focus on the present. Not the past or the future. I also want a concept of

time and the present that relates to the living, to people. I’m strategically replacing

the use of the term contemporary art with that of ‘living art’ in this context because

I feel it harnesses the contemporaneous but ultimately refers to society and life. I am

interested in art that is political, but I’m also invested in presenting an equation of

art that harnesses politics, action, poetics and contemplation. It is also a show that

presents living histories.

It is interesting that this year’s theme has chosen to emphasise notions of

the present in cultural production. What kind of transparency do you hope

such a focus might provide in engaging with the here and now, with specific

reference to the Moroccan context, in which the work is – for better use of a

term – present?

MARRAKECH BIENNALE / IN CONVERSATION WITH REEM FADDA 6/9

FEATURE / MARRAKECH BIENNALE

ARTAFRICA