The 6th Marrakech Biennale has begun and the parallel project MB6 Street Art is in full effect as well – with an international collection of 10 artists painting murals at street level and on roofs inside the “Red City” or Medina of Marrakech.
One of the core principals of the biennale is to be sensitive to the local context, and organizers for MB6 have taken that guidance to heart in these old and often conservative neighborhoods by curating artists whose work in abstract, geometric, and decorative forms can endure a while under the intense sun. Particular sensitivity has been taken into consideration in this sort of magical fortified city where time seems to have slowed or even stopped in many ways. The approach is appropriate for the theme of this years biennale “Not New Now”.
Lucy Mclauchlan at work on her wall in The Medina. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Many inquisitive passersby in this bustling, chaotic/serene street scene will stand by and observe for long periods of time to discuss the evolving artworks and question others about the significance of a particular feature. Whether you speak Arabic, French, or Tamazight these new murals are providing a lot to talk about and many appear to relish the discussion.
We’ll be bringing you more details later but thought you’d like a few images of walls in progress, today with Birmingham’s Lucy McLauchlan, Moscow’s Alexey Luka, and Marrkesh’s own Kalamour.
Alexey Luka at work on his wall in The Medina. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Additionally we are pleased to announce our new partnership with Urban Nation (UN) in Berlin to discover and bring new Street/Urban Art from around the world to you.
Of course our very first collaboration with UN was the successful and enriching cultural exchange between Brooklyn and Berlin last year for for Project M/7 when we curated a show with 12 Street Artists in Berlin entitle “Persons of Interest”.
The nascent museum is emerging before our eyes with ever deeper ties to the global/local urban art communities and artists. We’ll be making more announcements regarding our collaborations in the near future.
Kalamour at work on his wall in The Medina. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
MB6 Street Art at the Marrakech Biennale is BSA in Partnership with Urban Nation (UN)
#urbannationberlin #allnationsunderoneroof #unblog #Marrakesh @mb6streetart #mb6streetart #MarrakeshBiennale #painting #mural #streetart #bkstreetart @bkstreetart
A special shout out to photographer Ian Cox for showing us how to get around the market and the souks on our first day! We’d still be stuck in there right now without his help. Follow him @wallkandy on Instagram
Other Articles You May Like from BSA:
Ephemerality is a core aspect of art on the streets that differentiates it from conventions of art making and collecting and displaying in institutional settings. The fact that an artist is willing to...
November has been "Native American Heritage Month" since 1990 and ironically the growing right-wing extremism of the intervening decades appears to have further erased our collective knowledge of nat...
Lapiz is the Hamburg-based street artist whose practice involves handmade stencils to convey his message to the public. He places them in many cities around Germany and internationally and he says he...
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities. Now screening:1. Bandaloop. Excerpts from Field. Part II of the multi-year work LOOM.2. Bandaloop. FLOOD, Worl...
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! It’s great to see new pieces appearing on the streets this week, including numerous tributes to our patron renegade Eurasian eagle-owl, the famous Flaco, w...