The Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rabat will house, from March 1, the event exhibition “Arab modernities, collection of the museum of the Institute of the Arab world”, presented for the very first time outside the Arab World Institute (IMA).
The collection, presented by IMA Paris and the National Museums Foundation (FNM), will exhibit a remarkable selection of works from the IMA museum unveiled for the first time at another institution.
It offers a rich panorama of the avant-gardes of the plural modernities of the countries of the Arab world from 1945 to the present day, with a majority of paintings but also sculptures, photographs and graphic works. The course is thought out in such a way as to draw up the different axes which retrace the works and present the diversity of artistic perceptions and concerns.
It should be noted that 16 Arab countries are exhibited there, including Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Algeria, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Qatar, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and even Yemen.
Abdelaziz El Idrissi, director of the MMVI, said that it is a ” an exhibition that highlights artistic creation in Arab countries, through the collection of the IMA“. He specifies that 116 works are exhibited today which allow us to read the modern and contemporary Arab scene. “Countries showcase engaged artists who showcase works of global artistic inspiration or inspiration from their local culture” , he added.
For Jack Lang, this collection of modern and contemporary Arab art is quite unique and the most important in the entire western world. ” It is here, in Morocco, that for the first time we present some of these masterpieces that allow us to undertake a kind of journey through art in the different Arab countries.“, says our interlocutor. And to add that this exhibition ” seals our friendship, between Morocco and France“.
For his part, the president of the FNM, Mehdi Qotbi, explains that this exhibition does justice to Arab creation as a whole and has never been shown anywhere. ” It is offered for the first time to the Moroccan public, in Morocco, in this museum which bears the name of His Majesty the King“, he told MoroccoLatestNews. For the president, this means a form of recognition, both globally and nationally.
” It’s an exhibition that says a lot about France and Morocco. There is a very old cooperation between Moroccan institutions, those of the Arab world as well as French institutions. We are used in this field to always work together and to build things as beautiful as what we are going to see.“, declares, Christophe Lecourtier, ambassador of France in Morocco, to MoroccoLatestNews.
From a pedagogical aspect, the ambassador believes that it is necessary ” transmit this creation so that it is not simply something elitist reserved for those who are informed, initiated, and that it can embark the young Moroccan generation to make them know what these artistic movements of the 20s were, last 30, 60 years“.
