DUBAI: The Museum of African Contemporary Art Al-Maaden, which reopened last week, is returning to its “core” of showcasing the continent’s artists, in addition to breathing a “new and different life” into it, says co-founder Othman Lazraq.
MACAAL was inaugurated in 2018 as the first museum of contemporary art in Marrakech, by founders Othman and his father Alami.
MACAAL (artwork: Fatiha Zemmouri, La pesanteur et la grâce, 2019) By Omar Tajmouati.
It houses the extensive collection of the Lazraq family, one of the most comprehensive private holdings of modern and contemporary African art on the continent.
Originally designed by French architect Didier Lefort, it had been closed since the spring of 2023. The closure took place just a few months before the night of Sept. 8, 2023, when a powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck south of Marrakech.
This was the strongest earthquake to hit the country in over a century, severely damaging dozens of buildings in the city — many of which are still being reconstructed.
The revamped museum celebrated its reopening with the new permanent exhibition “Seven Contours, One Collection,” featuring over 150 rotating works from most of Africa’s 54 nations.
The aim is to showcase the breadth and diversity of art from the continent, while breaking down reductive stereotypes and fostering inclusivity.
“We realized we needed a big shift, and that big shift was getting back to the core of what the museum means to us which is more educational,” Lazraq, a practicing architect and associate of Lazraq Studio, told Arab News.
“African art is part of the identity of the collection, and we wanted to share it more broadly.”
The museum will now offer a semi-permanent exhibition format, hosting 150 on rotation from the 2,500-piece collection.
The show marking the reopening presents a poignantly curated presentation of works in a variety of mediums, including photography, painting, textiles, video art, sculpture and installations.
Notable pieces include works by the late Moroccan painter Mohamed Melehi, Moroccan modernist Farid Belkahia, Malian photographer Malick Sidibe, Congolese artist Pierre Bodo, Sudanese painter Salah Elmur, and the late French-Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui.
For the redesign of the museum, MACAAL entrusted scenographer Franck Houndegla to create a new media library and a permanent space to allow for an expansive collection of African art from the Lazraq family collection. The museum has also launched a new program of site-specific sculpture commissions.
“I want to bring a new and different life to the museum,” said Lazraq, noting how he hopes to bring in music, performance and design to the temporary spaces.
“The mission of (the museum) has always been to democratize access to art to a wider audience.
“Its most important mission is to inspire a generation of artists to feel safe and welcome — where they know there is a museum where their works can be exhibited and collected.”
