Initiated by LE 18 and curated by Younes Baba-Ali, KawKaw is a project encapsulating a collective exhibition resulting from an artistic residency, enriched by a series of gatherings and further translated into an evolving collaborative online platform.

KawKaw reunites the five Maghreb countries with the aim to create a new space of dialogue and research through artistic practice. In a Maghrebian artistic and cultural scene undergoing great transformations, KawKaw mirrors the desire to create new bridges of reflection and to explore the opportunities and the unexploited potentials of this region.

KawKaw (i.e. peanut in darija) is a nutritious and popular food shared by all the Maghrebian cultures, a grain that gathers people around a table and entertains each one’s hands while staring at what surrounds us. KawKaw is a seed that requires breaking the shell surrounding it in order to access its grains, each of which is further sharable. This name comes therefore as a powerful, though humoristic and accessible metaphor for the process of research and discovery the program undertakes. It embodies the very act of breaking up and sharing, and it attempts to enact a principle of ‘sharability’, the (paradoxical) combination of the elements of union and commonality as well as those of division and specificity characterising this region as well as the grain that inspires this project.

The project KawKaw finally embodies the philosophy of its initiating space, LE 18, a young,

independent initiative whose influence on its surrounding territory is discrete, though persistent.

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Artistic residency

A programme of artistic research and production will take place at Le 18, riad culturel

plurisciplinaire in Marrakech (Ma) in February 2016. The programme will involve 5 artists, each of which coming from one of the Maghreb countries.

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Exhibition

A public restitution in the form of a collective exhibition will be staged for two months at Le 18 during the period of the Marrakech Biennale (March/April). The exhibition will display the results of the residency programme.

Fil’Kawkaba – Talks and gatherings from the Maghreb region

‘Fil’Kawkaba’ is a series of gatherings, presentations and talks that will involve cultural activists, researchers, artists and curators working in, or focused on the five Maghreb countries. The talks will take place at Le 18 for two months and will aim at fostering a public reflection over the current condition of the Maghreb as a contested socio-cultural and political space. It is a proposal to create a platform for exchange and confrontation over the situation of contemporary art in each country and the role this latter may play as a transformative and emancipative tool.

The Platform : www.Kawkabat-KawKaw.com

A web platform will be created since the beginning of the residencies and will constitute an ongoing tool for mapping the development of both the artistic works and the reflections undertaken during the ‘Fil’Kawkaba’ sessions. It will moreover constitute both an emerging, collaborative and shared archive and a mapping tool between the countries and actors involved in the project.

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Fil’Kawkaba – Talks and gatherings from the Maghreb region

04.03.16 | 7 p.m | Modest spaces, ambitious issues

With Hadia Gana, artist, co-founder of the Ali Gana Foundation, instigator of the Ali Gana Museum, Tripoli (Lyb) and Laila Hida, artist, director of LE 18, Marrakech (Ma). Moderated by Juan Asis Palao Gòmez, librarian of Dar al-Ma’mûn, Marrakech (Ma).

12.03.16 | 6 p.m | A pathway for Moroccan contemporary dance

With Taoufiq Izeddiou, choreographer and founder of On Marche Festival and Nedjma

Hadj guest curator, dramaturge at Festival On Marche, Marrakech (Ma). Screening of AVEC OU SANS, a documentary film by Nadia El Fani about the 10th edition of the On Marche Festival.

19.03.16 | 8 p.m | Transcending borders, invading the streets

With Xavier de Luca, founder and director of JISER Reflexions Mediterrànies (Es) and

Myriam Amroun, coordinator of DJART ’14, Algier (Dz). Moderated by Pau Cata, director of CeRCCa and co-coordinator of the NACMM (Es).

26.03.16 | 7 p.m | Local and nomadic artistic ecosystems

With Mohamed Ikoubaan, director of Moussem Nomadic Art Center, Brussels (Be) and

Hassan & Florence Darsi, founders of La Source du Lion, Casablanca (Ma). Moderated by Bouchra Salih, independent manager of cultural projects, Rabat (Ma).

02.04.16 | 7 p.m | Curating territories

With Nadira Laggoune-Aklouche, independant curator and art critic, Algier (Dz) and Mohamed Rachdi, artist, independent art curator, art critic, in charge of cultural sponsorship of la Société Générale, Casablanca (Ma). Moderated by Reda Zaireg, independent journalist, Casablanca (Ma).

09.04.16 | 7 p.m | Trans North-African encounters

WIth Azzeddine Abdelouhabi director of the contemporary art festival OrientA, Oujda (Ma) and Rachida Triki, philosopher, independent curator and full professor of Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art at Tunis University (Tn). Moderated by Juan Asis Palao Gòmez, librarian of Dar al-Ma’mûn, Marrakech (Ma).

23.04.16 | 7 p.m | On the Rules of Art

With Nawal Slaoui, independent curator, director of Cultures Interface, Casablanca (Ma) and Yasmina Bouzid, independent advisor in artistic and cultural projects management, Casablanca (Ma). Moderated by Amine Boushaba, chronicler and radio host for Atlantic Radio, Casablanca (Ma).

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LE 18, cultural multidisciplinary riad

Created in 2013 by Laila Hida, LE 18 is an independent creative platform and exhibition space promoting artistic and cultural exchange. It has two main objectives: supporting emerging artists with research and residency programs, and making their projects known through exhibitions, presentations, and public gatherings. LE 18 attempts at connecting the Marrakchi cultural landscape with various art scenes around the world by inviting international artists to work in Marrakech. The project KawKaw involves artists, collaborators as well as cultural actors, such as Francesca Masoero who joined LE 18 last year and who has contributed to the project since its inception.

Curator : Younes Baba Ali

Born in 1986, he lives and works in Brussels and Casablanca. Younes Baba-Ali practices a non-conventional, intelligent and critical art. Fine observer, through his artistic and curatorial projects, he asks relevant questions to the society, to the institution, but also especially to his public. His projects are always specific in a context and really take shape only in the dialogue with the public.

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With the support of:

US Ambassy

Kamal Laazar Foundation

Nomad

Wallonie Bruxelles International

IF Marrakech

kawkabat-kawkaw.com/