The Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL) in Marrakech announces a series of major developments at the museum following a significant investment by its founder, Fondation Alliances. These will include a new permanent home for one of the rarest and most comprehensive collections of contemporary art from Africa in the world, opening on 1 February 2025 as part of an extensive transformation of the museum’s gallery spaces.

Other new offerings at the museum include annual site-specific installations, a new media library, and redesigned public and gallery spaces, promising an enhanced experience for visitors. Together, these initiatives mark an ambitious milestone in MACAAL’s ongoing mission to provide a dynamic, accessible and educational platform that promotes art from Africa and creativity on a global stage.

The inaugural permanent exhibition 7 Contours, 1 Collection will mark the first dedicated home for the museum’s collection, built up by the Lazraq family for over four decades. It will feature over 150 works that rotate over time, spanning painting, sculpture, textiles, photography, installations and multimedia. Drawn from MACAAL’s wider collection of over 2,500 pieces, it celebrates the cultural richness and creative energy of the African continent and its diaspora from the past century to the present day. Organised into themed galleries, the exhibition will explore topics such as decolonisation, globalisation and the environment.

Visitors will experience the works of emerging and established artists such as Joël Andrianomearisoa, Salah El Mur, Hassan Hajjaj, Abdoulaye Konaté, Daniel Otero Torres, Chéri Samba, Malick Sidibé, Maya Ines Touam, Chris Soal, and Billie Zangewa, displayed alongside Moroccan modernist pioneers like Farid Belkahia, Ahmed Cherkaoui, Jilali Gharbaoui, Mohamed Melehi, Chaïbia Talal and Malika Agueznay. Each gallery will be framed around the perspectives of key academics and thinkers like Nadia Yala Kisukidi and Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, creating new dialogues around the collection and inviting fresh interpretations. Curated by Morad Montazami and Madeleine de Colnet (Zâman Books and Curating) in collaboration with MACAAL’s Artistic Director, Meriem Berrada, the redesigned space has been envisioned by scenographer Franck Houndégla.

As part of these developments, MACAAL will commission two annual site-specific installations, with monumental works by Salima Naji and Aïcha Snoussi set to enrich the museum’s spaces next year. Further enhancing its artistic programme – which will continue to comprise residencies and community workshops – the museum will also launch an Artist Room dedicated to solo and group exhibitions, opening with a show by French-Moroccan artist Sara Ouhaddou in 2025. Additionally, visitors will also have access to a new café and terrace on the first floor, and redesigned green areas with sculptures.

Strengthening the museum’s educational resources, MACAAL will unveil a Timeline Room, based on extensive research and highlighting key moments on the continent by linking historical events with major artistic and cultural milestones. There will also be a New Media Library (BNM), offering a rich archive of video, digital, sound and performance art by African artists from the 1990s to the present; and a new open library dedicated to contemporary art from Africa.

‘This is an exciting new chapter in the evolution of MACAAL,’ says Othman Lazraq, President of MACAAL and the Fondation Alliances. ‘For almost a decade, the museum has served as a hub fostering global understanding of the continent’s artistic heritage, and these new developments will bring more artists, conversations and stories to the fore. Creating accessibility around art is something my family and I care strongly about, and we look forward to sharing works from the collection with local, regional and international visitors.”

macaal.org