THE ART NEWSPAPER | Anny Shaw
1-54, the six-year-old London/New York fair for contemporary African art, launches a new edition at Winston Churchill’s favourite hotel in Marrakech, La Mamounia, this week. Positioned on the cusp of Africa, Europe and the Middle East, and with a burgeoning contemporary art scene, Marrakech is a natural fit, says the fair’s founding director Touria El Glaoui, herself a native Moroccan.
A lack of state support means that Morocco’s art scene exists largely in the commercial sector, But the country’s pool of private patrons is still relatively small. Around 20% of the 100 VIP collectors who are expected to attend the fair are Moroccan, El Glaoui says. They include King Mohammed VI, who opened a museum in Rabat in 2014; the construction magnate Mohamed Bouzoubaa, who opened a vast new art space in Casablanca in November; and the real estate developer Alami Lazraq, who is launching the Museum of African Contemporary ...read more
Image: by Sutton | La Mamounia, the historic hotel that will host the fair Sutton