Why Morocco 031 – Touria El Glaoui on the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair

02/19/20 • 32 min

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

With the third edition of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair kicking off on 20 February 2020 in Marrakech, I chatted with fair founder Touria el Glaoui by telephone in the lead up to the event. The fair is designed to provide exposure to artists from the 54 countries that make up the continent. Touria talked about the changing landscape and dialogue surrounding African contemporary art since she began researching the idea for an African contemporary art fair about ten years ago. Touria launched the first 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in in London in 2013 before travelling to New York in 2015 and finally to Marrakech in 2018. And today, the fair is one of the highlights of my social calendar each year.

With galleries openings, studio visits, talks and roundtables, and meetings with artists planned throughout the four-day event, the programme is rich!

Listen is as Touria talks about the fair, the contemporary art industry, and what visitors can expect during the third edition of the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair.

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include:

Travel and public relations consulting at Mandy Sinclair PR
Freelance writing for print and digital mandyinmorocco.com/freelance-writing/
Tasting Marrakech food and cultural tours in Marrakech tasting-marrakech.com

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

With galleries openings, studio visits, talks and roundtables, and meetings with artists planned throughout the four-day event, the programme is rich!

Listen is as Touria talks about the fair, the contemporary art industry, and what visitors can expect during the third edition of the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair.

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include:

Travel and public relations consulting at Mandy Sinclair PR
Freelance writing for print and digital mandyinmorocco.com/freelance-writing/
Tasting Marrakech food and cultural tours in Marrakech tasting-marrakech.com

Previous Episode

Why Morocco 030 – Lonely Planet travel writer Helen Ranger on Morocco’s Middle Atlas Mountains

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For the thirtieth episode of Why Morocco, I reached Lonely Planet travel writer Helen Ranger by telephone from my studio in Marrakech. Helen is a friend and colleague, concierge, a fellow Morocco lover albeit one who prefers to call Fez home, and has recently submitted a chapter about Morocco’s rural Middle Atlas Mountain region for the forthcoming Lonely Planet Morocco guidebooks.

In our chat, Helen talks about two of the national parks in the region, trekking options, the Sidi Harazem baths, caves, and what you’ll want to know for planning a Middle Atlas getaway.

With nearby waterfalls and caves, nature reserves, a brutalistis thermal bath complex, village markets, and festivals to enjoy, I don’t really understand why more people don’t take advantage of a short-haul long weekend in the Fez countryside. And with all the tips that Helen provides for planning a trip to the rural Middle Atlas region, Fez could double as a base for exploring the old city and a getaway in the countryside. After all, the city is served with international flights to leading European destinations.

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include:

Travel and public relations consulting at Mandy Sinclair PR
Freelance writing for print and digital mandyinmorocco.com/freelance-writing/
Tasting Marrakech food and cultural tours in Marrakech tasting-marrakech.com

Next Episode

Why Morocco 032 – Amino Belyamani on Moroccan Tapes

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For this week’s episode I chatted with MoroccanTapes.com founder Amino Belyamani. Amino, who grew up in Casablanca and now lives in Brooklyn, created the site that brings Moroccan tapes of various musical genres, which are typically only available for purchase in Morocco and in regions where the musicians hail, to the world.

With music in his blood – both his father and brother are musicians – Amino is an accomplished musician himself having co-founded the band Dawn of Midi. He’s also is involved in Innov Gnawa, a group known for their traditional Moroccan trance emsemble and their track Bambro Koyo Ganda was nominated for a Grammy in 2018 in the best dance recording category.

Listen is as Amino talks about Moroccan Tapes and his plans for the site, what he thinks listeners should be listening to when it comes to the tapes already available and Moroccan music in general.

To listen or learn more, visit: https://moroccantapes.com/

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include: