The hotel that became a fair
The biggest obsession of a hotel today is that things happen in it . The curious thing is that they do not happen because this is said out loud or written in reports. They pass when they pass . In some hotels they happen because they have always happened and it happens that, sometimes, these hotels are not new; some may be almost a hundred years old . You don't have to be young to have fun. Jane Fonda seems to have a better time than many millennials.
In The Mamounia , a hotel as fabulously mature as Jane Fonda, things always happen. For this to happen you have to encourage it and then not commit yourself. It's a bit like love.
Their Majorelle Gallery is full of people of all ages and their poolside breakfast is like being between the pages of Vanity Fair. No one seems to make an effort to make this happen. Occurs . Therefore, the organizer of the fair 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair , Touria El Glaoui , after years celebrating it in London and New York, she has decided to bring it here. ** Here is Marrakech and here is La Mamounia.**
That a hotel becomes an art fair is not the most common, but neither this fair nor this hotel are.
1-54 is the most important art fair in the world dedicated to promoting the African art, emerging and consecrated.
For its first edition in Africa, it has selected 17 galleries from nine countries in Europe, the United States and the same continent. During the past weekend Marrakesh has concentrated collectors, gallery owners and artists who have found a city full of sun and energy.
The Glaoui (daughter of Hassan El Glaoui, one of the great Moroccan painters), recognizes that this city is “unique” . Regarding the fact of holding the fair in La Mamounia, she affirms that at first she had doubts about it for purely practical reasons (“logistics, size, she did not want to bother the clients), but she admits that part of the success of the fair is due to the fact that it is held in the hotel . “It gives it glamour”, she summed it up emphatically.
The city is unique: La Mamounia, too
Being small, moreover, 1-54 uses Marrakech as an extension . "It's their playground," acknowledges the founder and continues: "The interesting thing about 1-54 is that it balances the exclusiveness of the hotel with the openness and popularness of the city."
The director of the fair chains in her speech the glamour, art and business . The gallery owners mention the sun, the good sales, and how comfortable it is to work having the fair in the hotel.
The **Mikael Andersen Gallery, which exhibits the work of Ernest Mancoba and Sonja Ferlov Mancoba**, appreciates being in such a beautiful city and being able to turn a hotel room into an office.
Collectors use the halls and gardens for their meetings and it takes a couple of minutes to get from the room to the stand. “Everything is easy here” says the Dane.
Michael Andersen Gallery
The creator of the fair meets with the press while have breakfast by the pool . Collectors stop to greet this woman, who was named one of the 100 most powerful women in Africa in 2016 by Forbes.
After all, as she states: “Both La Mamounia and the fair have the same audience” . Breakfast in the sun at this hotel functions as a curious meeting room. The rooms are used as offices and a young man walks through the gallery stands with a tray of coffees. This is not Art Basel and it doesn't need to be: it is a relevant and sought-after fair. Increasingly. There is interest among collectors in emerging African art and you can (still) buy it here at a good price.
These collectors eating croissants by the pool wear caftans or Miyake clothes, dress and shoe by Chanel (latest collections, please) from head to toe or wear slogan T-shirts and flared jeans.
The atmosphere is reminiscent of Marrakech in the 70s, led by tandem Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent (perhaps the most famous couple in the city), the Gettys, the Catroux, Alfonso de Velasco, Loulou de la Falaise, Bill Willis and the Jaggers (or the Stones) .
This sophisticated spirit is breathed and finds its natural space in La Mamounia, where it is easy to see Nicole Kidman, Carolina de Monaco or some important Spanish politician.
“All cities have cycles”, says Quito Fierro while having a whiskey sour in the Bar Majorelle . iron is the Secretary General of the Yves Saint Laurent Museum and a worldly character known throughout the city in which he, although Spanish, has lived there since he was a child.
“The Marrakech of the 70s is gone, but here history is reinvented. And Saint Laurent is still present in the museum ”. The city is reborn thanks to fashion and art.
Circular courtyard of the Musée Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakech.
The YSL museum It has been the last great cultural punch on the table in Marrakech. It is also linked, on the one hand, with La Mamounia, whose logical partner it is, and with 1-54.
The hotel was the first place they stayed Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent when they arrived in the city in 1966. They never left it until their respective deaths: they lived between Paris and Marrakech.
Precisely, in the house where they spent the most time, an orientalist marvel designed by Bill Willis called Viall Oasis, the museum was forged. Pierre Bergé died shortly before it was inaugurated. and to see it converted into a mecca for that layer of esthetes who travel chasing beauties. The YSL museum also opens to the 1-54 fair with a temporary exhibition called 'Les robes sculptures de Noureddine Amir ', which can be seen until the end of April.
This brick building by Karl Fournier and Olivier Marty (Studio KO) is already a destination museum that in a few months attracts a public that is looking for it; Givenchy will come to see him shortly.
It also attracts the curious who just know they have to go there. They enter the museum 50% of the visitors to Jardin Majorelle , which receives 900,000 people a year. The museum is not conceivable without the garden, although Fierro admits that he cannot bear so many visitors; promotes a much more private experience. It is neither large nor does it pretend to be a space for crowds and queues. Visiting it is a delicate experience that knows little. Here you come to immerse yourself in the world of the designer, with the permission of Chanel and Balenciaga, the most important of the 20th century.
Yves Saint Laurent in Jemaa el Fna square in Marrakesh.
MARRAKECH LIVE A SWEET MOMENT
Several circumstances have been lined up in addition to 1:54: the celebration of the COP22 last year , opening in October YSL museum and that of the **Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (Macaal)**.
Although it has existed quietly since 2016, it has been now that the international presentation of the Macaal has been made.
This museum raises the artistic bet of the city . It is a private, independent and non-profit museum that will display the collection of the Lazraq family, its owners, along with temporary exhibitions. The first is 'Africa is No Island' , which explores the concept of identity and can be seen until August of this year.
The novelty of this space located on the outskirts of the city is that it wants to attract African art from Africa itself. Although Marrakech has always had many links with Europe, especially with France, the city urgently needs to focus on its continent.
Fondation Montresso
Something similar is forged in the Fondation Montresso . This project, whose founder is only known by his name, Jean Louis, consists of an exhibition space and Le Jardin Rouge, an artists' residence, both united. In these months it is exposed until March 31 the work of various artists from Benin , who live, produce and have their work exhibited is a spectacular space half an hour from Marrakech. This foundation can be visited, by appointment, on Saturdays.
Le Jardin Rouge receives artists from all over the world who want to work with the concept of territory; This is a paradise for street art. It has seven villas. The idea, according to its organizers, is to create an "oasis" for artists. to see its halls with pianos, the workshops, the swimming pool the word is justified.
Le Jardin Rouge
All these elements, plus new galleries and shops, row in favor of the city. Marrakech has always been a muse for artists who were looking for an exotic but accessible territory, but now it has also become a contemporary city that wants to overcome its legend of palm trees, palaces and souks.
Eden, as Yves Saint Laurent called it, becomes more sophisticated than ever. And that is a lot to say. Now all that remains is for them to open to the public. “Villa Oasis”...