Tate St Ives will be the first museum in the UK to explore the intense period of artistic rebirth that followed Morocco’s independence, forged by the experimental teaching methods of the Casablanca Art School in the 1960s and 1970s.
Led by Farid Belkahia alongside Mohammed Chabâa, Mohamed Melehi and others, this pioneering school paved the way for a new generation of socially engaged modern artists who formed an influential avant-garde network.
Works by 22 artists will be brought together to demonstrate the wide variety of the Moroccan ‘new wave’, from vibrant abstract paintings and urban murals to applied arts, typography, graphics and interior design.
The exhibition will also include a selection of rarely-seen print archives, vintage journals, documentary photographs and films.
This exhibition is a collaboration between Tate St Ives and Sharjah Art Foundation, where it will open in February 2024. It is also part of a key moment of international research into the Casablanca Art School, which includes a collaborative project initiated in 2020 between KW Institute for Contemporary Art and Sharjah Art Foundation, in partnership with Goethe-Institut Marokko, ThinkArt and Zamân Books & Curating.
