{"id":41327,"date":"2025-04-22T14:44:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T14:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/41327\/"},"modified":"2025-04-22T14:44:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T14:44:11","slug":"morocco-and-ile-de-france-forge-bold-cultural-pact-around-african-art-morocco-and-ile-de-france-forge-bold-cultural-pact-around-african-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/41327\/","title":{"rendered":"Morocco and \u00cele-de-France Forge Bold Cultural Pact Around African Art Morocco and \u00cele-de-France Forge Bold Cultural Pact Around African Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rabat \u2013 Inside the halls of the Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rabat, Morocco and the \u00cele-de-France Region took a decisive step toward reshaping the cultural map between Africa and Europe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Monday, the two sides signed a declaration of intent that goes beyond formal partnership as it signals a shared vision to amplify contemporary African art on the global stage.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The document, signed by Mehdi Qotbi, President of Morocco\u2019s National Foundation of Museums (FNM), and Val\u00e9rie P\u00e9cresse, President of the \u00cele-de-France Region, sets the tone for a collaboration anchored in action.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At its core lies the upcoming Mediterranean exhibition, set to open the Cit\u00e9 de la Culture Africaine, Mus\u00e9e du Continent, a major cultural<\/a> hub under development.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But this partnership stretches far beyond a single event. Morocco and \u00cele-de-France plan to exchange expertise on conservation practices, support acquisitions of African artworks, and design audience-centered educational programs for the new museum.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A key component also includes the loan of works from the \u00cele-de-France Regional Fund for Contemporary Art (Frac), bringing European collections into dialogue with African narratives.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Mehdi Qotbi, the moment carried deeper meaning. He described Morocco as a threshold to Africa and a corridor to Europe, geographically, culturally, and artistically. \u201cArt builds bridges where politics fall short,\u201d he said. \u201cWelcoming Val\u00e9rie P\u00e9cresse here is more than a diplomatic gesture, it\u2019s an encounter with the soul of Morocco and the promise of what Africa can bring to the world.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

P\u00e9cresse echoed this spirit. With nearly a million residents of Moroccan descent in her region, she spoke of long-standing human and cultural ties that continue to shape \u00cele-de-France\u2019s identity. Two of her vice-presidents are Franco-Moroccan, she noted, evidence, she said, of \u201chow deeply intertwined our stories already are.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The collaboration also places African artists at the center. P\u00e9cresse announced that the director of the Frac \u00cele-de-France collection will serve as co-curator for the museum\u2019s opening exhibition. \u201cWe bring our full support, our eyes, our networks, our commitment, to identifying and elevating the next generation of African artists,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before the signing, P\u00e9cresse and her delegation toured the museum\u2019s galleries. They paused before canvases by Moroccan contemporary artists<\/a> and works by Tahar Ben Jelloun, the renowned Franco-Moroccan poet, novelist, and painter whose art speaks across boundaries.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than a symbolic gesture, the visit and agreement hint at a shift in the cultural axis. What begins in Rabat may soon echo from Paris to Dakar, from Casablanca to Marseille. The project isn\u2019t just about museums, it\u2019s about momentum.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rabat \u2013 Inside the halls of the Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rabat, Morocco…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[8271,2000,299,36,23429,23430,23431],"class_list":{"0":"post-41327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-contemporary-art","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-france","12":"tag-morocco-art","13":"tag-morocco-france-art","14":"tag-morocco-france-ties"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}