As the global art world converges on Morocco for the 2026 edition of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Marrakech once again transforms into a city-wide stage for exhibitions, performances, talks, and convivial gatherings. From historic palaces and riads in the Medina to artist-led spaces and desert landscapes beyond the city, this year’s programme reflects the depth, plurality, and dynamism of contemporary artistic practice across Africa and its diasporas. Below is a detailed guide to the key exhibitions and events shaping Marrakech during the fair week and beyond.
A Gesture From Elsewhere / Ce geste vient d’ailleurs
Palais de Bahia, Marrakech
5–12 February 2026
Private opening: Wednesday 4 February, with a performance at sunset
Set within the storied architecture of the Bahia Palace, A Gesture From Elsewhere / Ce geste vient d’ailleurs brings together ten emerging artists from Morocco and West Africa in an exhibition that foregrounds the body as a site of memory, transmission, and knowledge. The project explores how gestures—artistic, social, poetic—circulate across geographies and generations, carrying histories that are felt rather than written.
Several works were developed during a production residency in Casablanca in September, organised by Beaux-Arts Solidarité Maroc and dedicated to West African artists, reinforcing the exhibition’s trans-African dialogue. Initiated by Ilyass Alami Afilal (BASMA) and curated by Farah Maakel, with scenography by Yasmina Echair, the exhibition features works by Tesprit, Yanis Ratbi, Xaadim Mbow, Mariam Niaré, Fatine Arafati, Issam Fariane, Soukaina Bouali, Theophany Adoh, Sarah Mounia Kachiri, and Melanie Ebtissem Defoin. Together, they propose alternative archives of memory embedded in materials, rituals, and embodied practices.
A(rt)wareness
Studio Twist – V. Barkowski Store, Dar Bacha
Wednesday 4 February 2026 | 16:00–19:00
A(rt)wareness traces its origins to a deeply personal act of solidarity. More than a decade ago, the founders of KAB (Keep A Breast Foundation) sought to support a friend diagnosed with breast cancer by reimagining the canvas as a participatory sculptural form. Through the technique of chest casting in plaster—later customised by artists—the project transforms lived experience into powerful visual and tactile narratives.
Presented at Studio Twist, the exhibition highlights how art can function as both a communicative tool and an engine for awareness and fundraising. Rooted in empathy and collaboration, A(rt)wareness demonstrates the capacity of artistic practice to articulate complex emotions and social realities that often resist conventional representation.
AKAAL — اكال
BE Agafay, Douar Lmilh Laaroussine, Agafay
Friday 6 February 2026 | 13:30–17:00 (on view until Sunday 19:00)
Situated against the dramatic backdrop of the Agafay stone desert, AKAAL is a Franco-Moroccan collaborative project grounded in the ancestral clay traditions of Tamaloukte, an Amazigh village in southern Morocco. Initiated by artists Philippe Daney and Guillaume Friocourt following their encounter with master potter Aziz Hida, the project emerged as a response to the devastating 2023 earthquake that affected the region.
The exhibition reflects on resilience, continuity, and collective making, bringing together artists, initiators, and curators who will all be present during the vernissage brunch. Developed in collaboration with KE’CH Collective and supported by the Institut Français, Drama Art Gallery, and Région Bretagne, AKAAL bridges heritage and contemporary practice, situating clay as both material and metaphor.
Friday Couscous at Jajjah Tea
Jajjah Tea, Sidi Ghanem
Friday 6 February 2026 | 13:00
Artist and cultural icon Hassan Hajjaj hosts a convivial Friday couscous gathering at Jajjah Tea to mark the launch of a limited-edition olive oil collaboration with Tacapea. The event combines culinary ritual with tasting and conversation, reflecting Hajjaj’s long-standing practice of merging art, design, fashion, and food into shared cultural experiences rooted in hospitality and exchange.
In Between Blues
DaDa, Avenue Jamaa El Fna
31 January – 30 March 2026
Presented in official partnership with 1-54 Marrakech, In Between Blues is a large-scale, multidisciplinary project that positions the colour blue as a site of memory, spirituality, and connection. Conceived by ABLAKASSA—an independent platform founded by Jean Servais Somian and Roger Niyigena Karera—the project unfolds as a constellation of exhibitions, performances, talks, and gastronomic moments.
At DaDa Marrakech, In Between Blues brings together contemporary art, music, and transmission in a space designed for hospitality and exchange. The programme includes a VIP evening on 4 February and symposiums and talks on 6–7 February, offering collectors, curators, and institutions an immersive encounter with blue as pigment, symbol, and lived experience.
Jajjah Live Performance
Jajjah Tea, Sidi Ghanem
Saturday 7 February 2026 | All day
Renowned Franco-Tunisian calligraffiti artist eL Seed takes over Jajjah Tea for a full day of live painting. Known for his large-scale murals that integrate Arabic calligraphy into urban contexts, eL Seed’s performance transforms the space into an evolving artwork, inviting visitors to witness the process of inscription, gesture, and movement in real time.
Kan Ya Ma Kan — Johanna Tordjman
Rigo Tang Gallery, Marrakech
Thursday 5 February 2026 | 11:00–19:00
Kan Ya Ma Kan (Once Upon a Time) is a solo exhibition by Johanna Tordjman, developed through Rigotang’s residency programme in close dialogue with Riad Jardin Secret. Conceived and produced entirely in Morocco, the exhibition draws on oral histories and familial narratives linked to North Africa.
Through painting, Tordjman explores memory as a shifting terrain between myth and contemporary experience. Faces, objects, gestures, and landscapes appear as fragments that question displacement, belonging, and inherited stories. Rather than fixing the past, the works reinterpret memory through material, light, and colour, reflecting Rigotang’s commitment to in-situ production and long-term artistic support.
Lumières — Mustapha Azeroual
Maison Denise Masson, Medina
Sunday 8 February 2026 | 16:30–19:30
Institut français – Marrakech presents the first solo exhibition of Franco-Moroccan artist Mustapha Azeroual at Maison Denise Masson. Known for his experimental photographic processes, Azeroual investigates light, time, and perception by merging historical techniques with contemporary innovation.
Lumières offers an immersive, sensorial experience that interrogates the materiality of the image and the boundaries between the tangible and intangible. Positioned at the intersection of art and science, the exhibition places Azeroual’s practice within broader reflections on perception and innovation in contemporary image-making.
MAISON ACH — Contemporary Dialogues: Soul Fabric
MAISON ACH, Sidi Ghanem
Saturday 7 February 2026 | From 18:00
This dual exhibition brings together the works of Keya and Mina Binebine in a dialogue centred on identity, memory, and emotional expression. Through vibrant textures, sculptural forms, and layered narratives, Soul Fabric presents two distinct artistic voices whose practices intersect through materiality and meaning, offering a nuanced portrait of contemporary Morocco.
Under the Sign of Noun — Mohamed Azouzi
Musée des Confluences Dar El Bacha
28 October 2025 – 8 February 2026
Running throughout the duration of the fair, Mohamed Azouzi’s exhibition Under the Sign of Noun remains on view at the Musée des Confluences Dar El Bacha. The exhibition invites visitors to engage with Azouzi’s reflective practice within one of Marrakech’s key institutional spaces, providing continuity between the city’s cultural calendar and the intensity of fair week.
Organic Knowledge
Le 18, Medina
Thursday 5 February 2026 | 18:00–21:00
Developed by The Minority Globe in partnership with LE 18, Organic Knowledge explores displacement through collaborative research with artists and migrant communities. Attentive to aural and material cultures shaped by journeys, the project seeks to build a living archive of marginalized knowledge systems.
The second edition invites three research-action residencies, with works by Khadija El Abyad, Amina Belghiti, Fatima Zahra Lakrissa, Faustin Linyekula, Morad Montazami, Camille Serfaty, and Yemoh777s. Curated by Maud Houssais with assistant curator Manon de Matauco, the project positions art as a counter-narrative to dominant modes of social study.
Shifting Lights
Hanout Boutique, Medina
Saturday 7 February 2026 | 16:00–20:00
Shifting Lights is a poetic collaboration between Moroccan designer Meriem Nour and visual artist Yasmine Hatimi. Bridging fashion and photography, the exhibition proposes a reimagining of Maghrebi women’s representation in contemporary visual culture. Following the opening event, the exhibition remains accessible by appointment until 31 March 2026.
The Inner Garden — Rita Alaoui
El Fenn Hotel, Marrakech
January – August 2026
In collaboration with Galerie SINIYA28, El Fenn hosts The Inner Garden, Rita Alaoui’s immersive installation and exhibition. Expanding on her Garden series, the project explores human relationships with nature, memory, absence, and rebirth.
Set against El Fenn’s iconic red walls, Alaoui’s murals and paintings create a sensorial journey through real and imagined landscapes, weaving together architecture, colour, and nature into a cohesive environment that unfolds over several months.
Wheels – Witness in Motion روايض !! هوما رجليا
Riad Alena (RAAR), Medina
5 February – 1 March 2026 | 18:00–22:00
Marrakech-born artists Salaheddine El Bouaaichi and Yassine Sellame present Wheels, a photographic exploration of urban subcultures shaped by movement, stunts, and improvisation. Focusing on the city’s wheel-based cultures, the exhibition reframes everyday gestures as choreographies of urban life.
The opening includes the launch of a photography zine and live screen-printing by 95LAB. Extending the exhibition, Wheels: Walk with the Artists on Friday 6 February invites participants to traverse the Medina, concluding with a rooftop lunch at Riad Alena.
Young Collectors Drink at The Mellah
The Mellah Hotel, Marrakech
Friday 6 February 2026 | 17:00–19:00
Designed as an intimate gathering, the Young Collectors Drink brings together emerging collectors, artists, and friends of the fair in a relaxed setting. Hosted at The Mellah, the event encourages conversation, discovery, and the spirit of first acquisitions before artworks find new homes.
Together, these exhibitions and events reflect Marrakech’s role as a vital cultural crossroads during 1-54 2026—where local contexts, transnational dialogues, and experimental practices intersect across the city and beyond.
