Celebrating Dutch-Moroccan cultural exchange

Engaged and driven Moroccan and Dutch creators, cultural professionals, and institutions have increasingly connected in recent years for the co-creation of exhibitions, performances, and other projects across various disciplines. With support from the embassies, various funds, and DutchCulture as mandated by the Dutch international cultural policy, this has visibly strengthened the (cultural) relations between both countries.

Here are some highlights of the upcoming projects taking place this autumn.

10-13 November, Marrakech

Together with the Reinwardt Academy, the Cultural Heritage Agency, and the Fondation Nationale des Musées du Maroc, DutchCulture organises a Moroccan-Dutch cultural heritage knowledge exchange programme. The emphasis of this programme, which takes place in November, lies on intangible heritage. It takes the UNESCO-recognised Jamaâ el Fna Square and the new Jamaâ el Fna Museum of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Marrakech as its starting point.

Heritage professionals from Morocco and the Netherlands will focus on the content, context, and meaning of everything Moroccan intangible heritage has to offer, with knowledge exchange, co-creation, and creativity as starting points. For example, which traditions and rituals are practised in Jamaâ el Fna Square, and what role do they still play in daily life? How can this extraordinary Moroccan intangible heritage be safeguarded for future generations, and what role can artists play in keeping disappearing crafts and culture alive?

This close collaboration between Moroccan and Dutch curators and heritage professionals is a follow-up to our 2023 knowledge exchange programme that took place in the Netherlands.

CoBrA Museum Amstelveen & Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Rabat

30 October 2024 – January 2025

The exhibition CoBrA: A Multiheaded Snake in Rabat opens within the framework of an ongoing exchange programme between the museums. It tells the story of the CoBrA movement, focusing on the mutual influence of Moroccan artists such as Chaïbia Talal and Jillali Gharbaoui, and Dutch CoBrA artists like Corneille and Karel Appel. This reciprocal inspiration has resulted in the creation and blending of artistic expressions that reflect global and local influences.

The exchange programme started in 2022 with the exhibition The Other Story: Moroccan Modernism from 1956 to the present at the CoBrA Museum Amstelveen, curated by Stefan van Raay and Abdelkader Benali. It provided an overview of the development of Moroccan modern art from the country’s independence in 1956 to the present day and the influence of the Dutch CoBrA movement. It also included work by Moroccan-Dutch contemporary artists. DutchCulture supported this exhibition as a partner and host of the opening.

During the opening, the Netherlands Institute Morocco of Leiden University (NIMAR) hosted a panel discussion, moderated by our Morocco Advisor, Myriam Saharoui. Guests included Mehdi Qotbi, Abdelkader Benali, Louise Wijnberg (Dutch art historian specializing in the Cobra movement), and Abdelaziz Idrissi. Barbera Wolfensberger, Director General Culture and Media at the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, held the opening speech.

3 October 2024 – March 2025, Centraal Museum Utrecht

In MOḌA – the common word in Moroccan Arabic and Tamazight for fashion – creators with Moroccan roots set the tone. Renowned international names and local talents from Utrecht present both explicit and subtle fashion statements, challenging the audience to see and think differently. Through seven themes, transhistorical, intercultural, and personal stories are told from the perspectives of fashion, symbolism, and craftsmanship. The exhibition serves as an introduction to the immense versatility of Moroccan fashion, but it does not attempt to be comprehensive. Queen Máxima will open the exhibition on 2 October.

MOḌA sprouts from a collaboration between DAR Cultural Agency (Rotterdam) and Centraal Museum Utrecht. DAR Cultural Agency is an art platform that initiates cultural programs and represents artistic talent in art, design, and architecture. The Centraal Museum in Utrecht boasts an extensive collection of art, fashion, and design and organizes major fashion exhibitions regularly.

This project has been supported by the Netherlands Embassy in Rabat.

12-14 October 2024 - Utrecht, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam

During this year’s edition of the Afrovibes Festival (2-13 October), Moroccan theatre maker Ghassan El Hakim presents his new work Gnaoua Again. In this latest piece, he collaborates with one of Morocco’s greatest Gnaoua masters, Maalem Abdellah El Gourd, introducing you to the rich Gnaoua music deeply rooted in Morocco's history of slavery. It's a co-production with the Amsterdam-based theatre group Female Economy, Dutch theatre maker Adelheid Roosen leads the dramaturgy.

This new collaboration was born in Tangier last summer during the co-production of Urban Safar Tanj with Female Economy. In that performance, Ghassan El Hakim explored his childhood memories and the taboos within his family.

Are you interested in working with Morocco? Feel free to contact our Morocco Advisor Myriam Sharaoui.