Initialled by Mehdi Qotbi, president of the FNM and Jack Lang, president of the IMA, this agreement is part of the cultural cooperation momentum between Morocco and France instituted by the Partnership Agreement for Cultural Cooperation and Development signed on July 25, 2003, as well as the joint statement issued at the end of the XIth Franco-Moroccan High Level Meeting, held in Rabat on December 13, 2012.
Under this agreement, the signatory parties undertake to join forces to present in 2023, for the first time in Morocco, a traveling exhibition of major works of modern and contemporary art at the Mohammed VI Museum of Contemporary Art in Rabat, at the Kasbah Museum of Mediterranean Cultures in Tangier and at the Dar El Bacha Museum of Confluences in Marrakech.
This IMA collection, which will be loaned for the first time to another institution, was recently enriched by the major donation of Claude and France Lemand.
“It will present a rich panorama on the avant-garde and the plural modernities of the countries of the Arab world from 1945 to the present day. With a majority of paintings but also, sculptures, photographs and graphic works,” reads the text of the agreement.
Cooperation between the FNM and the IMA has already begun in 2014, by organizing the exhibition “Contemporary Morocco” in Paris, and in 2015 in Rabat. This major event, explains the FNM, demonstrated the vibrancy and richness of the art scene of Morocco.
In 2019, this partnership continued, in collaboration with the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco through the organization of the exhibition “The Treasures of Islam from Timbuktu to Zanzibar” at the Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, which welcomed a large number of visitors.
“We sign today with the Arab World Institute and, in collaboration with an essential and valuable partner in all projects of the FNM, namely the French Institute in Morocco, an agreement for the co-organization of such an important exhibition, since we will present in Morocco an unprecedented collection of masterpieces from the collection of the IMA,” Qotbi told M24, MAP’s TV channel.
“What I would like to emphasize is that for the first time, the exhibition will not only go to Rabat (….) but will also be installed in Tangier and Marrakech. There will be, therefore, a splitting of this exhibition so that all Moroccans can enjoy it,” Qotbi added.
Through this traveling exhibition it will also highlight the talent of many Arab artists, he explained, noting that the IMA has also decided to equip a library of the FNM at the Museum Mohammed VI of Modern and Contemporary Art.
He also highlighted Lang’s passion and admiration for Morocco, a country cited as an example in the world, thanks to the enlightened policy of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, noting that the Sovereign has given to culture the place it should have in every modern country.
For his part, Lang expressed his satisfaction for signing this highly original, promising and unique agreement with the FNM, given that this is the first time the IMA has decided to bring out of its walls valuable collections of modern and contemporary Arab art.
“It is therefore for the first time outside the IMA, in another country and it is quite normal, that Morocco, a great country of culture and knowledge, will host for several months, these exceptional works in several of its cities. It is a traveling exhibition through this great country,” he said.
“If Morocco was obviously chosen, it is because it is a great country that devotes so much effort to culture today,” said Lang, while calling His Majesty King Mohammed VI “Great Man of Culture and Learning”, and highlighting the passion, knowledge and love of the Sovereign for culture and contemporary arts.
