video feature
Digital Marrakech 2011 – 2012
Marrakech
Morocco is a strange country situated at the perifery of Europe, it is something between Africa and Europe, but many Moroccans, especially active in the arts are educated in Europe, often in France, and when they return to their home country they would like establish structures in culture which they met in Europe, and – fail. Wilfried’s experierences are about such failures and the loss of humanity for career-horny reasons!
Wilfried’s experiences in Morocco are really bad ones, starting in 2009, when he was invited by the Goethe Institute Rabat (the headquaters of the German cultural insitute) to share his knowledge in media art. Arriving on 31 March 2009 in Casablanca, already on the first day, 1 Aptil, he was nearly killed by an incredibly violent attack, and the two people who were responsible for Wilfried’s security, differently than Wilfried knowing of course, that Casablanca has the bad fame to be the capital of criminals of whole Africa did not care for a security person accompanying him through his walks through the medina – the old town of Casablanca, and it happened what had to happen – in one of the dark and empty steets already after 10 minutes walking, Wilfried was attacked by two criminals fighting for his life for more than 30 minutes – he fell to the ground at the end of his strength, and survived only because the before empty street was now crowded with people observing this live spectacle without intervening.
A story of an incredible inhumanity was following, because once confronted with the horrible experiences, the two people who had the order by the Goethe Institute direction to care for Wilfrierd’s security vanished in their irresponsibility leaving Wilfried alone, and now it was again the question how to survive in this hostile environment, until the plane was leaving to Cologne some days later. After Wilfried returned to Germany he was immediately referred to the Institute of Tramatology at Cologne University where he was set into an artificial coma due to the heavy traumatizations.
Both responsible persons are terrible failures – one of them has currently a position in the Cologne cultural department, and the other person, who failed to establish a media art festival in Casablanca is currently the director of Casablanca Video Festival.
So, this article would like to keep not only this memory, but primarily also the memory of the next failure, because the festival “Digital Marrakech” Wilfried was invited by a Moroocan guy living in Cologne to contribute a videoart screening program in 2011 and 2012, failed to organise this event in Marrakesh from the distance, because living in Cologne and experienced with how the things work in Germany, one of the richest countries, was not able to transfer the Western ideas to the reality of Morocco. Morocco is a facinating country, but like any other Islamic country the population is divided into fundamentalists and progressive people, who are always representing a minority, generating usually conflicts. Promissing initiatives fail mostly due to the lack of money – this is good, by the way, for Germany, as well. in the given cases it is the lack of responsibility and humanity additionally.
The festival program consists of live video performances, film screenings, workshops, lectures, and exhibition. In the festival framework artists from all over the world present latest practices, research and technologies and showcase important achievements in the development of media arts practices.
It is also a platform for local artists to present their work to a much larger public and to critic reviews. The festival plays a major role in expanding the opportunities for local talented film, video and interactive media artists, and offers the best of them the opportunity to produce a new works by offering two weeks master classes under the supervision of Media Arts professionals.
DIGITAL MARRAKECH, also wants to contribute in interdisciplinary collaborations between south and north, and create an atmosphere of international exchange between Moroccan artists and international ones. In this way we aim to bring together emerging artists sharing common ideas and energy, and to introduce them in a comprehensive but professional way with the newest trends in the field of Media art practices.
The idea is to make the festival a very important cultural event on the Moroccan and Arab map and unite various social spheres, like culture, arts and education. Our ambition is to turn the DIGITAL MARRAKECH Festival into an international Media Art meeting point in Marrakech.
The project takes place in different locations in Marrakech city, especially in its imperial part which is the old medina.
Digital Marrakech (Mo) – 9-11 December – CologneOFF 2011 – videoart in a global context
Digital Marrakesh Festival – 6-8 December 2012
@ Digital Marrakech
13_15 December 2011
selected works
CologneOFF VII – Art & the City
Selection curated by Agricola de Cologne
Ramon Suau Lleal (Spain) – Hoax, 2010, 4:23
Matthias Härenstam (Sweden) – Closed Circuit, 2011, 3:01
Albert Merino (Spain) – The City and The Other, 2010, 3:09
Johanna Reich ( Germany) – A State of Crystal, 2010, 3’19
Octavian Federovici (Romania) – Around 7 o’clock, 2007, 3:06
Yuriy Kruchak, Yulia Kostereva (UA) – The 7th of November, 2009, 3:36
Francesca Fini (Italy) – Oasis in The Desert, 2010, 5:05
Manuela Barile (PT) – Moroloja, 2008, 8:05
Sarah Mock (Germany) – Is there a way out, 2011, 3 :47
Pablo Fernandez-Pujol (ES) – 142-143 – 2010, 2:10
Ezra Wube (Ethiopia) – Amora, 2011, 2:26
Liu Wei (China) – Hopeless Land, 2009, 7:28
My Name is Scot (Canada) – Independence, 2011, 7:57
Hotel EL FENN
CologneOFF 2012 Morocco
Cologne Art & Moving Images Awards
(Cologne International Videoart Festival, animateCOLOGNE, VideoChannel)
@ Digital Marrakech – 6-8 December 2012
http://www.digitalmarrakech.org/
PDF catalogue CologneOFF2012 Morocco – December 2012 @ Digital Marrakech Festival
featuring
CologneOFF VIII
8th Cologne International Videoart Festival
curated by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne
Przemek Węgrzyn (Poland) – The Spring, 2011, 3:20
Angelika Herta (Austria) – Man of Iron, 2011, 1:53
Mark Kadota (Japan) – Un-Caged, 2012, 5:30
Marcantonio Lunardi (Italy) – Italy Lab, 2011, 5:00
David King (Australia) – Dystopic Overload, 2011, 3:10
Jonas Nilsson (Sweden) – Seclusion II, 2011, 3:54
Eimhin Hawes (Ireland) – Passage, 2009, 7:30
Conor McFeely (UK) – “The Testing Rooms- smashing forms”, 2008, 10:00
Beate Hecher/Markus Keim (Austria) – ln Absentia, 2012, 10:00
Cinzia Sarto (Italy) – Dirty Vacation, 2005, 7:00
Cologne Art & Animation Festival
List of videos
Pablo Fernandez-Pujol (Spain)- Pigman, 2012, 3:00
Arjan Brentjes (Netherlands) – Il était une fois un Artiste, 2011, 6:34
Karolina Glusiec (Poland) – Velocity, 2012, 6:00
Andrea Ferri (Italy) – Satura, 2008, 2:30
Pablo Renee Rosero Marino (Ecuador) – Nebula Hmlovina, 2011, 6:05
Phillipp Haffner (Germany) – Car chase (part1), 2012, 7:00
Franesca Fini (Italy) – Virus,2012, 5:00
Lauris Kalnins (Latvia) – little black shit wants to communicate, 2012, 2:20
DoDomani Studio (Italy) – The Box, 2012, 3:00
QNQ/AUJIK (Sweden) – 9 States of Ambivalence, 2012, 1:30 min
Shuai Cheng Pu (Taiwan) – Ferry Paradise, 2012, 3:48
Marlena Rask (Denmark) – The Signal, 2011, 07:13
Ezra Wube (Ethiopia) – Mela, 2006, 1:54
football (soccer) in contemporary art
VideoChannel – Curated by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne
List of videos
Alvaro Collar (Spain) – c1900, 2009, 8:08
Jacques Faton & Alpha Sadou Gano (Belgium/Senegal) – Laar, 2011, 19:00
Max Hattler (Germany) – Your Highness, 2010, 3mins
Marta Azparren (Spain) -The goalkeeper and the void, 2010, 3:56
Joanot Cortès (Spain) – The Black God, 2010, 5:00
Erc Esser (Germany) – Dawn of the Dorks, 2006, 22:00
Eva Olsson (Sweden) – Taking Control, 2007, 2:28
Kevin Ryan (Ireland) – It’s more important than that, 2007, 5:06
Anders Weberg (Sweden) – Misconduct, 2011, 01:22
Videoart from Africa
VideoChannel – curators Wilfried Agricola de Cologne (D) & Kai Lossgott (RSA)
Khanyisile Mbongwa, James Taylor (RSA) – Fragmented, 4′53”, 2009
Ananda Fuchs (RSA) waitless, 4′40”, 2009 by
Jeanette Ginslov (RSA) – Korohano, 3:40, 2009,
Michele MAGEMA (D.Congo) – Interiority-Fresco IV / 2010 / 2′31″
Emeka Ogboh (Nigeria) – [dis]connect I, 2011, 3:36
Saliou TRAORE (Burkina Faso) – Traffic Mum / 2009 / 10′33″
Samba Fall (Senegal) – Yesterday, I had a Dream, 2011, 6:42
Imohammed Fettaka (Morocco) – Creatruction, 2011, 10:00
Henok Getachew (Ethiopia) – Framed Embryo, 2008, 4:12
Jude Anogwih (Nigeria – UNSTABLE STABLES, 2009, 1:20
Hamza Halloubi (Morocco) – Untitled (Lait), 2007, 0:51
Close to My Heart
videoart from Iran
VideoChannel – curated by Alysse Stepanian
Morehshin Allahyari “Over There Is Over Here” 2010, 5:45
Maneli Aygani “O’ fable they are the fodder who have blocked the way to the garden” 2010, 4:28
Neda Darzi “The sky border is my homeland” 2007, 1:53
Samira Eskandarfar “The Olive” 2009, 7:04
Gelare Khoshgozaran “1989 a.k.a. the Year that Happiness Froze in Time” 2010, 3:08
Laleh Mehran “Raheleh” 2007, 3:27
Payam Mofidi “Poéticide (shaér koshi)” 2009-2010, 11:25
Hamed Shahihi “Sundown” 2009, 3:30
Parya Vatankhah “Inevitable” 2010, 3:40
Mexican Visions
videoart from Mexico
VideoChannel – curated by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne
in a collaboration with Circuito Electrovisiones Mexico City
Eduardo Rangel – Columpio, 2010, 2:24
Javier Ocampo – Todos somos Todos(Everyone is Everyone), 2011, 2:53
Marissa Viani Serrano Ocampo – Memories of a Man in Paradise, 2011, 1:50
Karla Carballar – Rosa, 2010, 2:30
Ricardo Gonzalez – Chromatic Sructures, 2011, 2:23
Alberto Estrada – Maenad, 2009, 5:48
Soy Roxana T. Barraza a.k.a VjThai – HAZ ALGO / DO IT, 2007, 10:00
Damián Ontiveros – The Sacrifice Book, 2011, 3:11
Daniel Ivan – N.O.W., 2010, 4:56
ICETRIP – WICCA, 2009, 2’ 35’’
Juan Carlos Duarte Regino – Wired vegetable, 2009, 3:15
Julian Bonequi – Variation33, 2010, 1:55
E. S. Mayorga – Digging Out New Statements, 2009, 6:57
Emilio Bassail (Mexico) – Aspirine for Peace, 2012, 2:57
Ligia Pintado – Happy Remains, 2009, 2:32
Enter the feature–>
http://vad.nmartproject.net/img/gaza-feature2.html
Messages from Gaza
Videoart from Palestine
VideoChannel – in collaboration with
Gaza International Videoart Festival & Windows from Gaza
List of videos
Mohammed Harb – Death Tunnel, 2011, 1:00
Shareef Sarhan – Zanaza, 2009, 2013
Majed Shala – Headache, 2010, 3:00
Mohammed Harb – Without Windows, 2009, 5:00
Basel El Maqusi – Number, 2009, 3:10
Larissa Sansour – Soup over Bethlehem, 2007, 9:24
Ayman Asraq – Passage, 2007, 6:35
Mohammed Harb – Black & White, 2008, 3:31
Larissa Sansour – Space Exodus, 2008, 3:25
venue
CENTRE CULTUREL ATLAS GOLF MARRAKECH
