1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair La Mamounia, Marrakech, 23 – 24 February 2019 1-54 FORUM talks programme announced for second edition in Marrakech, curated by art historian and curator Karima Boudou • Twelfth edition of 1-54 FORUM, titled ‘Let’s Play Something Let’s Play Anything Let’s Play’1, will examine narratives of surrealism in Africa and its diaspora • Conversation on Ted Joans’ relationship with surrealism by lecturer Joanna Pawlik • Screenings of work by filmmakers Kara Walker and Louis Van Gasteren • Panel discussions on the contemporary use of sound and language to liberate the unconscious and document it • Talk on Maghrebian Surrealism and the Surrealist movement in Egypt L-R: Noureddine Ezarraf, The Public Writer, 2017, installation. Photo by Lisa Stewart of Queens Collective. Courtesy the artist; Vince Fraser, BLAQUE MATISSE, 2017. Courtesy the artist; Abdellah Hassak, Alarme! Alarme! Alarme!, 2016. Courtesy the artist. 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, the leading international art fair dedicated to contemporary African art, has announced details of 1-54 FORUM, the fair’s acclaimed talks and events programme, for the second Marrakech edition in February. Curated for the first time by art historian and curator, Karima Boudou, the programme entitled ‘Let’s Play Something Let’s Play Anything Let’s Play’ will take place during the fair at La Mamounia. In addition, 1-54 FORUM will host three sessions around the city at ESAV (L'École Supérieure des Arts Visuels de Marrakech), Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech and Le 18, a multidisciplinary art space. 1-54 Marrakech 2019 will present 18 leading galleries from 11 countries featuring more than 65 artists from Africa and its diaspora. This year’s series of panels, artist talks and screenings has taken as its point of departure the life and work of Ted Joans (1928 - 2003), an African-American Surrealist painter, jazz musician and poet who lived in Morocco, and later Mali, from the 1960s. Bringing Joans back into the context of Morocco provides a rich ground to discuss the intertwined narratives of surrealism in Africa and its diaspora. ‘Let’s Play Something Let’s Play Anything Let’s Play’ is not in support of a theory but offers a space in which to reassess the artistic and political potential of material produced by artists, poets, musicians and filmmakers of African descent in the broader international movement as well as contemporary production responding to the multi-dimensional nature of this work. It will pose questions such as: ‘What space does surrealism occupy in the contemporary discourse on post-coloniality, cultural production and 1 Ted Joans, Let’s Play Something Let’s Play Anything Let’s Play, 1964. Ted Joans papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. historiography?’ and ‘Can surrealism still be used as a tool to combat racism and pan-colonial rhetoric, just as Joans envisioned?’ Karima Boudou, 1-54 FORUM Curator for 1-54 Marrakech 2019, said: “I am excited to curate this year's 1-54 FORUM Marrakech for the second edition of the fair in Morocco. I am looking forward to continuing 1-54 FORUM’s legacy as a space for testing ideas and sharing urgent debates within and outside the cultural field. Grounded in Marrakech, with its rich and plural cultural, social and historical fabric, this edition of 1-54 FORUM will depart from the historical figure of African American surrealist Ted Joans to reassess historical and contemporary voices and perspectives of surrealism in the African continent and its diasporas. I am delighted to have these conversations in a city and country I have a strong connection to." Programme highlights include: a conversation on Ted Joans’ relationship with surrealism by lecturer Joanna Pawlik; and introduction to poets Tchicaya U Tam’si and M’barek Ben Zida; screenings of work by filmmakers Kara Walker and Louis Van Gasteren; panel discussions on sound and archives within the Netherlands’ jazz history in the context of Morocco; talks on Maghrebian Surrealism and the Surrealist movement in Egypt; an artist talk with digital illustrator and artist Vince Fraser. A full list of talks for the 1- 54 FORUM Marrakech ‘Let’s Play Something Let’s Play Anything Let’s Play’ can be found below or online at 1-54.com/marrakech/forum-2/ 1-54 FORUM: Let’s Play Something Let’s Play Anything Let’s Play Friday 22 February 18:00 – 19:30 Ted Joans in Context: Notes and Thoughts on Filmmaking A unique opportunity to engage with rarely shown films featuring Ted Joans. Following her extensive research on Ted Joans, art historian and curator Karima Boudou will introduce several films spanning the decade of the 1990s. What is the role of archives in generating discourse and understanding histories? What can we learn from the process of archiving film and the use of archived documentary films in contemporary cultural projects? Location: ESAV. Language: French and English. Saturday 23 February 12:15 – 12:30 Introduction Karima Boudou (1-54 FORUM Programme Curator) gives insights into this year’s 1-54 FORUM programme. Location: La Mamounia. Language: French. 12:30 - 13:30 Ted Joans, Surrealist Traveller Ted Joans’ engagement with surrealism was often removed from the movement’s supposed bedrock of Paris, and closely involved with broader transatlantic dialogues of anti-colonialism and anti-racism. Grounding the forthcoming programme and drawing on current research, Joanna Pawlik (Lecturer at the University of Sussex) discusses Ted Joans’ relationship with surrealism, what it offered him as an artist and poet and how these could be used as a lens through which to place surrealism in contemporary discourse. Location: La Mamounia. Language: English. 14:00 - 15:30 Keepin’ Words Surreal How can language and word be used to liberate the unconscious? Boniface Mongo- Mboussa (Writer and Cultural Critic, Paris) draws on the life and work of Congolese poet Tchicaya U Tam’si (1931-1988) and his involvement with surrealism. M’barek Bouhchichi (Artist, Tahanaout) gives insights into his work and research around M’barek Ben Zida (1925-1973), a black Amazigh poet from Tata, south-eastern Morocco, while Noureddine Ezarraf (Multidisciplinary Artist and Poet, Aghmat) introduces several threads which highlight orality’s role in activating a playful and poetic approach to materiality and everyday life. Moderated by Karima Boudou. Location: La Mamounia. Language: French. 19:00 - 20:00 The Films of Kara Walker: Between Narration and Performance Alongside a screening of Kara Walker’s 8 Possible Beginnings or: The Making of African- America (2005, 15’) Vanina Géré (Professor at Villa Arson National School of Fine Arts, Nice) will discuss Walker’s relationship to Afro-surrealism. With an Afro-feminist perspective Walker alters her lived reality as a black woman using imagery from a vast array of histories to confront issues of race, gender and violence. Having first met Walker in 2006 and followed her artistic trajectory ever since, Géré’s holistic lens will explore Walker’s relationship to Afro-surrealism in the context of the artist’s work up to 2015. Location: Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech. Language: English. Sunday 24 February 12:30 - 13:30 Surrealism vs Scribbles: The Hostile Narratives Around the Surrealist Movement in Egypt Since their rising in 1930s - 40s, Surrealist artists in Egypt have faced hostility. Alaa Abdelhamid (Interdisciplinary Artist and Writer, Cairo) will explore the nationalist and commercially grounded representations of Surrealist artists in film, press, and government communication. A reflection of their position in Egyptian society - where stories and official narratives collided - Abdelhamid will also explore the echos of these attitudes towards contemporary artists in this context. Location: La Mamounia. Language: Arabic. 14:00 - 15:30 Comic Sounds How can sound and orality reflect and document our (sur)realities and processes of imagination? Panellists will address the Netherlands’ jazz history and archives, and discuss immersive listening practices and audio recordings in the context of Morocco. A panel discussion with Jessica de Abreu (Anthropologist and Co-founder of The Black Archives, Amsterdam), Abdellah Hassak (Sound Artist, Casablanca) and Hassan Jouad (Linguist and Anthropologist, Paris) moderated by Karima Boudou. Location: La Mamounia. Language: French and English. 16:00 - 17:00 Maghrebian Surrealism Habib Tengour (Poet and Sociologist, Mostaganem and Paris) and Olivier Hadouchi (Historian of cinema, Paris) will depart from Tengour’s surrealist manifesto which subtly shows that surrealism - a movement considered to be of French origin - is in fact a recent European variant of much older Maghrebian traditions and practices. Tengour and Hadouchi will discuss Maghrebian roots of surrealism as a revolutionary means of disengagement, as a form of subversion of the language of power and a passionate pursuit of the practice of poetry, and the formation of histories and memory in relation to the Algerian context. Location: La Mamounia. Language: French. 17:30 - 18:30 Surrealism and Animated Photography Vince Fraser (Digital Illustrator and Artist, London) discusses his work and practice with Yvon Langué (Curator, Marrakech). Fraser’s work, consisting of animated collages and photography, draws on both contemporary and past Surrealists as well as Afrobeat influences. How can one use surrealism and its narratives to celebrate numerous facets of culture and arts from Africa and the diaspora? Location: La Mamounia. Language: English. 19:30 - 20:30 Jazz is My Religion A rare opportunity to engage with the work of Dutch filmmaker Louis van Gasteren. In 1963, Dutch writer and poet Simon Vinkenoog started a Jazz & Poetry night in Sheherazade, a nightclub in Amsterdam, on behalf of his American friends - including Ted Joans - who asked him "Hey man, where can you read Poetry here?” In 1964, van Gasteren directed the film Jazz and Poetry (1964, 14’) in which Ted Joans reads his poetry with jazz musicians Piet Kuiters, Ruud Jacobs, Cees See and Herman Schoonderwalt at Sheherazade.