In search of the Pluriverse
Casablanca: who owns the city
In 2010, Wong & Krier lived and worked for three months in Casa, as locals call Casablanca. Their aim was to embrace the city as a place of production and to make a portrait of its hidden qualities: ICI Casa, Ville Inventive. The resulting exhibition was an optimistic tribute to the resourcefulness of a thriving city. Many questions were however left unanswered once the residency was over: for instance the fragility and invisibility of the – quite substantial – informal economy, and the gentrification of the city through capital investors that fund the construction of luxury shopping malls.
More than ten years and a pandemic later, Wong & Krier return to Casa, in search of who makes the city, who owns it, and who is granted access to it. They meet a self-assured metropolis in the process of re-assessing its relation to Europe, and its plural identities: “Casa is an African city, a Berber city, a Moroccan city, an Arabic city.”
Some facts first
Casablanca is part of the Casablanca-Setta ‘mega-region’ that includes the town of Mohammedia 30 km away and 7 surrounding (sub)urban provinces, with a total population of over 7 million. The region’s economic growth started with cereals, wool and later phosphate exports, which transit yearly through Casablanca’s airport and harbor, making it by far the country’s economically most productive city. On a geopolitical level, King Mohammed VI’s recent moves appears to imply a turn away from Europe and the ideal of the Maghreb, towards stronger diplomatic relations with Israel and the United States on one hand, and more pan-African collaboration on the other.
Also called Northwest Africa, the Maghreb persists as an imaginary territory beyond nation states: following the contours of the Mediterranean basin, the Maghreb encompasses Algeria, Lybia, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. It also includes the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, and the disputed territory of the Western Sahara. This former Spanish colony has endured long standing conflicts with various parties (Polisario liberation front, Algeria ; Moroccan government, Rabat) each claiming a different status for it. At the moment of writing, fall 2022, the tensions between Madrid and Rabat around the Western Sahara seem to have somewhat subdued.
Subsaharian migrants are an influential phenomenon in Casa since the early 2000s - they are here to stay. The ‘marché africain’ next to the old Medina is a patchwork of subsaharan cultures, whom at first took some time to be accepted; now, even Moroccans find their way there.
In an attempt to read Casa anew, for this trip Wong&Krier left The Netherlands with a favourite read from urbanist and activist Wouter Pocornie (founder of Prospect Eleven in the Bijlmer, Amsterdam) under their arm: ‘The right to the city’ by sociologist Henri Lefebvre. For him, the difference between ‘lived space’ and ‘planned space’ is what makes up the main dilemma of ‘social space’.
Paradoxically, Casa is said to be both a city of possibilities and a city of constraints: a city where you can re-invent yourself, and a city that hords you. Invisible powers look on with tolerance one day, and stop you in your tracks the next. In this context, what does it take to not only start but also keep alive cultural spaces? Especially when a city is in the grip of the logic of economic growth and profit – accumulating social inequality and environmental degradation – and when it lacks a long term cultural policy? Wong & Krier try to find out by taking to the streets and talking to older and newly arrived locals.
#1: Maria Daïf
Firestarter
We start this series of conversations with our local insider Maria Daïf. Maria spent 15 years as a cultural journalist (print and radio), then turned to cultural mediation, supporting independent art projects throughout the African/Arabic region. She is a fire starter, curator, writer and an important voice in contemporary Casablanca.
We meet Maria at the seaside, where we look out on the beach, an obsolete concrete swimming pool and the Atlantic ocean. We talk about the late 90ies, early 2000s when King Mohammed VI took over from his father Hassan II, Moroccan society opened up and Maria’s career as a journalist blossomed. We also talk about the complicated dance between the authority, the rules and the people. Maria describes the difficult cultural climate: how things come, go and come again.
A talk about the past, present and future of a city that Daïf loves, and is about to leave. A new rural existence lingers beyond the horizon.
#2: Vertical Field Trip
A dazzling tour
In the meantime all 4 participants of this Casablanca edition have arrived: Bodil Ouédraogo, Rubén Dario Kleimeer, Mouna Belgrini and Samba Soumbounou. Next to local insider Maria Daïf, Francien van Westrenen from Het Nieuwe Instituut joins us for the five day programme that kicks off with a ‘vertical field trip’. An attempt to ground ourselves and be truly present in Casablanca’s ‘here and now’.
Samba and Mouna take us on a dazzling tour. We start in Firdaouss, a quiet small scale neighbourhood at the west side of the city, bordered by Lac El Oulfa, a former stone quarry, now an artificial lake. We pick up trash at the shore, circle the lake and have lunch at the central square. At the borders of the lake the pressure of commercial development is tangible. Samba takes us here because he collaborates with the citizens, trying to improve the quality of public space. In the evening we take the tram to Sidi Moumen and Hay Mohammedi at the east side of Casa, two vibrant working class neighbourhoods. We visit cultural centre Les Étoiles de Sidi Moumen, a local market and take a peek at modernist architectural heritage, that over the years has been ‘decolonised’ by its inhabitants.
This soundscape tries to capture the moods, sounds, views and smells of the day that made a big impression on all of us.
#3: Rubén Dario Kleimeer
Shutter time
Rotterdam based photographer Rubén Dario Kleimeer portrays the urban landscape and the people inhabiting it. He uses photography to analyse and understand urban spaces better. With the gaze of an urban ethnographer, he explores the built environment in which we live, work and dwell.
Kleimeer picked the spot for our conversation: Place des Nation Unies, a spacious square where different networks of transportation cross. At the far end of the square, in the shade of a tree, we talk about photography in relation to time and space. If you take a lot of time to make a picture, is that time reflected in the image? Does that image last longer than an instant snapshot? And what places in the city is Kleimeer attracted to? And what does ‘being the drummer in the band’ have to do with all of this?
Four months after our talk we meet again in Rotterdam, to take a closer look at the photos Rubén took during our days in Casa. Do these pictures last?
#4: Mouna Belgrini
Dancing the city
Mouna Belgrini is the perfect tour guide: she knows Casablanca in and out, and she effortlessly connects places, facts and narratives. We could have roamed the city for weeks, but had to limit ourselves to a sublime day of walking and talking. Belgrini is a (photo)journalist, cultural producer and communicator. On a practical level this means Mouna is connecting, editing and distributing content 24/7. We talk about how she learned to live in this complex city, we talk about fear and joy, we look at street art and reflect on the impact the pandemic had on daily life in Casablanca.
When we arrive at her apartment, we dive into what Mouna loves most: dance. From the moment she laid eyes on street dancers at art space L’Uzine (https://luzine.ma/), to creating a new space – both digital and physical – for creative energy/dance: Liquid Bridge.
We end the talk with a tour through digital Casablanca. What has a platform like Instagram brought to the city? And what does the future have in store for young – digital – personalities? Will they go, or are they here to stay?
#5: Bodil Ouédraogo
Identity
Bodil Ouédraogo was born and raised in Amsterdam by a Dutch mother and a father from Burkina Faso. As a human being and as a designer she cherishes her bi-cultural background. She studies it, she materialises it. In her own words: “I have no choice, my identity cannot be ignored.”
After an interesting fashion walk through Casa with Mouna Belgrini, we end up in the court yard of a fabric store in wholesale district Derb Omar. Apart from the background noise, an interesting context for our conversation. We talk about the art of dressing up and how combining different existing layers can form brand new identities. Ouédragaogo just came from Burkina Faso and Nigeria and she reflects on how different cultures activate different types of (creative) thinking. We also talk about the classic ‘grand boubou’ as inspiration and the interesting properties of latex.
Through the eyes of Bodil everything is related to identity: from a spray painted name tag in the streets to (fake) Louis Vuitton bags. After the talk we go shopping for home accessories. Because life = work = life.
#6: Samba Soumbounou
Let's call Samba
After taking us to Lac d’Oulfa, Sidi Moumen and Hay Mohammedi for our vertical field trip (talk #2), today Samba Soumbounou brings us to the neighbourhood where he first settled in Casa, arriving from Mauritania 10 years ago. He is a cultural engineer and mediator: connecting dots and making these connections meaningful and productive. Samba is the embodiment of social glue, extremely approachable, always willing to ‘step in’. During our stay his phone rings frequently and many people stop him in the streets to ask something or to just say hi. It earned him the hashtag #letscallsamba!
We talk about the divide between people and policy making: the lack of communication. It makes sense that this topic matters to Samba. In Mauritania the Soumbounou family is responsible for the collective memory: to pass things on. His family is also associated with playing the drum. In Mauritanian culture the drum connects and harmonises. In Casablanca there is a lot to harmonise – capital investors, builders, politics, citizens: they don’t communicate well. In the end the city is determined by people, not buildings. It is not about the ‘what’. It is about the ‘who’ and ‘how’.
#7: Mohamed Fariji
Collective Imagination
Mohamed Faridji co-founded Atelier de l’Observatoire in 2011, around the same time we – Wong & Krier – lived and worked in Casablanca for three months. At the time we did not meet, now we do.
We were attracted by Le Musée Collectif (part of Atelier de l’Observatoire): a roaming museum, housed in sea container, presently located in Parc de la Ligue Arabe, which locals still call Parc Yasmina. Faridji is an artist/activist who attempts to cultivate a collective cultural memory of Casa: is an obsolete polyester Mickey Mouse with one ear missing a piece of trash, or does it have cultural value? Faridji tries to answer this question by collecting, archiving and displaying cultural artefacts like this one-eared Mickey. His approach is inclusive, participatory and citizen driven. We chose the Musée Collectif as location for our final group talk.
We meet in the park, where Sophie’s brain needs to work twice as hard as in other talks: Mohamed speaks French, Krier interviews and translates at the same time.
A talk about the absence of constructive cultural policy, cultural rights and how to deal with that. How to keep institutions that disappear – like the Casablanca Aquarium – present in the shared Casa memory? How to activate the imagination that is linked to those memories? Why? Faridji: “We need to celebrate humanity”.
#8: Fountain talk
The city as amplifier
We meet at Musée Collectif with all participants of this ‘who owns the city’ edition: Mouna, Bodil, Rubén, Samba and Mohamed. Maria could not make it but is present in spirit. Some new voices join: street artist Grocco/Trick54 (more on him in talk #4 and #9), cultural producer Jamal Abdennassar (who Wong & Krier worked with in 2010) and artist/curator Yemoh Odoi (who organises artistic residencies for underrepresented members of the migrant population with The Minority Globe, see talk #10). Last but not least: Francien van Westrenen from Het Nieuwe Instituut is also present in this circle of Casa-voices.
Musée Collectif is located close to a public fountain in Le parc de la Ligue Arabe. Miraculously our host Mohamed Faridji was able to turn it off, just for the length of this group talk.
We share the experiences and conversations of the past days and try to make sense of it: Casablanca as phoenix that burns and rises from its ashes, over and over again. The city as amplifier of notions, movements and manifestations. This migrant city invites to start over, to let go of what was. But how to solidify, to secure things in the long term? How to activate a collective memory? At the end of the talk Mouna thanks the internet. Is that the place to store Casa’s memories?
#9: Grocco/Trick54
King of Casablanca
As a kid Grocco – artist name, his real name is a well kept secret – wanted to make a difference “I’m gonna be King of Casablanca!”. He worked hard and became a graffiti legend. His tag Trick54 can be found all over Morocco and is unavoidable in the urban Casablanca area.
Covid kept Grocco inside and he started to draw more. From his sketchbook, faces started to appear in the public domain. Ambivalent, yet tranquil faces, with holes and phallus-like bulges attached to them. Who is this creature? A visitor, is it Casablanca? Recently even more enigmatic works appear in the streets of the city: three-dimensional fragments, compositions, carefully layed out on the pavement. Is it trash, are they messages, is it language? For Grocco everything is a trick. Life is a trick, art is a trick.
Listen to a trickster who became a legend at the age of 30.
#10: Yemoh Odoi
The only song you hear
Artist, cook, boxer, musician and cultural producer Yemoh Odoi was fascinated as a child by the desert and its nomadic inhabitants. The silence, the space, the absence of people and references. He left Ghana at the age of 18 and travelled his way up to Casablanca via Senegal and the magnificent Sahara.
He founded The Minority Globe to give voice to migrant biographies through art. On our last day in Casa, the exhibition ‘Look at me’ opened. Photos of migrant women, taken by migrant women. “A migrant isn’t given anything. You’ve got to take. These women are taking their space.”
A talk about emptiness. About how the absence of ‘everything else’ brings out true creativity. As Yemoh says it: “In the desert you can only hear the songs that are composed in your heart”.