pOp uP al Zahra – with Jess Stephens

The Queen of the Festival Fringe scene must surely be Jessica Stephens, Sefrou based artist and cultural coordinator of Culture Vultures. Each year her contribution gets bigger and it’s all for a good cause, bringing art and culture to the streets for everyone to experience.

“There have been so many highlights!” Stephens said. “Flash mobbing in Seffarine Square with Gershom, the Timbre Flaws Choir singing on the doorstep of the pop up – there were 24 of them and with their kids too,  flash mob with Amacita – a group of mixed nationality students from the American high school in Fes – was great , a few of the Moroccan students hadn’t ever been to the Medina and there they were singing in Seffarine Square.

“The mix of audiences for it is what excites me and the deeper into the Medina we go, the further away from the main festival sites, the more it’s appreciated – we’re giving something to the people of the Medina.”
This is the essence of what Stephens does – break down the barriers that make art and culture elitist and only open to a select section of society, by making it accessible in a non-threatening environment.

“The pop up is so much more than a shop or a gallery, it’s about sharing – it’s become aplatform, a springboard for artist’s projects, performances, and artists psroject. It’s not about business it’s about cracking open arts and culture for all people across the spectrum. There’s no other space where you get visitors as diverse as a high-class Parisian, a gnawa mallum and a tanner! My mission is arts for all!”

A more traditional art exhibition, also coordinated by Culture Vultures was on display at Dar Tazi during the festival.

Mohammed Charkaoui is a Fassi artist whose father is an Imam, he has been practicing for many years and now teaches calligraphy. Yassine Khalid is a young contemporary artist from Sefrou with a smart mind and big ambitions. He trained in Tetouan and, for now, lives and works in Sefrou.

“I believe Yassine will go far,” Stephens said.”Watch this space.”

Its all over for this year but ideas are germinating and have sprung from this rich and rewarding venture for the coming Fes Festival Fringe. Culture Vultures would like to thank all those involved ed and who supported.

Photos and text by Vanessa Bonnin.

The artist Matisse’s exposure to Persian miniatures and Morocco had a revolutionary effect on his work and the development of modern art. Professor Barry will talk about Matisse’s experience of these; the meaning and Islamic context of the 15th and 16th century Persian miniatures, and cross-cultural borrowing.

Michael Barry is a Princeton University professor and historian of the greater Middle East and Islamic world. Since 2004 he has taught as Lecturer in Islamic Culture in Princeton’s Department of Near Eastern Studies, and also served as consultative chairman of the Department of Islamic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2005-2009) and special consultant to the Aga Khan Trust for Culture since 2009. He is an established authority on Islamic art and the history and culture of Afghanistan, on which he has written extensively.

Who: ALIF & ALC students, University students and the general public
When: Monday June 17 at 6.30 PM
Where: ALC/ALIF Annex Auditorium, across from the American Center

Colleen Cassar and a Carosa guy ‘on site’. x

Little did I know that when we began our rag rug fence that we would be bestowed with so much goodwill, kindness, gratitude, blessings and photo opportunities! Over the past week Soukaina,  Yassine and I have been building a public art piece as part of the Culture Vultures Fringe Festival, bringing colour, activity and delightful surprise to a busy, noisy, dusty work site close to Batha Square. In the style of “boucherouite” rug knotting we have used the steel mesh barrier fence as the base for our rich carpet, made from all donated clothing and fabric offcuts.

Locals and tourists alike are full of appreciation and curiosity, our work inspiring shared stories of symbolism, expression, recycling and the need to educate our children to be mindful of our planet and it’s eco system. Local children are fascinated and daily we are blessed with smiling congratulations as they tread the path home from school. Just yesterday a group of teenage girls stopped to knot before they sat their English exam! What a great community you all are dear Fassi folk and visitors. Is there a collective noun for a group of blessings? A Rug of Baraka sounds good to me!

passer by gives the thumbs up. x

Street Carpet can be seen a few meters away from the newspaper stand / kiosk at Batha round about until who knows when…..

Street Carpet, from behind.

A Culture Vultures Production.

Take a wonder town the Talla in Fez medina and after some time you will come across pOp uP alZahra, a tiny art space with the feel of carnival outside to lure the public into a space reminiscent of the andalucian palace alZahra. Once inside one will encounter artworks from artists as far afield as New York and as close a patch as Fez and Sefrou. Elegant traditional Calligraphy, contemporary collaged astrolabes, andalucian motifs and the essence of a garden are all presented to entice and inspire the viewer. Come on over, pOp on by and step inside before it all disappears again until next year.

Culture Vultures is proud to present this years portfolio of artists, Margaret Lanzetta, David Packer, Abdelsellam Rihani, Mohammed Charkaoui, Yassine Khaled, Heidi Vogels, Jess Stephens and Jewelry by Moroccan Bling.

A premier for Fez is the screening of Hidden Waters, a documentary made in 2012 by Joe Lukawski,  investigating the under currents of Fez’ ancient city.

Joe Lukawski is a Paris based documentary filmmaker and freelance journalist. A former Fulbright grantee to Morocco, his work has focused on water in Fez and the important links between this life-giving resource, urban space and social life. From the medina of Fez to the canals of Venice, his films privilege the relationship between the individual subject, space and social history. For Lukawski, ‘Les eaux cachées’ represents a work of ethnography, at the same time as it aspires to treat history and reflect on the future. In the andalous gardens of Fez, through the passages of the old city beneath which water still flows, and through the stories of Fez’s people, this film brought Lukawski into contact with the rich traditions of Fez’s people and some of the complex urban problems many of them face.

Hidden Waters can be seen anytime at pOp uP alZahra, should you wish the film to be started from the beginning upon your arrival please ask a member of alZahra.

pOp uP alZahra- Talla Kbira. (10a.m. – 8p.m.) 7^th – 16^th of June 2013.

I S I S  C E N T E R  F O R  WOME N  A N D  D E V E L O P ME N T

International Forum: Mediterranean Womens’s Rights in the

Aftermath of the ‘Arab Uprisings’

Date : June 21-23, 2013

Venue : Palais des Congrès, Fez, Morocco

Conference languages: Arabic, French, English (simultaneous translation provided)

Women’s rights in the south of the Mediterranean have been on the rise with ups and downs. There seems to be a backlash on these rights after the Arab uprisings. In reflecting on women’s rights two years after the uprisings, many paradoxes come to mind. On the one hand, we have witnessed a spectacular presence of women of all ages, ideologies, ethnicities and social statuses during the political mobilization of the uprisings (as has been well documented by the media). Yet, on the other hand, and here is the first paradox, in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, and Kuwait, the newly elected governments have a very weak, if not at zero, representation of women. Furthermore, the political Islamization of the MENA region is a fact (with the adjectives “moderate” and “salafist” added according to the Islamic dose involved). However, and here is the second paradox, what most advocates of women’s rights (scholars and activists) had scored through decades were also “Islamic” gains. Women’s rights advocates in the region fought to improve, not replace, Sharia laws and they have targeted patriarchy, not Islam. These two paradoxes call for serious debate and action. The goal of the forum is to discuss the new challenges facing academics, activists and politicians.

ISIS Center for Women and Development

Friday, June 21

9: 00 h Opening and Welcome

10: 00 h Keynote Speech

Revolutions, Democratic Transitions, and Women’s Rights: The Arab

Spring in Comparative Perspective

Valentine MOGHADAM, Director, Program of International Affairs,

Northeastern University, Boston, USA

10: 00h Reception

Panel I: Equality of Sexes in the New Constitutions

Chair: Moha ENNAJI, Author and Researcher, President, international Institute for

Languages and Cultures (INLAC), Fez

11: 00 h The New Egyptian Constitution After the Revolution: Gender Equality and

Non-Discrimination (in Arabic)

Moushira KHATTAB, former Egyptian Ambassador to South Africa,

former Minister for Family and Population, Egypt

11: 20 h Gender Equality in the Tunisian Constitution (in French)

Lilia LABIDI, former Minister for Women’s Affairs, Tunisia

11:40 The “Arab Spring”: Between Reality and Imagination (in Arabic)

Ramziyah ELARYANI, Secretary General, Arab Union of Women,

President, Yemeni Women Union

12: 00 h Discussion

12: 30 h Lunch break

Panel II: Women’s Rights after the Arab Revolutions

Chair: Mino VIANELLO, Professor Emeritus of Economic Sociology, University of

Rome / Columbia University “Seminars”, New York, USA

15: 00 h Women’s Rights after the Arab Revolutions (in Arabic)

Islah JAD, University of Birzeit, Palestine

15: 20 h What About Maghrebian Women’s Rights after the “Arab Spring”?

Moha ENNAJI, Author and Researcher, President, International Institute

for Languages and Cultures (INLAC), Fez

15: 40 h Revolutionary Narratives: Nawal El Saadawi and Samar Yazbek

miriam cooke, Duke University, North Carolina, USA

16: 00 h Discussion

16: 30 h Coffee break

Panel III: Women’s Rights and Islam

Chair: Ellen MCLARNEY, Duke University, USA

16: 45 h Women in Limbo: on Liminal Citizenship and the Quest for Equality

Soumia BOUTKHIL, Director, Master Program “Gender, Society, &

Human Development”, Mohamed I University, Oujda, Morocco

17: 05 h The Moral Permissibility of Unveiling

Soroush DABBAGH, University of Toronto, Canada

17: 25 h Women’s Rights, Islam, and the Stakes of Moroccan Secularity

Jonathan WYRTZEN, Al-Akhawayne University, Ifrane / Yale University,

USA

17: 45 h Discussion

18: 15 h Presentation of the anthology “Des Femmes Ecrivent L’Afrique.

Afrique du Nord” (Women Writing Africa – The Northern Region“

(published by Karthala (Paris) and directed by Fatima Sadiqi, Amira

Nouaira, Azza El Khouly, Moha Ennaji)

Christiane OWUSU-SARPONG, Associate Professor, KNUST, Kumasi,

Ghana, Ethno-linguiste, Translator, Strasbourg, France

Fatima SADIQI, Editor

Moha ENNAJI, Editor

Khadija ZIZI, Associate Editor, cover designer

Ali OUAHIDI, Associate Editor

Zakia IRAQUI-SINACEUR, Associate Editor

Fatima-Zahra ALAOUI, Journalist, Poet, Fez (Readings)

Dinner

Saturday, June 22

Panerl IV : Gender and Power / Women and Politcial Participation

Chair: Nathalie PILHES, Secretary General, Inter-Ministerial Mission, Mediterranean

Union, Paris, France

9: 00 h Women and Power in Political Life

Mino VIANELLO, Professor Emeritus of Economic Sociology, University

of Rome / Columbia University “Seminars”, New York, USA

9: 20 h All that Glitters is not Gold : Two Decades of Gender Politics in Turkey

Ayşe GÜNEŞ-AYATA, Chairperson, Centre for Black Sea and Central

Asia, Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey

9:40 h Women and Political Representation in the Maghrib

Rachid TLEMCANI, University og Algiers, Algeria

10: 00 h Discussion

10:30 h Coffee break

Panel V: Feminist Discourses in the Region / The Issue Of Reference

Chair: Soumia BOUTKHIL, Director, Master Program “Gender, Society, & Human

Development”, Mohamed I University, Oujda, Morocco

10: 45 h Women and Islamic Reference : A Reformist Vision (in French)

Asma LAMRABET, Biologist Doctor, Coordinator, Research group on

Muslim women and Intercultural Dialogue, Rabat, Morocco

11: 05 h What Frame(s) of Reference for Gender Equality in Countries of Muslim

Majority? The Moroccan Experience (in French)

Nouzha GUESSOUS, Professor of Medicine, Hassan II University,

Casablanca – Activist and Researcher in Human Rights and bioethics. Ex

membre of the Consultative Commission of the Moudawana Reform

11: 25 h Moroccan Feminist Discourses after the “Arab” Uprisings – The Berber (Amazigh) Dimension

Fatima SADIQI, Author and Researcher, President, ISIS Center for

Women and Development

11: 45 h Discussion

12: 15 h Lunch

ISIS Center for Women and Development

Panel VI: Women and Economic Empowerment

Chair: Souad SLAOUI, President, Center for Studies and Research on Women, Sidi

Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez

15: 00 h Women and Economic Empowerment (in Arabic)

Randa MASRI, Director, Connect Middle East, Washington D.C., USA

15: 20 h Factors Influencing Working Women, Non-Working Women, and the

Employer in Jordan (in Arabic)

Amal EL KHAROUF, Director, Division of Research and Training,

Amman, Jordan

15: 40 h For a Sustainable Economic Empowerment: The Case of the local

enterprise ANAROUZ

Manal ELATTIR (Founder & CEO, ANAROUZ) and Yamina EL KIRAT EL

ALLAM, (Mohamed V University, Rabat-Agdal, Morocco)

16: 00 h Discussion

16: 30 h Coffee break

Panel VII: Women and Cultural Empowerment

Chair: Katja Zvan Elliot, Al Aklhawayne University, Ifrane

16: 45 h Moroccan Women’s Cultural Rights: a Psychosocial Perspective

Rachida KERKECH, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Rabat, Morocco

17: 05 h Gender and Cultural Rights in Mauritania (in French)

Madina TOURÉ, University of Nouakchott, Mauritania

17: 25 h Civil Marriage in Lebanon

Myriam SFEIR, Institute of Women Studies in the Arab World, Managing

Editor, “Al-Raida” Journal, Beirut, Lebanon

17: 45 h An example from The Netherlands – The Struggle Still Exists on the Local

Level

Hester TJALMA, Director, Association for Local and Regional Councillors

of the CDA (Christian Democratic Appeal), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

18: 05 h Discussion

Sunday, June 23

Panel VIII: Women’s Rights and Public and Individual Freedoms

Chair: Touria KHANNOUS, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

09: 00 h Moroccan Women and Individual Freedoms

Abdellatif ZAKI, Agronomic and Veterinary Institute, Rabat, Morocco

09: 20 h Women After the Egyptian Revolution: Struggle, Violations and Political

Participation (in Arabic)

Yahia MUHAMMAD ZAED, Human Rights Activist, Egypt

09 : 40 h Individual Freedoms as an Entry to the Reform of Justice (in French)

Asma EL MEHDI, President, Initiatives for the Protection of Women’s

Rights-IPDF, Fez

10: 00 h Libyan Women: From Revolution to Politics (in Arabic)

Sayf-Al-Islam AL-HANGARY, activist, Libya

10 : 20 h Discussion

10: 50 h Coffee break

Panel IX: Women, Media and International Networking

Chair: Zakia IRAQUI-SINACEUR, Mohamed V Souissi University, Rabat, Morocco

11: 00 h Women and Public Service Television Contents: A Quantitative Analysis

Bouziane ZAID, Al-Akhawayne University, Ifrane, Morocco

11: 20 h Women and International Networking (in French)

Simone SUSSKIND, Free University, Brussels, Belgium

11: 40 h Mediterranean Women as Partners of Political and Social Change

Sarah FEINGOLD, University of New York, USA

12:00 h Discussion

12: 30 h Recommendations and Closing Remarks

Chair: Fatima SADIQI

Book exhibit : Librairie populaire – Fez

Le Fennec – Casablanca

Paintings exhibit: Khadija ZIZI, Professor, Institut Supérieur de l’Information et

de la Communication / Painter, Rabat

Khadija MADANI ALAOUI, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez

Women’s products exhibit: ESPOD Association, Fez

Rajae SLAOUI-HAMMOUDA, President

Contact: Prof. Dr. Fatima Sadiqi (ISIS), Academic Director sadiqi_fatima@yahoo.fr

Dr. Ellinor Zeino-Mahmalat (KAS), Logistics Director, ellinor.zeino kas.de

Along side pOp Up art space ‘alZahra’ in the heart of the medina, Culture Vultures presents to the medina of Fez this coming festival season a fringe program of performance,  art projects, flash mobbing and yarn bombing. These fantastic and hip fringe offerings will bring contemporary arts and modern concepts of performance into the streets of Fez.  Together with revealing artists projects and sharing artworks with the medina  Culture Vultures’ intention is to pin Fez on the map of new happenings and spontaneous, contemporary arts events. There is no time like the present.

Our fringe program is as follows

• Flash Mobing Fez

In collaboration with Timbre Flaws Choir, from Sydney, Australia, Gershom Company and The American School Fez, Culture Vultures presents to the city of Fez, Flash Mobbing. Happenings, show-casing dance, music and song, will pop-up in the streets of Fez’ medina and Ville, in apparent spontaneity.

Timbre Flaws.

Any time, any place. Fez. 7 – 15^th  June.

• Street Carpet by Colleen Cassar  7 – 15^th June – Batha Square

As part of the pOp uP and delight in surprise nature of this year’s Sacred Music Festival, and the theme of Al Andaluz, Colleen Cassar multi-media artist from Australia will build a textile wall carpet from gathered waste fabrics and recycled clothing……in an unlikely backdrop begging for beauty, colour and reflection. Inspired by the style of ‘boucheruite’ carpets and Morocco’s traditional cross stitch embroidery she will build a vertical panel of Andalucian inspired garden space.

• Garden Walk –Art Project

with Heidi Vogels

Thursday 13th / Sunday 16th of June 2013

9.30a.m meet at pOp uP alZahra (see map)

300 dh per person.  Includes refreshments and inspiration

For booking and inquiries – culture.vulture1@rocketmail.com

Let’s take a walk along the green spaces of the medina and look at the city, its sites and surfaces from the perspective of the garden. Heidi Vogels is an Amsterdam based artist, who initiated a research project about gardens and stories in Fez that is to be developed into a short film (2014). The Garden Walk includes an introduction to the historical development of the city’s green spaces, an intimate look into stories and memories of Fez citizens, and the illustration of the garden as imaginary space in poetry and song. Sharing stories, facts and finds is the starting point for this three-and-half-hour morning walk together with the artist, while turning unexpected corners in exploring the medina gardens and their spatial and social imaginaries.

Bring: walking shoes, camera, hat

www.heidivogels.nl

For more information visit the pOp uP art space alZahra during the festival or contact Jess on culture.vulture1@rocketmail.com

THE MUZOO

The Muzoo (a contraction of ‘museum’ and ‘zoo’) is a travelling museum presented by a group of artists called Sinéangulo. It was initiated by the Caza de Oro artist’s residence in Ariege, in the French Pyrenees. Le Muzoo moves between the UK and Morocco, and will be pitching its tent at the Palais Mokri during the Sacred Music Festival.

What is Sinéangulo?

Sinéangulo was born a long time ago on the banks of the Niger, the product of a meeting between  travellers from Gibraltar, Morocco and Mali. Today, Sinéangulo is made up of about sixty artists both professional and amateur (with no distinction between them), musicians and fine artists from Africa, Europe and elsewhere. Sinéangulo is not an artists’ collective and in fact has no definite programme or manifesto; it’s more of a spiritual state that invites creators with diverse artistic talents to return to experimentation; a spiritual state arising out of a mélange of the curiosity, research and cross-disciplinary experience of each person. The objective is to master the contingencies of today’s innovations. A new generation of artists has begun to re-think our world, allowing us to rediscover the physical world and analogue creation. The purpose of Sinéangulo is to integrate with, to graft onto and to fuse with complementary entities to allow the creation of simple art.

       CLOTHES SHOW BY SALIMA ABDEL WAHAB FROM TANGIER

The clothes have been made from fabrics created by Sinéangulo

       THE MURAL

Throughout the festival, the public will be able to watch the development of a mural on the arcade wall of the courtyard of Palais Mokri. The mural will be created in the spirit of Sinéangulo.

Artists invited to contribute to the mural are:

-          Youssef el Yedidi, fine artist known for his murals (for example, at Asilah) who regularly exhibits in Europe. He says that he comes from the strait, a nod to his dual nationality of Moroccan/Spanish. His work is tinged with humanism and wavers between graphic and organic.

-     Aziz Amrani  , art teacher from Chefchaouen. In his painting, Amrani retraces the roots of calligraphy. This action translates into immediate action, making us oscillate between a state of contemplation and that of primordial energy. Amrani believes that the experience of painting is just as important as the physical work.

-          Charley Case, rambling artist from Brussels, sings of his connection to the world through his drawings. We recognisethe characters from his brush strokes that he develops with a tree-like structure  … his work materials are simply a brush and a pot of Chinese ink.

Opening: Friday, May 24, 19h, Dar Batha

“Vails and turbans” is an exhibition of antique costumes from the collection of Michael Biehn, which shows male and female headpieces from the world of Islam of the nineteenth and twentieth century. If turbans, as ties to the West, always express the personality of the men who wear them, veils, however, manifest or exalt the mystery.
Exhibition from 24 May to 3 June 2013.

http://www.institutfrancaisfes.com/

Fez Fashion Day
Exhibitions and Fashion Show

Fez is now home to a vibrant creativity in fashion and design with and Fez Fashion Day. After the inevitable success of the first edition of Fez Fashion Day 2012 with an excellent press coverage, and a large and varied audience, the French Institute of Fez and its media partners launch the 2013 edition to be held in the form of three major events for the city of Fez. Veils and turbans, exhibition fashion historian Michael Biehn at the French Institute of Fez  (Dar Batha) A fashion show at Jardin des Biehn, and an exhibition of Association Fez Fabrik.

http://www.institutfrancaisfes.com/

Dany Leriche and Jean Michel Fickinger

Opening: Friday, May 17, 18:30, Gallery of the Institute
Exhibition from May 17 to June 17, 2013

For many years, Dany Leriche and Jean-Michel Fickinger travered Africa to collect images that bear the signs and the looks of those who seek the space between heaven and earth, the Dust Gods. The images were taken in Togo during the Festival of Black Gods. Voodoo followers of Divinity Kokou use knives in trance: for instance, if they pretend to stab themselves, it is a reminder of how they died. And if they seem insensitive to blows, is that they are not quite there in the flesh: they are living images …

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