AMY Art Meets You: four days of art across Marrakech

From 22 to 25 October, AMY - Art Meets You returns to Marrakech for a third edition. An independent art trail, it links museums, institutions, galleries, artists' studios and creative spaces across the city, with exhibitions, studio openings, talks and guided visits. For the first time, the Fondation Nationale des Musées takes part.

This edition also launches AMY's first open call for artists, with a jury formed by the curator Kenza Amrouk, the art critic Olivier Rachet and Kenza Iraki, who initiated the Prix Mustaqbal.

Four days across the city

Thursday 22 October, the Medina

The edition opens in the Medina, where heritage museums sit a few streets away from independent spaces. The Musée du Patrimoine Immatériel, in the former Bank Al-Maghrib building on Jemaa El Fna, shows Nabili's "La Mémoire des Signes". Nearby are the Musée Monde des Arts de la Parure, devoted to jewellery and ornament, and the Noujoum cultural centre of the Fondation Ali Zaoua, which opens its Douiria and two exhibitions: a textile design show on Amazigh motifs and "Les traces de nous", by young artists. At the Deserted Photobooth on Rue Kennaria, whose façade is repainted each month by a Moroccan artist, Zineb Bouchra meets visitors from 4:30 to 6:30 pm.

At 7 pm, Dar El Bacha is the setting for the opening talk, "L'Atelier ouvert", on the life of an artwork from the studio to its exhibition and acquisition. Valérie Tazi, artistic director of the JAAL Riad Resort, moderates a conversation with the artist Meriam Benkirane, the designer and artists' agent Antoine Jourdan, and Fatima-Zohra Bennani, founder of MCC Gallery. Places are limited and must be booked. The Medina venues stay open until Sunday.

Friday 23 October, Gueliz

Friday is the evening of the openings, a few streets apart. Comptoir des Mines, in a 1932 Art Deco building, opens from 6 pm with "Les Sentiers de l'Intranquillité", Hassan Bourkia's exhibition built around books and libraries. At 6:30 pm Galerie Siniya 28 opens Yasmine Amal's first solo show in Morocco, on view until 15 November. At 7 pm La Galerie 38 presents Meriam Benkirane's "Factory of Hope", a series in which she returns to drawing and oil painting, and Villa Some unveils a work made for the villa by Hajar Daide, a tribute to the women of her family who embroidered and wove.

From Thursday to Sunday, 11 am to 7 pm, the Bab Hotel presents the two artists selected through the open call: Samir Toumi, who carves geometric patterns into soap, and the painter Nadia Ouriachi Conejo.

Earlier in the day, two studios open. Abdessamia Bargamane, who works metal through oxidation and welding, is open to all from 11 am to 4 pm. Soumiya Jalal, a pioneer of contemporary textile art in Morocco, opens her studio at Ksar Targa from 2:30 to 5:30 pm, by reservation. At the JAAL Riad Resort, the artist in residence Akshay Raj Singh Rathore opens his studio from 3 to 5 pm.

Saturday 24 October

The fullest day. Keya presents "Langage du geste" at the Four Seasons Resort Marrakech from 11 am to 5 pm, in the artist's presence: canvases, portraits painted on old rugs and textiles woven with women artisans of the Middle Atlas, all marked by the alphabet he invented. On the Route de Fès, two studios open by reservation from 2:30 to 5:30 pm: the photographer Houda Kabbaj, who built her own analogue darkroom in Marrakech in 2023, and Yasmina Alaoui, whose work moves between photography, sculpture, painting and film.

Dar El Bacha (11 am) and the Musée du Patrimoine Immatériel (2 pm) offer guided visits led by their own teams. At 11 am, Akshay Raj Singh Rathore leads a workshop at the JAAL Riad on pigments made from the leaves of the hotel's garden. The volunteer guides of the Turāth association lead free walks through the Medina from Dar El Bacha (10:30 am and 2 pm) and through Gueliz from La Galerie 38 (11 am and 3 pm). All are by reservation.

In the afternoon, El Fenn opens for a private visit, from 3 to 5 pm, of Rita Alaoui's "The Inner Garden" and works by Regragui Bouslai, presented with Galerie Siniya 28. Zineb Bouchra is back at the Deserted Photobooth, Villa Some holds a talk with the artist Henry Rose at 4 pm, and Noujoum holds a slam and open mic from 3 to 6 pm. MACAAL, open all weekend, shows Daoud Aoulad-Syad's "Le temps d'un battement de cil".

Sunday 25 October

Noureddine Chater, known for his calligraphic abstraction, opens his studio from 11 am to noon, by reservation. The edition closes with an invitation-only brunch at Jardin Ocre.

Open studios

Throughout the weekend, artists open their studios: Yasmina Alaoui, Soumiya Jalal, Houda Kabbaj, Noureddine Chater and Abdessamia Bargamane. Meeting the artists and discovering their research, materials and processes is one of the central experiences of AMY. Studio visits are by reservation, with limited places.

AMY's official digital guide brings together the participating venues, their locations, opening hours and programmes, so that each visitor can find their way around Marrakech and plan their own route.