The curatorial concept of this year's biennial starts the premise of the designated title for the Biennale: Not New Now. It aims to provide for an intellectual framework that unites multiple arenas of art and cultures by looking at it from the particular location and history of the city of Marrakech. It builds on a longstanding history of Pan Afro-Arab unity, through critically investigating socio political projects, cultural partnerships, and art movements that have led to many shared artistic tendencies.
The heritage sites of Marrakech will invoke these moments of intersection, through a plethora of site-specific commissions and installations, by a group of international artists especially from Africa, the Arab world and its diasporas. Performances, displays of archives, film programs, seminars, lectures and even conferences will provide for a dynamic structure that looks at and cements these cultural commonalities and relationships. This is in line with the aspirations of the foundations of the Biennale, as was expressed by its President, Amine KABBAj: “The key to the Biennale's future success lies partly in the city's location. We lie on a crossroads between the Western world, the Islamic world and the African world.
We are a modern society that values its traditional culture, but we are also evolving rapidly."Since one of the primary objectives of the Biennale is to further the dialogue beyond art and culture into a wider set of implications, several programs run parallel to the exhibition. These include literary roundtables and lectures, screening of films and video and performances all that will be visible in a multidisciplinary approach.