Results of the call for artistic residency exchanges between Marrakech and Barcelona

Meeting on 15 February, the jury made up of two members of LE 18: Laila Hida, founder, and Francesca Masoero, curator of the Qanat programme; two members of AC/E: Marta Rincón, head of the visual arts, architecture and design department, and Anael García, head of residencies; two members of Jiser: Xavier de Luca, founder, and Houari Bouchenak, coordinator; and two members of Hangar: Anna Manubens, director of Hangar, and Veronica Valentini, head of international residency and research programmes, have selected Arash Fayez to spend two months at Le 18 with the project The Story That Came to Nothing.

In case the artist is unable to travel, the jury has named Aicha Josefa Trinidad Gouououi as a substitute finalist.

Arash Fayez’s project aims to explore the importance of storytelling as a means of survival, focusing on the figure of Helayqi [الحلايقي]. The Story That Came to Nothing will culminate in the production of a video inspired by One Thousand and One Nights.

The jury particularly appreciated the coherence between theme and methodology, the poetic relationship between different diasporas and cultures, and the importance of situating the figure of the storyteller as a form of ancestral oral narrative.

Although it may seem a formality, the jury would like to emphasise that in this first edition of the grant we have received applications of the highest quality, many of them closely related to the LE 18 programme. The LE 18 team has kept a short list in order to try to create future contexts in which to work with the artists who applied for the grant.

Hangar would like to thank all the candidates for their trust and time, and we will try to reissue this call. We wish Arash Fayez all the best for his residency in Marrakech.

Soon we will publish the call for artists living in Morocco who are interested in coming to Hangar.