Fez — Casablanca is hosting a new visual arts showcase titled “Art in Motion,” bringing together painters Zineb Kabbaj and Malak Chaoui for a month-long exhibition at DoubleTree by Hilton Casablanca City Center.
The exhibition opens today with a vernissage and a cocktail reception at 6 p.m., while the full show is set to run until May 14.
The event forms part of World Art Day programming, a global celebration observed annually on April 15 under UNESCO’s banner to recognize the social and educational value of artistic creation.
The timing gives the Casablanca show a symbolic frame. World Art Day has increasingly become a moment for galleries, institutions, and hospitality venues to align themselves with contemporary art, using exhibitions not only to spotlight artists but also to create public-facing cultural experiences.
Two artists, one shared platform
Kabbaj is a Moroccan artist born in 1994 whose published biographies describe a practice rooted in early passion for drawing and painting. Her work has already circulated in exhibition platforms beyond a single local venue, suggesting an artist building a visible contemporary trajectory. She also drew attention in 2024 through a solo exhibition in Rabat, where her work was presented around questions of uncertainty, emotion, and inner experience.
Chaoui, meanwhile, is publicly presented as a Casablanca-based painter and photographer. Her name has also appeared in reporting on Moroccan artists recognized internationally, including coverage tied to a contemporary art fair in Paris.
Art in a changing Casablanca venue
The venue itself adds another layer to the story. DoubleTree by Hilton Casablanca City Center officially opened after rebranding earlier this year, marking Hilton’s first city-center DoubleTree property in Casablanca.
Hosting an exhibition so soon after opening suggests the hotel is not limiting itself to accommodation and business travel, but is also trying to establish a cultural identity within the city.
That matters in Casablanca, where art is increasingly showing up outside conventional gallery settings. Hotel lobbies, concept spaces, and hybrid lifestyle venues are becoming part of how audiences encounter contemporary work. “Art in Motion” fits that shift neatly, turning a hospitality address into a temporary arts platform tied to an internationally recognized cultural date.
