Fez — For many emerging artists, producing the work is only part of the challenge. Finding a place to show it, meet audiences, and begin building a professional practice can be just as difficult.
That gap sits at the center of “L’FADAE Beyond Limits,” a new rotating exhibition program launched by KounAktif pour les Arts et les Cultures in Casablanca.
The initiative will regularly hand the walls of L’FADAE to different artists, with each exhibition temporarily reshaping the space before making way for another. The first open call is accepting applications until October 15, and participation is free.
KounAktif President Lamyaa Ouarit said the program grows from the association’s broader belief that cultural spaces should remain open and participatory.
“Culture should be lived, shared and within everyone’s reach, not confined to institutions or reserved for a few,” Ouarit said.
Giving artists somewhere to be seen
The idea was initiated by Abdou-allah Ajdi, a cultural mediator at KounAktif who is leading the project’s design and coordination.
Ajdi said his own experience in Casablanca’s art scene shaped the concept.
“I know from experience how hard it is for an emerging artist to find a wall to show their work on, and a public to show it to,” he said.
For Ajdi, visibility is often the missing link between making art and developing an artistic career.
“I wanted to create that opening here,” he added, describing a space that changes with every artist and never settles into a fixed visual identity.
The call is open to painting, photography, sculpture, mixed media, installation, drawing, illustration, and other visual-art practices. Applicants must submit a portfolio, short biography, and examples of the work they hope to exhibit.
A jury with different perspectives
Applications for the first edition will be reviewed by three figures from Morocco’s cultural and academic scene.
The jury includes visual artist and École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Casablanca professor Ahmed Rachidy, philosopher and educator El Mostfa El Mejnaoui, and sculptor, visual artist, and writer Mustapha Ghazlani.
Selection will consider the quality and originality of the practice, the proposed work, the coherence of the artist’s approach, and how the work relates to L’FADAE itself.
Priority will be given to emerging artists.
More than another exhibition series
L’FADAE already functions as a multidisciplinary cultural venue for workshops, rehearsals, screenings, discussions, performances, and exhibitions.
KounAktif’s previous programming has moved between visual art, writing, dance, Gnaoua music, acting, journalism, craft, and technology. Its Casablanca space has also hosted artist residencies and collective exhibitions connecting artistic practice with questions of resilience, territory, and community.
“Beyond Limits” is intended to make exhibitions a more permanent part of that activity rather than create a separate conventional gallery.
“What matters most to us is accessibility,” Ouarit said, explaining that the aim is to place art where people already gather, learn, and exchange.
Ajdi hopes the program eventually grows beyond exhibitions into artist talks, workshops, performances, collaborations, and educational activities.
“My hope is that Beyond Limits becomes more than a series of exhibitions,” he said. “If an artist leaves here having been truly seen by a public, by their peers, then the program has done what it set out to do.”
Artists can apply until October 15 through the program’s application form. L’FADAE is located at 10 Boulevard de la Liberté in Mers Sultan, Casablanca.
If the program succeeds over time, its value may lie in something straightforward but still difficult to secure for young artists: a wall, an audience, and the chance to have the work taken seriously.
