SVA presents artists in Arts in Marrakech International Biennale

Taking the idea of a cultural exchange both literally and poetically Stroud Valley Artspace (SVA) presents projects by artists Jamila Lamrani (Morocco), Alice Forward (UK) and Louisa Fairclough (UK) in the Medina and ESAV as part of AiM 09.

Jamila Lamrani, a Moroccan artist based in Rabat, recently spent three months as artist-in-residence in Stroud (UK) as the first in a series of exchanges between SVA and Morocco. 'Woman' is made of a loose mesh of black muslin strips that form a pyramid construction, the sculpture initially realised in response to the courtyard garden of the SVA studios. As if breath, there's a lightness to the structure as it shifts and transforms with the slightest movements of wind, light or shadow.

Louisa Fairclough’s From Here to There, From There to Here is an exchange of a few pixels of ground between Morocco and UK. Showing at the Arts in Marrakech (AiM) Biennale (19-23 Nov 09), the Colour Field videos are a poetic response to the idea of cultural exchange and the Biennale’s theme of Freedom?. Taking the form of screensavers, the work will show at two public sites: the Moroccan ground is screening at the Museum in the Park, Stroud and the English ground is screening at the Cyber Park, Marrakech.

The videos use only the materials available in the two parks: the ground, a screen located in the Museum in the Park, Stroud and the internet screens sited throughout the Cyber Park in Marrakech.

Gold leaf is a material Alice Forward finds herself returning to again and again. Forward’s work is at once light and dark, sacred and profane as she works with a material with associations of power and powerlessness, wealth and exploitation, health and suffering. Human colonization and the migrations of plants around the world are also passionate interests in Forward’s work. Forward is intrigued by what particular alchemical transformations may occur between material and place when she makes a work in response to her week in Morocco for the AiM 09 festival.

The 3rd Edition of AiM International Biennale runs for 5 days from the 19th to the 23rd of November. This year's edition promises to be full of innovation, inspiration and intrigue. The programme is more ambitious than 2007 with 5 days of discussions, readings, screenings and performances. AiM opens with the exhibition Articulating Works and Places curated by Abdellah Karroum, including newly commissioned works by Francis Alÿs, Loredana Longo, Seamus Farrell, Franck Bragigand, Faouzi Bensaidi & Yto Barrada. This exhibition will close on January 19th 2010. During the biennale opening celebrations, the acclaimed artist and filmmaker, Julian Schnabel, will discuss his life and work with Alan Yentob. The AiM biennale opening celebrations end on the evening of Monday 23rd November with a screening of Man On Wire and a discussion with the director James Marsh. There will also be an array of other talented writers, artists, performers and filmmakers showing and discussing the ideas behind their work.