MAM18 is a research residency, running for four weeks - from the 9th of April to the 6th of May.

10 artists gather in the desert and in the city of Marrakesh.

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MAM18 edition will look at science fiction as a tool in time-based arts, as source material for muti-disciplinary artists, and as a political strategy.

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Science fiction and other weird genres propose an array of strategies to develop singular ways of thinking, of gathering material, of relating to the strange, to the outcast, to the impossible: science fiction contributes to the maintenance of art

as a disturbance. MAM18 would like to support artists (performers and otherwise) who are interested or involved with such tools, matter, strategies.

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The first week, the artists will go to the desert and take time to meet each other in a place without internet, without phones, with little electricity: abundance in scarcity.

The following three weeks, MAM18 will move to Marrakesh. It will be a time for the artists to make solo and/or collective work, to do their own research, generate material, and learn from each other.

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Every week-end, for an evening or an afternoon, three to four of the invited artists will propose a sharing in a simple format, whether as a lecture, a movie screening, a short performance, an open workshop, etc… These sharings will be open to the public. It is important for MAM to be in communication with the city of Marrakech regularly.

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MAM places this research under the sign of serious play and of future-making. We favor an exploration of confusion and the practice of holding incompatible things together.

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The space / The community:

MAM18 is hosted at Priscilla Queen of the Medina, a space for arts and culture in the old city of Marrakesh. We offer a minimum of 3 working spaces inside the walls of the Queens Collective, and a big working space in the Industrial Zone in the outskirts of the city. The living conditions are simple and community-based. Dinners / lunches will be organized collectively by MAM and the artists. MAM will provide the cooking ingredients. MAM will take care of breakfast. MAM will offer accomodation and will provide support in terms of contacts in the city and help with setting up the public sharings. We regard collective handy work and collective organisation as important aspects of MAM18.

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The city:

Marrakesh will be a playground to explore and adapt to. We encourage the artists to make some of their presentations in public spaces (barber shops, the street, cafés, art spaces, hammams, etc…). MAM will support the artists to set this up if they desire to do so. There are some conditions under which it is possible to perform / give a talk / show a movie / give a workshop in a public space. We will help out and negotiate what can and can’t be shown, according to custom and laws.

A lot is possible.

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The team / the mentors:

MAM is a project organized by the Queens Collective, an open collective that creates work, projects and spaces focused on performance arts in Marrakech. Our engagement is to open artistic research to a larger audience, and support the meeting of international and Arab artists in Marrakech. Two guest mentors Anna Mülter and Valentina Desideri will follow and support the artists work during their residency, as individuals and as a collective.