PROJECTS > Marking Time in The Medina

An installation in the heart of the Medina of Marrakesh.

During one year, Steven Ware, architect, and me, were commissionned by Francesca von Habsbourg and her ARCH foundation, to select and film 9 sites located in the heart of the ancient medina of Marrakesh, that had to be preserved.

“Cherb ou Chouf” fountain, Souk Smata, Greening the Medina, Souk Laghzal, Salt Portal/Fondouq Melhah, Arch casements/Fhoulas, Mouassine ablutions pavilion, Mouassine fountain and arcade, the Hamman D'heb were indentified.

We presented the results of our work by an exhibition and an installation at the Dar Bellarj Foundation.
We called it Marking Time In The Medina because of all the marks that the residents of the medina leave on the architectures, walls of their heritages ( nails, smoke, mark of their bicycles...).


Project 1: Conserving the Cherb ou Chouf Fountain

The medina of Marrakesh is a World Heritage Site. Its protection is important to Marrakesh residents as well as the rest of the world.
Located in the heart of the Medina, the Cherb ou Chouf Fountain is a historic landmark that has continually provided the people of Marrakesh with clean water from the Atlas Mountain.

The installation

The films were shot in 9 selected places in the medina, near the conservations projects. Day after day, people were used to see me filming, and after weeks, they paid no more attention to what I was doing. I disappeared.

Sequences were projected floor to ceiling, up to 3x8 meters.
The sound was a mix of conservations captured in the streets of the medina and of a text dealing with conservation and preservation of the heritage sites.

This project was supported by his Royal Highness Mohammed VI of Morrocco.



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