una tarde para dialogar sobre el futuro de ceuta /  by Carlos Perez Marin

Mañana 19 de diciembre a las 19:30 en la Biblioteca Publica de Ceutahablaremos del futuro de Ceuta, con Adolfo Hernández Lafuente y José María Campos Martínez, en un evento organizado por el Instituto De Estudios Ceutíes y que podrá verse en directo por el Facebook de la Biblioteca Publica de Ceuta.

Para poder planificar una ciudad como Ceuta es necesario entender el contexto histórico, geográfico, político y económico, de Ceuta y de su entorno. La evolución regional requiere un dinamismo del que hemos carecido en los últimos 20 años, pero también nos ofrece unas oportunidades que antes nos parecían inimaginables, aprovechémoslas, osemos en la búsqueda de soluciones, recuperemos nuestra identidad e innovemos otra vez, aunque para ello tengamos que "reiniciar" las instituciones (y las mentalidades).

qafila rabiaa; first impressions /  by Carlos Perez Marin

For the second time, Project Qafila has organised (though Marsad Drâa and Caravane Tighmert) a caravan with artists and researchers. While we prepare all the material to be integrated on the website, you can have a look to some videos.

The first one is a discussion on geography. We tried to find the route we made from the beginning, which was easy for the first days but more complicated once we arrived to open spaces and specially sand landscapes, where there are no references on plans we had.

You can find more plans of Morocco on this link from the University of Texas at Austin.

The second video is a kind of epilogue where each participant tell their impressions after this experience. These are some of the comments:

Driss Benabdallah

I wanted to come back to the earth, the elements ... also to find a space to see things differently.

Ahmed Dabah

This is my first time doing the caravan on foot, it is really a beautiful experience, especially to know another place outside the region of the wadi Noun. I also wanted to develop my knowledge as a guide.

Souad El Maysour

It was important to experience a physical and emotional ordeal that was so far unknown to me. It's a trip with the others too ...

Laila Hida

It was unimaginable to lose myself ... my landmarks were people, while in town my landmarks are elsewhere; this space forces you to rethink your priorities, or at least rethink how you navigate in space and in life.

Abdeljalil Saouli

For me, walking is trying to understand my space for reflection. When I walk I think more, when I walk I see more. Leave a river (oued Ouarga) and look for another (oued Drâa), it marks me.

Youssef Titou

These people are very simple, minimalist, they do not complicate their lifes... I would like, one day, to arrive at that, sincerely.

 

The video is in French, but you can activate the automatic translation in English, Spanish… so you can have a better idea of the conversation.

In the video there is a key element of the desert; darkness. It is synonymous with danger in our cities. We have been taught to be always under a light and to be afraid of the dark. However, in the desert (during different caravans) we always sought the darkness, we always wanted to move away from cities, villages, bivouacs, roads, tracks ... Ultimately, we flew the artificiality of the light because it hides us different dimensions that only are perceptible in the darkness.

It is only a proof of the contradictions to which the cities force us and that the desert highlights.

virus "desert" /  by Carlos Perez Marin

I found it! The origin of the virus.

In the house where I grew up in Ceuta, there was a painting by Pepe Bermejo, a colleague of my father that was assigned to Sidi Ifni and Laâyoune during the Spanish protectorate. When I was a child, I thought it was just an orientalist painting but I was not aware what it really meant, to someone like Pepe, to have lived in the desert. That image was something he experimented himself and now, that I know something about the desert, I can understand the impact it had on him.  

When I recently found this painting in another apartment of my family, I realised the power of images when they are inoculated during years. It was not just another painting of the decoration of our living room, it had a purpose, a dangerous one, and it succeeded on me…  

The problem of this kind of ”sickness” is that there is no cure and it is very, very contagious. 

I hope that the friends that have been infected by myself will forgive me one day.

tasghimout workshop /  by Carlos Perez Marin

The history of Marrakech can not be dissociated from the territory that surrounds it, which moreover must be considered on several levels and scales. Thus geography, geology, hydrology, agriculture, sociology, history ... provide fundamental elements to understand its heritage.

The association LABINA and Marsad Drâa propose Saturday, November the 9th a day of study dedicated to heritage with a visit to Tazghmout, fortification built by the Almoravids in the 12th century to control the passage of caravans from the south through Tichka. With a surface area of ​​67 hectares it is probably the largest Almoravid fortification in Morocco.

During the visit, we will analyze the landscape and the construction system of the remaining elements (walls, gates, towers ...) and we will propose a series of workshops, to be developed later, with theoretical and practical courses. on this heritage. Workshops will also be held with residents of neighboring villages to raise awareness of the importance of heritage and its conservation.

There will be 20 places for architecture students or young architects. The visit will be supervised by Oussama Moukmir and Carlos Perez Marin.

The venue will be the village of Tamzaghart, between Ait Ourirt and Ourika at 9:30. The participants will have to bring their meals because we will return at the end of the afternoon and they will have to register by sending an email to:

o.moukmir@gmail.com

or

carlosperezmarin@gmail.com

qafila rabiaa: episode 1 /  by Carlos Perez Marin

Since 2016 I develop a practical research on caravans and nomadism, walking through the same routes caravans did in the past. You will find more information on our website (click on the image).

The 4th caravan will be a short one, a way to make discover some artists friends what it means to walk with nomads and to live in the middle of the desert. We will start next week in a point between Zagora and Foum Zguid and we will arrive one week later to M’hamid El Ghizlane where we will attend Taragalte Festival and we will share the culture of the desert with people from Mauritania, Mali, Niger…

This is the “theoretical” route we will follow, then, the desert and the nomads will say…

an architect between three seas /  by Carlos Perez Marin

A talk on my personal experience as an architect working, living and researching between the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara Sea. It took place at Smith College, Art Department, invited by Elisa Kim from ARS 380 Architectural Design Studio. It was an activity developed in the framework of the scholarly convening on Younès Rahmoun's work organised by Emma Chubb, from The Smith College Museum of Art, with the collaboration of the Kahn Liberal Arts Institut and the support of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

younes rahmoun and the architect /  by Carlos Perez Marin

In September the 20th and the 21st 2019, a scholarly convening on Younès Rahmoun's work has been organised by Emma Chubb, from The Smith College Museum of Art, with the collaboration of the Kahn Liberal Arts Institut and the support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The aim of the convening was to exchange knowledge, ideas and thoughts on Younes in order to prepare his solo exhibition in 2022 (or 2013) at Smith College, MA (USA).

This was my presentation related to the collaboration Younes and I have been developing for 20 years.

More information about the projets mentioned can be found on these links:

2. Pedestrian bridge:

https://www.carlosperezmarin.com/paseo-palmeras-footbridge

4. Hojra:

https://www.younesrahmoun.com/portfolio/works/hojra/

https://www.carlosperezmarin.com/hoyra

5."11":

https://www.carlosperezmarin.com/younes-rahmoun-11

6. Rue Ibn Zohr:

https://www.carlosperezmarin.com/rue-ibn-zohr-tangier

7. Younes Rahmoun house:

https://www.carlosperezmarin.com/casa-rahmoun

8. Zahra-Zoujaj:

https://www.younesrahmoun.com/portfolio/works/zahra-zoujaj/

https://www.carlosperezmarin.com/zahrazoujaj

10 Nakhla:

https://www.younesrahmoun.com/portfolio/works/nakhla-saghira/

https://www.carlosperezmarin.com/nakhla

oued noun /  by Carlos Perez Marin

On September 26th and 27th I will participate in a workshop where we will discuss the possibilities of the bassin of river Noun in Guelmim (Morocco) to be classified as World Heritage Site. It is organised by the association Oasian Noun, the National Institut of Archaeology and Heritage (INSAP), the Ministry of Culture and the Academia of the Kingdom of Morocco.

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This is the program:

younes rahmoun scholarly convening /  by Carlos Perez Marin

Next week I will participate in a scholarly convening on Moroccan artist Younès Rahmoun in Northampton, MA (USA), organised by curator Emma Chubb from the Smith College Museum of Art, with the collaboration of the Kahn Liberal Arts Institut and the support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

I will talk about the projets (architectural and artistic ones) we collaborated together during the last 20 years.

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In addition to Younès convening, I will talk to the architecture students from the Art Department about my experience living, working and researching between the Atlantic Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Sea. With the complicity of Elisa Kim, from the Smith College.

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More information about the convening coming soon.

square in la reina, ceuta /  by Carlos Perez Marin

After one year, it seems the works for the urban renovation in La Reina neighbourhood are going to start very soon, according to the publications on local medias (El Faro de Ceuta, Ceuta al Día).

It is a small project but once again we tried to provide the maximum of confort to inhabitants with the minimum budget (this time, 60 000€). We also dedicated a lot of time to design the wooden benches instead of choosing them from a catalog. For more information about the project click on the image.