Carlos Perez Marin

   After the success of Sakhra 2019, our intention was to organise a second edition in 2020, but we first had to agree on the format. In our conversations in September 2018, we wanted the Sakhra event to become a moment of sharing and exchange, by showcasing the work of artists and researchers who had done a residency in Moulay Bouchta. During the 2019 edition, only Ramia and Gilles really spent time in the village doing research.

   In September 2019 we had a meeting in Rabat which Fatima-Zahra Lakrissa attended because from the beginning we wanted to integrate her into the thinking, design and organisation of Sakhra. We discussed several options but for me, it was clear that if there was never a residency, there was no point in organising a new edition. Abdeljalil defended that he always had new works to show but for me, Sakhra was not an Open Studio of Abdeljalil's workshop; this type of activity, he could do it at any time without Gilles, Fatima-Zahra or me.

   To host artists in residence there were two issues to resolve; funding and a space to host the residents. The first edition of Sakhra had been financed by Gilles with his doctoral budget, but to continue it was necessary to look for money and one of the premises was to register an association with the Ministry of the Interior (in which Gilles and I could not participate since we were not residents in Morocco). Abdeljalil was not keen on creating an association and this limited us, or rather conditioned us (in the same way that we were, and still are, conditioned at the oasis with Caravane Tighmert). Financing the event from our own pockets was not an option, with the money that I was already putting into Tighmert I could not take charge of part of Sakhra. We could always suggest to the artists to come on their own and stay as long as they wanted but without taking charge of the food. It was a possible solution, if ever Abdeljalil did some work in the family house, with the construction of a kitchen area and a bathroom (or similar). Staying for days, weeks or even months on the sofa of his house-workshop was not an option. Despite the lack of funding, we thought that the counterpart, on the part of Abdeljalil, of being housed in a traditional house and being closely accompanied by him in the research, could work (once again as in Tighmert). In short, Abdeljalil had to do some small work at home if we wanted to continue the project.

   We left Rabat with a clearer idea of what we liked to do, with our possibilities, and knowing that it might be a bit rushed to plan a next edition in the spring of 2020. During the following months we spoke, from time to time, with Abdeljalil to find out if he had started the work, but the answer was always negative. However, in January, he suggested videoconference meeting to discuss the 2020 edition, which I opposed; Sakhra was a weekend event to show the research carried out in advance and not an Open Studio. In any case, Abdeljalil still had in mind to do something in April 2020. In March 2020, Covid arrived and he was unable to organise anything with the the lock down.

   In the following years, my contact with Abdeljalil was reduced; I knew he was quite busy with his olive trees, his animals and his research. Gilles and I met several times in Marrakech and Berlin, and there were always comments about Sakhra and Kholwa. Since 2019, Gilles wanted to think about how to transpose the idea behind Kholwa to an exhibition in Europe, which for me was a difficult question; to “replicate” Kholwa without falling into a simple set in a museum. But he was right; one day we should start working on this idea. My problem from 2020 onwards was the lack of money, time, and energy due to another event that I started co-organising with Mauritanian and Moroccan friends. In 2020 we made the first trip to Mauritania with Younès Rahmoun and Ahmed Dabah, Obûr, and then, from 2021 to 2023 we organised Caravane Ouadane (since 2024 it is our Mauritanian friends who take care of it alone).

   In December 2024, I received a message from Gilles. He had found some money and proposed organising an event in April 2025, inviting three artists in residence, lasting one week and with a program open to the public for a weekend. It was a hybrid solution between what we had already done in 2019 and what we would like to develop for the next edition of Sakhra. The three artists, plus the organisers, could easily stay with Abdeljalil's family and friends. Abdeljalil agreed. I couldn't say no. Fatima-Zahra was also up for it. We would, six years later, organise a new edition of Sakhra, and we were vey happy.

   Finally, for the 2025 edition, seven artists and researchers were invited to redeploy their practices on the site for a public presentation on the weekend of April 18-20, 2025. We suggested to the participants that they focus on local materials and know-how used in construction, taste and culinary preparation, as well as listening and communication between species. The selection was made by the organisers and there was no call for applications (we will see for future editions). Each of us proposed two or three candidates for the residency, and two or three for the sound piece that we were going to commission in resonance with Kholwa, as we will explain later. In theory, this edition was going to have as its main subject, what Gilles had proposed to us in December, the concept of Kholwa, but in the end things evolved differently and there was not really a central element in the proposals and discussions. 

graphic design

   Unlike the first edition, we decided to communicate only on Instagram and not on Facebook, therefore we had to think about vertical rather than horizontal images. The 2019 idea of making a website was left aside since there was not much visibility regarding the continuity of the project. Instagram almost forced us to start with visuals based on photographs rather than drawings (photos taken with a Leica M6 in black and white). As (in theory) the subject of the event was Kholwa, we had to integrate a representative image, while prioritising the message of the rock, that is to say, of Sakhra, the importance of the landscape and the relationship between nature and architecture. On these images, we were going to put the information using contemporary typographies and taking advantage of my recent acquisitions at 29LT; Okaso Variable, Idris Sharp, Zarid Serif and Zarid Display. 

   As usual, I always tried to integrate (standard) Arabic, but no one around us could translate correctly and quickly enough texts that were sometimes a bit specific (like those related to gastronomy). However, it was essential for me that Arabic appear on the logo. In 2019, I made a proposal with the characters in Arabic and French, but we didn't use it at the last minute. This time, and thanks to the new Okaso Variable typography, I arrived at a solution that seemed relevant to me.

     Sakhra 2025 partly funded by The Swiss National Science Foundation (FNS) as part of the research project "Collaborative Aesthetics in Global Sound Art" at The Institute for Practices and Theories in the Arts at the Bern University of Applied Sciences (HKB), as part of Gilles' postdoctoral program.

   Sakhra is above all a time for gathering (between residents, artists and visitors), for discoveries (Moulay Bouchta, its history and heritage, its landscape, the work of artists in residence, etc.), for reflections, experiments, creations, etc. For this, time was also needed and fortunately the village landscape invited everyone to walk around and simply sit somewhere to talk or to look.

   Thanks to the generosity of Youssef Titou, we had a Gnawa music group from Fez, Weld Ftoma, who played for the whole village and for a whole night in the Saouli family home.

   Except Mohssin Harraki (due to illness he was unable to come to Moulay Bouchta), all participants conducted research and at the end they made a public restitution, knowing that it was not about showing a finished work and that the goal was to start research and create synergies between them, which perhaps in the future will give rise to projects or collaborations, in Moulay Bouchta or elsewhere. In Tighmert (and Ouadane) we noticed that sometimes the time for exchange is even more important than the time for research and of course for production. Here is a short summary of what each artist did during the residency and the public program. 

Khalid Bastrioui

   Khalid Bastrioui is a visual artist who combines drawing, design, and installation in his aesthetic practice. Through quests and investigations, both cartographic and mental, the artist explores the archives and remains of the Mediterranean Sea, particularly the Rif region from which he comes; and this to reactivate its forgotten history and local cultural heritage. Laureate of the Fine Arts National Institut of Tetouan in 2010, El Bastrioui very early on engaged in a process of reactivating tangible and intangible heritage, reading and interpreting signs and traces, words and things, to reinvent a new narrative. El Bastrioui has participated in several exhibitions and artistic gatherings: État d’Urgence d’Instants Poétiques (Jardin d’Essais Botaniques, Rabat, 2019), Open Studio Madrid Festival (2019), London Design Festival, London (2013), etc.

   Line or further «,خط أو أبعد » 8 “The intervention is a collective drawing made on paper with the residents of Sakhra or with anyone who wishes to participate. The idea is simple and sensitive: everyone is invited to draw a line—curved, straight, lyrical, broken—to express a personal impression of the space around us: a sensation, a light, an intuition, a path. This collective drawing was installed on a part of the Saouli family house, as a shared and ephemeral imprint of our passage”. Khalid Bastrioui.

Ikram Benchrif

   Ikram Benchrif is a Moroccan documentary filmmaker living in Paris. A graduate of the Dongguk University Image School (Seoul), she co-directed her first short films with Cho Yong-Kyu. Her career in cinema was preceded by experience as a Grand Reporter. Ikram Benchrif documented the first chapters of the Arab Spring, including the war in Libya and the revolution in Tunisia, for several Mediterranean media. After completing Bruno Latour's master's degree in Political Arts in 2019, she is experimenting with collective ways of making images. Her approach is based on a sensitive investigative work that she has been practicing for six years, with the dancer and choreographer Paul Girard. From their meeting emerged a third form, documented fiction: a genre that explores the boundaries between live performance and documentary. They are currently working on a documentary choreographic piece about the users of a railway line.

   Ikram has some experience working in rural areas, whether in the Bois de Vincennes in Paris or in the oasis of Tighmert (Guelmim). His participation should be considered (at least I think so) as a first contact with another territory, isolated but connected with distant regions (like that of Noul Lamta) thanks to trade routes (as evidenced by the fortification of Amergou).

   She had to deal with temporality since her research normally develops over a long period. In Moulay Bouchta, she only had 4 days to conduct a short research into communication between shepherds. For several days, she accompanied them on their usual journeys with their animals. During the performance, she took us to a place from which we could see pasturelands at the foot of Amergou Mountain. With the help of headphones, she made us listen to a dialogue with the language of whistles between two shepherds, one on our position and the other was supposed to be next to Amergou Mountain.

Marouane Dekaoui

   Marouane Dekaoui, a chef with a resolutely contemporary approach, is carving out a unique path in the gastronomic landscape. His atypical career began with legal studies before being swept away by his passion: cooking.
   In 2018, he settled in Morocco and became known to the general public as a finalist on the television show Masterchef Maroc, representing France.
   Building on this experience, he earned his professional culinary qualification in Montpellier and honed his talents in brasseries and gourmet restaurants across France.
   His creative spirit drove him to explore new horizons. He took the helm of two hybrid spaces—at once restaurants, bars, and cultural venues—nestled in the heart of the Poush artists' studios in Aubervilliers and Clichy. It was there that his vision of cuisine took on a new dimension. He sees it as a universal language, a vehicle for emotions and stories.
   Marouane breaks free from established codes and adopts an experimental approach. He manipulates flavors and textures, transforming each dish into a sensory and intellectual experience. His cuisine becomes a means of expression, a tool to spark discussion and reflection.
   In 2024, after three years at Poush, the chef embarked on a new phase of his career. He embarked on a series of events and collaborations with artistic and cultural figures. This approach demonstrates his desire to bring gastronomy into dialogue with other forms of artistic expression, thus broadening the horizons of his cuisine.

   Marouane's culinary research coincides with Abdeljalil's interests, as he uses his vegetable garden and olive trees to conduct tests and experiments. For him, working with Marouane was very important in order to demonstrate the relationship that exists between gastronomy, contemporary art and identity.

   Marouane spent the first two days searching for plants, vegetables and fruits in the vegetable gardens around the village, with which he organised a series of (free) tasting menus for visitors and participants, explaining why he used these ingredients and what his intentions were for each menu. He counted on the help of some young women from the village and inaugurated the new kitchen built by Abdeljalil.

One Bite, Two Prints

This reflection originated in a conversation with Abd El Jalil Saouli, evoking the subtle power of each hand to transform the taste, even of a simple seed. This bite is a meditation on the transformation of life, where the human hand sculpts and alters taste, consciously or not. The act of each guest blindly creating their own blend of spices illustrates this personal, sometimes unfathomable and mysterious, influence on matter.

The hues left on our fingers after tasting are like a tangible reminder that nature, too, colors us with its essence.

Slow-cooked goat in fig leaves, garlic, honey and lemon.
Smoked with meadow herbs.

Powders:

Black lemon - pepper
Turmeric - anise - cumin
Smoked pepper - chili
Karkadé - damask rose

Green Horizon

A taste prelude to the landscape of Moulay Bouchta Al Khammar, where textures, colors and local flavors meet.

Zucchini puree
Bean / cumin / walnut pesto
Crunchy peas
Slili Oil
Burnt olive tapenade
Saffron Aioli

Dounia Mseffer

   A journalist since 2002, Dounia Z. Mseffer is a founding member of the Moroccan Network of Migration Journalists (RMJM) and a member of the French-speaking Press Union. She mainly covers societal issues: women's rights, the rights of people with disabilities, precariousness in Morocco, child marriage, the situation of migrants in Morocco and elsewhere, the impact of climate change on local populations... She also participated in the development of "Migrations in Morocco: the impasse?" (2019), "Morocco: Climate justice, social emergencies" (2021), "Invisible workers, the professions of discrimination" (2022), three collective works published by the independent Moroccan publishing house, En Toutes Lettres. Between 2019 and 2020, she co-directed a study on social perceptions of people with disabilities in Morocco for UNESCO, as well as video clips and documentary podcasts on this topic. In 2021 and 2023, as part of a collective work for the Heinrich Böll Foundation Rabat, she published an article on intersectional discrimination in the field of disability and a survey on the situation of the populations of Al Haouz three months after the earthquake. And between 2023 and 2024, she is producing, in partnership with the Heinrich Böll Foundation Rabat and Les Bonnes ondes, a podcast series on climate migration and the impact of pesticides on female agricultural workers in Morocco and agroecology.

   I was particularly curious to see how Dounia would fit into the dynamics of Sakhra since she is not an artist and it was the first time she had done a residency. There were discussions about what she should, could, present as a restitution and in the debate some fell, I think, into the error of expecting an artistic proposal and not a journalistic sound piece. Dounia went to a village, Geddara, not far from Moulay Bouchta, she met the women potters who spoke to her about the working conditions, the artisanal tradition, the future… Out of respect for their privacy, Dounia played us excerpts from her conversations but the women asked her not to share them on the Internet, that is why we find here only the discussion that took place between Dounia and the Sakhra public, following the listening of her conversations with them.

In addition to the women of Geddara, Dounia met quite a few women from Moulay Bouchta, who told her about the role of women during colonisation, including their commitments, even with weapons, given the proximity to the border between the Spanish and French protectorates. In fact, Dounia showed great potential for working with artists, thanks to her ability to quickly establish rapport with the local inhabitants, specially with women, plus her huge experience and knowledge all over the country. Hopefully, in the future, she will be able to develop artistic projects with the other participants.

Abdellah M. Hassak

   Abdellah M. Hassak is a sound artist, DJ/music producer, and art director. He was born in Morocco / Casablanca. In 2014, his work had already pushed the boundaries of his practice, and he founded Mahattat Radio, where he conducted radiophonic and sound research in interdisciplinary projects with various communities. For 8 years, he participated as an artist, researcher, and radio producer.

   Abdellah shapes sound as a material to create sound pieces, performances, acts, and installations. His creative process is often collaborative, involving communities. Currently, his research focuses on memory, which he uses as a creative process based on interaction. He is fascinated by the way humans inhabit their environment.

   Listening is at the center of his practice, beyond sound, as a means of grasping the imperceptible or as a pretext for meeting others. His work draws attention to the beings around us. He is interested in the imaginary and the contemporary interpretation that can be made of it, in the dialogue between humans and the context – natural or urban – in which they live, and in what voices tell us beyond words.

   Abdellah’s sound pieces have been broadcast on radios around the world, such as Radio Papesse, Hangar, OTO Sound Museum, Pratiques d’hospitalité, and African Crossroads. He has collaborated with many other institutions and cultural spaces in Morocco and abroad in radiophonic and sound practice, such as the 5th edition of the Marrakech Biennale, Le Musée Collectif, 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Port25 – Raum für Gegenwartskunst, Mannheim FFT Düsseldorf, ÉSAD Grenoble, Sonic Matter, and Qanat Collective.

   Abdallah has extensive field experience that provides him with sound elements for his research as a sound artist, but also as a music producer and DJ. In fact, Abdellah had been to Moulay Bouchta in October 2024 and had already started recording sounds. During Sakhra, he tested, with special equipment, sound recording inside the earth, by burying microphones. Obviously, his equipment created curiosity among the young people who were able to discover sounds they had never heard before. In reality, these were almost improvised sound workshops, which subsequently created complicity between Abdallah and the young people.

“Under the skin of the earth. This sound experience offers an amplified listening to an invisible process: the slow encounter between water and clay. Using a hydrophone microphone placed at the heart of the material and a sound amplifier-recorder, the audience is invited to immerse themselves in the internal micro-sounds of the clay as it soaks up moisture. This listening ritual reveals a living, moving material, where subterranean vibrations, subtle shifts, and mineral sighs intersect. The experience becomes a space of attention, between a buried soundscape and the archaic memory of the soil.” Abdallah M. Hassan.

   He also did two performances, one in the sand cave and the other on the terrace of the Saouli house, with the help of Gilles Aubry and Souad el-Maysour.

   “In situ listening in a village cave. A minimal device, a loudspeaker connected to a megaphone, broadcasts sounds collected during the residency and prepared textures. The aim is to test the acoustic topology of the place and its mineral memory. The cavity co-composes the work. The walls filter, sculpt, and respond.

   The performance proposes an ethic of listening and dialogue with the landscape, the inhabitants, the materials, and other living things. Sounds from walks, gestures, and micro-events around Abdeljalil Saouli's house return to the territory in the form of a narrative. A modest and symbolic gesture, the restitution opens a sonic hospitality. It seeks less effect than the accuracy of a co-presence, accepting the site as both instrument and interlocutor.” Abdallah M. Hassak.

"Fragments of a Dreamed Territory is an immersive sound piece designed for active and poetic listening. Deployed across three audio tracks in surround spatialisation, it invites the listener to travel between reality and imagination, blurring the boundaries between composition and field recording. The sounds captured in Moulay Bouchta's unique environments – natural soundscapes, rustling sounds, vernacular resonances – intertwine with digitally composed ambient textures, evoking mental landscapes and floating memories. The piece explores the idea of a sensitive territory, perceived not as a map or a physical place, but as a space of intimate projection, where listening becomes an interior experience. Each track acts as a point of view or a fragment of memory, inviting the listener to move mentally in a shifting space, between concrete sound material and dreamlike abstraction." Abdallah M. Hassan.

Souad el-Maysour

   Souad El Maysour is a French-Moroccan artist who explores the intersections between history, culture, and memory, forging links between the North and the South. Her approach, informed by a feminist approach, questions patterns of domination and the condition of women through the prism of often invisible narratives. She combines field observations, storytelling, physical explorations, and academic collaborations to deconstruct fixed structures and reveal complex human and social dynamics.

She presented a research project at the Dakar Biennale (November 2024), in the design section. She will soon exhibit at the MUCEM in Marseille, continuing an artistic reflection that invites us to reevaluate the relationships between memory, identity, and systemic inequalities. Originally from Fez and this region, she began her first work in 2019, entitled "Clairvoyant - Al Bassir - The Landless Peasant." This work was interrupted by the pandemic and will be continued on this occasion.

   Souad's first visit to Abdeljalil's house was in September 2018, when Gilles and I were there for our research with Abdeljalil. From that moment on, Souad became even more interested in a region to which her family has historical ties (she is originally from Fez). Her visits to the area around Moulay Bouchta allowed her to conduct in-depth research, such as this one, which she presented at Sakhra 2025, a video based on autobiographical elements and on the climate problems we suffer.

 CLAIRVOYANT-AL BASSIR PROJECT: The landless peasant 

“Our blindness to climate change is increasingly exposing us to irreversible consequences. By planting non-genetically modified seeds that can adapt to their environment, we might be able to help combat this degradation. The video is a testament to this fragile hope. Writing the seeds in Braille brings us to a vision beyond what blinds us”. Souad el-Maysour.