The exhibition “Open Links: Four Spanish-Moroccan artists” will allow Casa Árabe to give form to an idea that had been proposed within the framework of its cultural programming some time ago. It involves the symbolic recognition of one of the most important centers for cultural production in the long history of cultural relations between Morocco and Spain: the National Fine Arts Institute of Tetouan. The history of this center for artistic teaching, founded in 1945, its first director having been Granada painter Mariano Bertuchi, forms an essential part of the modern and contemporary art history of Morocco, which deserves a candid, in-depth look which will allow us to grasp all of its richness and specificity.

Many efforts have been made at a great deal of exhibitions to highlight the artistic and cultural affinities between creators on both shores. More specifically, Said Messari, Monia Touiss, Khalid El Bekay and Amine Asselman, artists present in the exhibition “Open Links,” share in common that they were educated as artists at that school, as well as the fact that they all now reside in our country. The paths followed by each of them have been quite diverse, as have their artistic practices, but without a doubt, their manner of working holds within the wealth of experience gathered as a result of the many years of coming and going between the two sides of the Straits of Gibraltar. Insofar as they are Spanish-Moroccan creators, they symbolize the strength and current nature of the historical and cultural relations between the two countries, which is a cause for Casa Árabe to feel great honor to be able to devote this exhibition to them, with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco in Spain.