Arts in Marrakech (AiM) International Biennale

The Marrakech Biennale بينالي مراكش
Logo of Marrakech Biennale 6
Genre	Biennale, Focused on Contemporary Visual Art, Literature, Film and Arts in Public Spaces
Date(s)	6th edition: 24 February 2016 until the 8th of May 2016
Frequency	Biennial, every two years
Location(s)	Marrakech
Years active	since 2005
Founder	Vanessa Branson
Patron(s)	Vanessa Branson and Abel Damoussi
Website
http://www.marrakechbiennale.org

The Arts festival in Marrakech, now the Marrakech Biennale, first took place in 2005 It was set up by Vanessa Branson and Abel Damoussi. It is the first major Trilingual (English, Arabic & French) festival in North Africa. It focuses on cutting-edge contemporary Visual art, Literature and Film. It consists of a main Visual Arts Exhibition, other arts exhibitions, installations and happenings, discussions, debates and screenings based in the eclectic venues and settings that Marrakech has to offer. AiM is now known as Marrakech Biennale.

The exhibition of the Wonderful Fund Collection opened AiM 2005 at the Museum of Marrakech. This collection of 100 works of contemporary art - purchased by Vanessa Branson and Prue O'Day as curators for the London-based collectors group, was exhibited for the first time ever at AiM. The collection was not put together as an investment, but as a platform for discovery and a means of supporting young artists. There were 64 artists representing 17 countries in the Collection and included work from artists such as Sarah Lucas, Grayson Perry, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Tracey Emin and Gavin Turk.

The fantastic Literary Programme was organised by Pablo Ganguli, highlights included a panel discussion on the future of English and literature and how the media can play a key role in its promotion, chaired by Geordie Greig with author Hanif Kureishi, Alexandra Pringle, Peter Florence, Simon Prosser, Ekow Eshun, Esther Freud, Antony Gormley, Annie Lennox and Hari Kunzru; and a conference on the importance of the translation of Arabic literature and poetry in the western world and a discussion on the state of Arab literature, featuring Ahmed El Madini, Rabii Mobarak, Susanna Nicklin, Wassini Laraj, Tayeb Salah and Mahi Binebine.