THESPACEINYOURHEAD

This exhibition is a collaboration between DINAMO Gallery (Porto) and Le Cube-independent art room (Rabat).

Importo: The Economy of Illusion (2024) is a photographic project developed within the framework of the Residences-in-Transit residency at Hangar-Centro de Investigação Artística (Lisbon) in partnership with Le 18 (Marrakech) and supported by Mawred AL Thaqafy/Culture Resource

Artist

Ziad Naitaddi, born in 1995 in Rabat, Ziad Naitaddi is an artist who lives and works in Rabat, Morocco. His affection for the visual arts first developed through cinema, through Fouad, a pirated DVD seller in the Medina of Rabat, who introduced him to a wide range of films and directors. He quickly became interested in the hybridity of the photographic medium, which offered him a choice way to explore his favorite subjects, in an approach halfway between the documentary and the fictional. If he oscillates between digital and ante-digital practice, he favors the slowness of the process of the latter to short-circuit the proliferation of images of our daily lives. So much so that he sometimes moves away from the physical act of photographing. In this perspective, he re-appropriates archives, written and oral testimonies or even returns to his own photographs a few years after their development. In his latest projects, he explores the subject of migration and its corollaries – the distance from the native land, the feeling of exile, integration, or exclusion – which he sees as the space for a complex encounter. Well aware of working under the prism of his personal perception, he also reflects on the construction and evolution of his own identity. His work has been exhibited in several shows, including Centre d’Art Contemporain Photographique – Villa Pérochon, 13th Dakar Biennale, Le Cube-Independent Art Room, Sharjah Art Foundation, Museo Nazionale MAXXI in Roma, Fotogalerie WUK, etc.

Curatorship

Elisabeth Piskernik, founder and director of Le Cube – independent art room, established the institution in Rabat in 2005 as a dynamic platform dedicated to contemporary art practices. Through exhibitions, artist residencies, and research initiatives, Le Cube has become a versatile hub for artistic experimentation and expression, fostering a vibrant, collaborative environment. She has developed numerous residency and research programs to support emerging artists in creating and showcasing their work both in Morocco and on international stages. Her curatorial projects include exhibitions such as Emotional Lands (philomena+, Vienna, 2024) and Tired Palm Trees (Art Sonje Center, Seoul, 2024), demonstrating her commitment to promoting diverse voices and perspectives. Actively engaged in art projects on local and global scales, Piskernik’s work explores complex social, cultural, and political themes. By intertwining artistic practice with critical research, she encourages deeper reflection on contemporary issues, creating meaningful connections between art and society.