We carried out this installation from September 9 to 16, 2012 on the Digue du Large. A week in front of the sea, drunk with the wind and the sun, doing this ridiculous and magnificent gesture together. The work withstood a force 9 mistral, but not a few human hands. We have seen of our work only what we give you to see here. Barely completed, the installation was destroyed by a passer-by from La Digue and not a single gold leaf was found around it! We will never know what displeased him so much, or perhaps this passer-by got caught up in the work, seeing in it valuable material ? The investigation was vigorously carried out within the Port and will remain unanswered: who stole the gold from Africa ? that was the question asked, they simply told me at the security service secretariat… The two days that followed, we again covered a few blocks with what was left of the adhesive, to finally see from the sea, during a boat trip, the bursts of light from Golden Africa…
Adrift project
The square below
Using model projects as so many triggers for raising awareness, Hassan Darsi focused this time on the fate of Legal Frères et Cie, a building located on avenue Mers Sultan, overlooked by the Atelier de La Source du Lion. A former wood processing factory founded in 1921, the Maison Légal Frères et Cie, witness to an emblematic period in the history of Morocco and revealing architectural and industrial practices specific to this history, was then abandoned since its closed in 1932. The building, deserted and falling into disuse, had since remained closed to the public. Passers-by from Casablanca, foreigners and local residents rubbed shoulders with her, questioned her, ignored her or forgot her. From the Atelier de la Source du Lion, on the sixth floor of the building opposite, Hassan Darsi has seen this strange and astonishing building every day for 6 years, erected like a piece of the contemporary history of the people of Casablanca. By reconstructing it as a 1/50th scale model, with the participation of the other, Casablanca resident or visitor, he opened the doors of the possible: new history, new form and new questions. The model of Legal frères et Cie, looked at in detail and placed at the heart of artistic collaborations and exchanges with citizens, has as its philosophy the need to reflect together on the social and urban realities that we do not take the time to look at.
(The project was carried out in collaboration with La Source du lion
and was financed by AFAK, Moussem Festival, The Tamaas Foundation, The School of Literature, the Source of the Lion and Hassan Darsi).
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