DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — One of my favorite cities, Casablanca, Morocco, took the pride position of “Iconic City” under the theme “Loading…Casa” at the recent Dubai Design Week 2017.
The city, designed by French planners from the 1920s, is the faded Art Deco gem of the French colonial empire, and also a bustling, diverse, and tough metropolis.
Wrapped within a “graphic mural landscape”, the small but powerful exhibition highlights include the wonderful Red Balloon-style city symphony film “Casa One Day”, a boy who holds up a mirror to Casablanca’s fading architecture and residents.
Amnesiac memory: Not a single commemorative plaque, no inscriptions nor steles exist to inform visitors about the people who created this city. Casablanca cultivates the obligation of oblivion: a tomb without an epitaph.
Intriguing postcards and old photos show the Art Deco Casablanca — Africa’s largest cinema and swimming pool — and grand buildings that were tragically demolished in the 1970s. Plus audio soundscapes of the city, photos comparing Casablanca to Dubai, and a traditional tapestry.
Urban Fabric 