Arab media lab project

Changing realities on the ground in recent years have augmented interest in media arts among new, emerging and established artists in Morocco and the Arab region. Mixed media formats including, digital film and video, video installation, digital mapping, net art and hybrid forms, have become important tools of communication and expression. Using various mediums and mixed media strategies, young new media artists are exploring paths of subjective expression within a newly found and fragile freedom. With many challenges in their societies ahead, young Moroccan and Arab artists are playing more of a role in changing their realities. Digital and media arts, and to an extent social media tools, are becoming increasingly important forms of expression. Understanding the important role that mixed media creation can play, we decided to lead annual media arts workshops in Morocco in order to help aspiring young artists to experiment and challenge their artistic capacities by offering them our experience. Through out the initiative’s activities, we have established that there is much needed attention required in the field of media arts creation. The infrastructure of the cultural sector in Morocco is limited and the services that do exist do not allow for the growth and development that is occurring in the media arts sector internationally. The local political strategies for culture has not yet adopted the idea that culture plays a major role in community development and redevelopment through job creation and improving the quality of life. There are no strategies to incorporate arts and culture into community development plans through grants, technical assistance, and financial or tax incentives. Within this cultural vacuum, Arab Media Lab has become a very important cultural organization in Morocco and the Arab world. Through our efforts we have created a platform that it did not exist before and we are dedicated to maintaining our work. We believe that freedom of expression and the development of creative and innovative forms of an expression benefit individual artists and the communities they come from in a number of ways, and media arts workshop series and master classes is an important way.