L’Atelier de l’Observatoire and ONDA have exhibited, since Wednesday, March 30, Tit Mellil, more than an aerodrome”, a project of the Collective Museum of Casablanca.
The exhibition is held at Mohammed V airport, Terminal 2 near check-in and at the gate F3 and F4 boarding lounge.
This exhibition highlights the relationship between photography and memory through different eras, by adopting a documentary approach that looks back on the history of civil aviation in Morocco, particularly the aerodrome of Tit Mellil and this, through the memories of a former air traffic controller, the late Farid Ahmed Bennani. By extension it is also the story of many regulars and aviation enthusiasts.
“Tit Mellil, more than an aerodrome” is the result of participatory collection and documentary research work covering the period from 1948 to 1990, led by the son of this former signalman, Réda Bennani, who was able to collect a quantity of photographs, flight logs, VHS tapes and press articles among signallers, pilots, aerobatics, flying club members and aeronautics enthusiasts.
As a child, he spent his weekends playing, observing and marveling at the different corners of the terminal designed by the architect Jean-François Zevaco. Touched and influenced by the universe of aviation, this child who has become an adult, Réda Bennani, now has an emancipated and decided to reactivate the contours of the history of the airfield using private archives with the artist Mohamed Fariji.
Forty photos selected from a thousand photos collected, a dozen press clippings found at the National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco, are all exhibits, which invite visitors to explore this memory and to take a journey through the history of this airfield.
This exhibition was the subject of a publication which brings together many more iconographies presented as well as texts from testimonies and facts relating the highlights of Tit Mellil: its construction, its pioneers and adventurers, its first female pilot in the person of Touria Chaoui, its seasoned instructors and mechanics, its air rallies and meetings, its skydiving club, its crashes, its various aircraft.
The project “Tit Mellil, more than an aerodrome”, developed within the framework of the Collective Museum of Casablanca and the “Archives of the Future” project, revolves around the following issues: what are the narratives on light and sport aviation in Morocco ? How to collect, preserve, perpetuate and share the archives of this domain? What imagination to create around private and institutional archives, if they exist, of the future of the city of Casablanca? What possibilities in the foundation of a place dedicated solely to aviation relating the epic of the Aéropostale to the main commercial lines, to the prowess of the Green March patrol, etc.? ?
After exploring the memory of Casablanca in a shared process of writing the history of the city by its inhabitants, the initiative, led by Mohamed Fariji and the Atelier de the Observatory – Art and Research, questions what will make the archive of tomorrow. In this context, the cultural association has begun research on the Archive of the Future with a residency which hosted artists, participatory workshops and meetings, including the project “Tit Mellil, more than an airfield” is part of it.
This event was supported by the DROSOS FOUNDATION. It is in partnership with the Office National des Aéroports.
