FROM THE EDITOR
The Next Generation
Museums, Reimagined by and for the Young
A year ago, Matahef began with a simple conviction: the museums of our region deserve a space where those who know them best can tell their stories in the languages they speak. Twelve months and many conversations later, that space has become something closer to a movement, a growing circle of directors, curators, architects, artists, and readers who believe that knowledge grows stronger when shared.
For our anniversary issue, we chose to look forward. The Arab world is building, restoring, and reinventing museums at a pace few regions have ever seen, yet buildings alone do not make a museum come alive. The question running through these pages is: who are we building for? Increasingly, the answer is a generation born digital, at ease across languages and cultures, that expects museums to listen as much as they speak.
We open with a special dossier on Morocco, written by the pioneers who transformed its museum landscape, among them Mehdi Qotbi, who traces the foundations of the national museum project. Their contributions span archaeology, photography, modern and contemporary art, and craft.
This issue also marks the nationwide celebration of the bicentenary of the invention of photography, a medium that taught us to remember what we never lived. We chose to open our yearlong series dedicated to photography with articles by Mohsen Yammine and our Moroccan contributors, who remind us that the photograph was never only an image. It was an archive, a witness, and often our first museum.
In conversation, Ghassan Salamé reflects on culture, institutions, and responsibility, and on protecting heritage in times of war. Nadia Sabri envisions a museum that moves beyond safeguarding collections to producing knowledge and engaging its public. Samia Halaby looks back on a lifetime of abstraction that still feels startlingly new. Amina Agueznay reveals a practice in which textile becomes a language of memory and identity, and in which her collaboration with artisans turns inherited skills into contemporary art. Refik Anadol, whose AIdriven work speaks to a digital-native audience, imagines the museum of the future. Amale Andraos considers how architects shape not only the form of a cultural project but also its mission. bridge cultures to reach new audiences. Marie Rose Ferré of Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, Khawla Almarri of Al Ain Museum, and Samar Elkhamisy of the Egyptian Museum explore how education turns visitors into stewards. We celebrate the centenary of Paul Guiragossian, whose Foundation carries his legacy to a generation that never knew him, while Sudan’ s museum in exile reminds us that heritage can endure even when its walls cannot. Through Venetia Porter’ s articles, Matahef bears witness to the resilience of Gaza’ s artists and people, who, amid destruction, refuse erasure, using every form of art to safeguard the architecture, manuscripts, and heritage that bind them to their history, land, and future.
We also share behind-the-scenes best practices: why security and safety have become tools of leadership, what going digital means for museums, and how careful documentation protects a collection.
Finally, two visionaries remind us that the past is something we carry forward. Azza Fahmy speaks of jewelry as heritage worn close to the body, while Othman Lazraq, founder of MACAAL in Marrakech, reflects on the process of building a museum for contemporary African art.
Running through all of this are our four pillars: Preserve, Discover, Inspire, Innovate. The next generation will not simply inherit our museums; they will remake them. Our task is to ensure they have a place in them from the start. To every contributor, partner, and reader who has walked with us through our first year: thank you. This issue is yours as much as ours.
Several contributions ask how young people find their way into museums, and how museums find their way to them. We examine how institutions are rethinking the visitor experience for Gen Z, including the work of Made By Us, a US network of more than 400 history museums. The Young V & A in London offers a lesson in generational reinvention, and the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto shows how an institution can
Michèle Anbar Editor in Chief
Mona Khazindar Editor at Large
6 MATAHEF ISSUE 05