حوار
When Weaving Becomes Architecture
The 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia opened in May 2026 under the theme In Minor Keys, set by the late curator Koyo Kouoh as a call for a tired world to heal.
Amid the many national pavilions on display, Morocco unveiled something unprecedented: its first-ever pavilion in the event’ s history, curated by Meriem Berrada, artistic director of Marrakech’ s MACAAL museum, and installed within the Arsenale’ s Artiglierie, part of the Arsenale, one of the Biennale’ s two main exhibition sites.
Morocco Pavilion Biennale 2026 Matteo Losurdo
Selected through a nationwide open call, artist and trained architect Amina Agueznay transformed weaving into architecture for the occasion. Her installation, Asətta, brings together 166 craftspeople, most of them women, in a monumental structure made of raffia, wool and natural dye. The woven forms create thresholds, chambers and places to rest— a landscape visitors move through rather than simply view.
Agueznay speaks to Matahef about craft, memory, women’ s knowledge and what happens when a textile becomes space.
MATAHEF. COM 101