Just a few minutes from the heart of Marrakech lies a rare sculpture park that has recently opened its doors in the Palmeraie area. Titled Ramakech, this enchanting space was conceived by the renowned artist Jean-François Fourtou and spans nearly five hectares, showcasing two decades of installations crafted at the artist's workshop, accessible to the public since 2024.
The park is designed as a leisurely stroll without a prescribed route, where various installations emerge at turns along paths bordered by lush vegetation. Visitors encounter disorienting houses, colossal animals, and architectural structures that play with scale, alongside hybrid figures. Among the most striking works are La Maison tombée du ciel (The House Fallen from the Sky), La Fourmilière géante (The Giant Ant Hill), La Maison de Géant (The Giant's House), and the silhouettes of the Ramakech Nanitos and Minitos, all of which create a landscape straddling the realms of dreams and childhood memories. As the artist himself puts it, here, visitors are invited to rediscover "forgotten yet shared perceptions."
Jean-François Fourtou, born in Paris in 1964, is a graduate of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and has made Marrakech his home for many years. Since the 1990s, his work has been profoundly influenced by a relentless obsession: to recreate the exaggerated perception of the world that children experience, where every object, space, and proportion seems infinitely larger than oneself. "I felt that everything was gigantic! My inspiration comes from childhood, and my installations invite people to feel those forgotten yet common perceptions," he explains. This aesthetic program—distorting scale to alter perception—serves as the backbone of the entire park.
Ramakech is situated away from the typical tourist trails of Marrakech, and this very deviation is what makes it intriguing for the city. While the cultural offerings in Marrakech have significantly intensified around the Yves Saint Laurent Museum and other established institutions, Ramakech provides a distinctly different experience: one that is slow-paced, sensory, and welcoming to both families and art enthusiasts. Visitors can expect a leisurely tour lasting about an hour, allowing them to savor the experience without feeling overwhelmed. The Palmeraie, serving as the park's natural backdrop, is not merely a neutral setting; it enhances the strangeness of the installations and amplifies the feeling of stepping into a space that no longer adheres to ordinary laws.
As reported by lopinion.ma.
