Amine el Gotaibi I Mountains Rock, 2025

Amine El Gotaibi, born in 1981 inMarrakesh, Morocco, is a Moroccan contemporary artist whose multidisciplinarypractice exists at the intersection of sculpture, installation, craft, andconceptual research. Deeply rooted in the cultural realities of both theAfrican continent and the MENA region, he has developed a singular artisticlanguage from his Marrakech-based studio, where material, memory, and territoryconverge in immersive and poetic forms.

His work explores themes of transformation, transmission, and tension betweenopposing elements — tradition and modernity, fragility and resilience, organicand industrial materials. Amine El Gotaibi primarily works with raw and naturalmaterials such as wool, earth, copper, and metal, which he considers anthropologicaland historical markers carrying the narratives of communities and landscapes.

Through his works, the artist reflects on social transformation, migration,collective memory, and contemporary systems of value. His installations offersensitive meditations on the relationships between human beings, material, andenvironment, transforming abstract concepts into contemplative spatialexperiences.

This investigation is particularly evident in Desert of the North, a commissioncreated for The Ned Hotel as part of the inaugural Design Doha Biennale.Conceived as a monumental site-specific installation suspended within thehotel’s central atrium, the work combines wool and copper in a constant tensionbetween organic softness and metallic rigidity. The strands of wool, embeddedwith the narratives and memories of Moroccan desert communities, cascade fromcopper structures that continuously transform through light and environmentalconditions. The installation becomes a metaphor for time, cultural exchange,and the invisible connections between communities.

Amine El Gotaibi’s work has been presented in numerous internationalexhibitions across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. His works have notablybeen exhibited at the Design Doha Biennale in Qatar, the Dakar Biennale, theMarrakech Biennale, and in various institutions, fairs, and private collectionsdedicated to contemporary African and Middle Eastern art.

Through his practice, Amine El Gotaibi actively contributes to theinternational visibility of contemporary North African artistic scenes. Hiswork offers a profoundly humanistic reflection on material, territory, andcollective narratives, affirming art as a space of dialogue between memory,identity, and transformation.