The Academy in Hoboken is located in a neighborhood with several residents with roots in northern Morocco. Despite initiatives such as workshops in primary education, street projects and exhibitions, it is striking that we mainly have white pupils within the academies for the visual arts. Based on the necessity and the will to involve this target audience in visual art education, we have started working on an exchange project involving various partners in Oujda, Morocco.
Since two years we have a School Link with the Lycée Mehdi Ben Barka and with Réseau d'Art A48, an artists collective, with several artists working as teachers at the Lycée. We can always make use of the local art gallery, la Galerie d'art Moulay hassan, as an exhibition space.
This research project aims, in collaboration with existing contacts, to provide a pedagogical contribution to the debate on identity as a binding concept. The teaching practices in Oujda and Hoboken are examined. The project examines the similarities and differences in (dealing with) visual language, the cultural patterns in teaching practice and how the visual language in teaching practice is influenced by political/cultural/religious background or any other factors. In this way, possible adjustments can be made within the pedagogical project to involve pupils of Moroccan descent in our visual education.