We’ve wanted to visit Morocco for over a decade.

We’ve also been interested in the 1-54 Art Fair since we first ran across it during Frieze week in New York, probably 2017 or so.

What better opportunity than to combine these two desires than to time our visit to Morocco to coincide with the Marrakesh edition of the 1-54 fair this year?

We had certain expectations of Marrakesh  and Morocco in general, of course- more about that in a larger article.
But the 1-54 Fair was both more and less then we’d expected:

Less merely in the sense that it was smaller than we expected. Given its stature in the art world and the fact that it maintains several editions in several different cities and countries, we expected something a bit more expansive.

With roughly thirty galleries participating however this is truly a boutique fair. A quality fair to be sure; one which is tightly focused on artists of the African continent and primarily represented by galleries from Africa (although we did see some from Belgium, France and others).

Indeed, we’ve learned that the fair’s title, 1-54 derives from the fifty four countries making up the whole of the (one) African continent.

The fair was more than we expected in the quality of the artwork, the number of enthusiastic attendees and buyers and in the fair’s connections with a more robust contemporary art scene in Marrakech than we had known prior.

The fair’s Gallery Night, held on the first night of VIP and press previews was especially strong with hundreds, if not thousands of attendees; most of the galleries were as packed as any in Chelsea during Frieze week.

The fair is held in two locations: The main section is in what we assume is the conference center of the fabulous and iconic La Mamounia hotel just south of downtown. This hotel is all stately elegance and moroccan flair, accented by contemporary art – and is heavily visited by heads of state and celebrities alike. If you’d like to be at the heart of the action, you can channel your inner movie star and book a room there for between eight hundred and two thousand dollars per night.

The first second location is called DaDa and is located just off the famous (or infamous) Jemaa el Fnaa plaza, which is Marrakech’s go-to tourist hotspot, featuring all of the best and worst Morocco has to offer: fabulous carpets, fresh oranges… even snake charmers.

The plaza is also home to the Musée de Patrimoine Immatérial, which is worth a quick stop for a crash course in Moroccan tradition and history.

The DaDa section featured a 1/2 dozen or so galleries, and a video section curated and hosted by Naatal magazine, which unfortunately had no signage, and we only found while looking for a restroom.

This brings up one of the failings of the fair; signage and communication is lacking.

As another example, the fair cleverly commissioned artists to decorate several tuk tuks, which provided free, whimsical & artsy transportation between the main site and the DaDa site, but there was no signage indicating where one was to pick up the tuk tuk and staff at the hotel entrance knew nothing about it.

Not including transit time, you can casually browse the fair’s two locations in under 2 hours. If you’re there to buy however, get there early as many paintings sold within minutes of the opening.

As for the art shown at the 2025 edition, we found most to be accessible- both in terms of price and content.

Pricing ranged from under 1000€ (almost all booths priced work in Euros) to 30,000 €, the highest tag we saw or heard of.

In terms of content, while there was some overtly politically- or social justice -themed work, it wasn’t dominant like at FNB ArtJoburg… at least not at the fair.

The local galleries presented much more impactful art in more expansive exhibitions, with most opening on Gallery Night.

Much of the work at the fair felt more personal – narratives around home, family,  culture and even tribe.

There were some ties to historical craft traditions like ceramics and weaving, and nods to important Moroccan artists such as Hamidi.

Painting ruled. There was very little photography or sculpture, and the only digital presence was split between the Naatal magazine section at DaDa and an offsite collateral exhibit called The Wake, featuring NFT creations by 11 artists.

Overall it’s a good safe introduction to contemporary art on the African continent.

But let us answer the real question: should you book travel to Morocco timed to coincide with the 1-54 ArtFair Marrakesh?

Although the weather might be chilly and Marrakech tends to suffer from a wintertime smog inversion, our answer is still a resounding yes.

The fair itself is a worthwhile destination. But when combined with all of the collateral programming at galleries and museums and even riads, it makes February in Marrekesh a must for the art-interested traveler.