Cyborg Archéologie — MACAAL, Marrakech

What does Cyborg Archéologie explore?

MACAAL’s account brings together anatomical drawing and coded writing. Bodies and inscriptions appear as fragments that invite interpretation rather than as a straightforward narrative. The museum describes these fragments as relics waiting to be deciphered in the future, placing the work between an imagined past and an imagined technological world.

The archaeology in the title is an artistic framework. Snoussi is not presenting a conventional display of excavated objects with a settled historical explanation. The source describes a vanished civilisation with queer associations and a form of knowledge that survives incompletely. Visitors can approach the work as an invented system of traces rather than trying to identify a single real civilisation behind it.

Why is the underwater setting important?

The museum explicitly connects the installation to Drexciya’s mythology of an underwater people descended from enslaved people thrown overboard. In its account of Snoussi’s work, that reference is expanded into a fiction associated with the depths of the Mediterranean. This is a cited artistic and mythological reference, not a literal historical claim about an underwater society.

MACAAL also describes a relationship between humans and machines. The title’s cyborg element therefore sits alongside questions of memory, erased knowledge, and invented forms of communication. Reading the work only as decorative drawing would miss the conceptual connections that the venue’s interpretation asks visitors to consider.

How can I approach the work during a visit?

Our suggested starting point is to compare a close view of individual marks with the larger space they inhabit. Notice when a line resembles handwriting, anatomy, or an object, and when those distinctions become uncertain. This is a looking exercise, not an assertion that the signs have a single decipherable code.

The official page explains that Snoussi’s practice moves beyond drawing on paper to drawing in spaces and on walls. Read the wall label alongside the room rather than expecting the experience of a framed picture. The source does not provide exact indoor coordinates, so our directory uses MACAAL’s venue location.

A note about the work’s date

The museum page’s main heading dates Cyborg Archéologie to 2025, while an installation-image caption says 2024. We preserve that discrepancy here instead of choosing an unsupported creation date. The attribution and venue are clear; the dating should be checked with MACAAL if it matters to research or publication.

MACAAL visit information

Official practical information checked 2026-10-20. Rates and schedules can change; confirm with the museum.

Address

Al Maaden, Sidi Youssef Ben Ali, 40000 Marrakech, Morocco

Opening schedule

Wednesday–Sunday, 10:00–18:00. The museum lists Ramadan hours of 10:00–15:30; confirm the applicable schedule before visiting.

The venue states that admission includes the museum, its exhibitions, and Al Maaden Sculpture Park. School groups should enquire directly; guided tours require advance booking.

MACAAL states that the museum is fully accessible to people with reduced mobility. Contact the museum about specific requirements, including viewing installations along the staircase.

The museum advises allowing 10–20 minutes for a taxi to arrive at MACAAL and says reception can arrange one. This is a collection wait, not a journey-time estimate from the city centre.

Questions about Cyborg Archéologie

Sources and images

The linked primary sources contain photographs and further context. Images are not reproduced here; their copyright is separate from the facts summarized in this guide.

• https://macaal.org/en/cyborg-archeologie
• https://macaal.org/en/informations-pratiques
• https://macaal.org/en/

Plan the rest of your visit

MACAAL visiting guide · Marrakech city guide · Marrakech art map

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