1.
The conversation starter
MACAAL
Morocco 

Othman Lazraq guides us under an arch made from mud bricks – part of a structure that sits below the central atrium of his family’s private museum. “Installing this was a mess,” he says. “Artist Salima Naji built it, brick by brick, one month before our reopening at the start of the year.” Touching the temple-like structure, which emulates ancient building techniques from places such as Mali or the Maghreb, Lazraq offers a clue to the museum’s mission. “This isn’t just heritage,” he says “It’s alive.”

The Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL) opened in 2016 as an extension of the Lazraq family’s art foundation (the family is one of Morocco’s largest property developers). The museum brings its extensive art collection, which now spans 2,500 works, into public view.

Part of Lazraq’s job as both founder and director has been reconciling political and social sensitivities around history and gender with the collection’s occasionally transgressive content. “Every cultural institution is placed in the middle of social discourse,” he says. “But our approach is always deft and inclusive.” In Morocco, this attitude is vital as the majority of the population has never set foot inside a museum. Special attention has been paid to ensure that the audience’s questions and concerns are answered and assuaged by MACAAL’s friendly guides, and additional information has been designed to deepen dialogue.

After seven years finding its footing, the museum was closed by Lazraq in 2023 as a chance for a structural and conceptual reset. Serendipitous timing meant that the entire collection was safely packaged and stored only two weeks before a magnitude-6.8 earthquake rocked the region. During the two-year hiatus, everything from the museum’s financial model to the curated programme was scrutinised. A scenographer was enlisted to redesign the layout to be more accessible and playful; display cases were lowered to child height and the museum’s artistic director, Meriem Berrada, commissioned video documentaries for each of the permanent collections’ seven sections to provide an additional layer of visual narration. 

The multidisciplinary and occasionally controversial works (one playful piece explores the taboo subject of folkloric witchcraft) challenge ingrained perceptions around African art but there’s a distinctly celebratory tone here too. “I’m a proud Moroccan but there’s a lot of missing context around who we are and where we’ve come from,” says Lazraq. “I want to make our museum as open as possible, to spark conversations and to stand out as a neutral, safe space for reflection and imagination.”

On the edge of a golf course about 15 minutes’ drive from Marrakech’s medina, MACAAL’s setting is serene. Lazraq, who has led the family’s art foundation for over 15 years (since the age of 21) is always rethinking how the museum can work. Every Friday it hosts a family-style couscous lunch, inviting the community and anyone else who wants to experience culture through the disarming focus of food. “I never wanted to create a highbrow, exclusionary space,” he says, pointing to the employment of “cultural mediators” tasked with bringing groups from schools, women’s associations and social organisations for workshops and visits. “We’re creating a true social ecosystem. Hopefully we’re also becoming a source of inspiration for the next generation.”
macaal.org

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2.
The audio-visual space
Efie Gallery
Dubai 

The Ghanaian director of Dubai’s Efie Gallery, Kwame Mintah, doesn’t like looking at art in silence. “Galleries tend to be managed by creative people but they can feel sterile without any music,” he says. Mintah grew up listening to genres such as highlife and Afrobeat and decided to weave those sounds into the artistic experience of his gallery. Founded in 2021 by Mintah with his mother, Valentina, and brother, Kobi, Efie Gallery has had a permanent space in Dubai since 2022. Now the family has moved its operations to a bigger outpost, which will provide more space for their 2,000 vinyl records and diverse roster of visual artists of African origin.

“The commercial art world can be sceptical of unorthodox forms,” says Mintah. He initially wanted to downplay the listening concept but the enthusiastic reception received by a smaller version in the original venue means that it now takes centre stage in the new location. “Growing up in Ghana, art wasn’t contained in galleries,” says Mintah. “It was all around us.” The new space’s immersive listening room has five hi-fi speakers. Visitors will find shellac and vinyl records and cassettes, dating from the 1940s until the present day, including those by Ghanaian musician ET Mensah, a pioneer of the highlife genre. Originating in the 19th century, highlife laid the foundations for many popular genres, such as Afrobeat.

Mintah hopes that the new gallery will bolster the underexplored cultural connections between the UAE and Africa. “Dubai is a blank canvas where you can construct your own narrative of African art,” he says. Efie is showing the likes of Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui, Kenyan visual artist Maggie Otieno and Ethiopian photographer Aïda Muluneh. Each has curated ambient playlists to accompany their shows.

“The Efie Gallery isn’t a satellite for the African diaspora,” says Mintah. “We want to engage directly with the region. With our unusual gallery concept, we leaned into the unknown. Ultimately we hope to add something fresh to the canon.”
efiegallery.com

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3.
The regional showcase
Ichion Contemporary
Japan 

Sandwiched between an office building and a church, Ichion Contemporary’s slim, ambitious architecture celebrates the avant-garde spirit of Osaka. The new gallery, which opened in January, was founded by Ichion Jo, the 35-year-old vice-president of Jo’s Auctions. Originally dealing primarily in Chinese antiques, the Osaka-based auction house has become increasingly active in collecting and trading modern art in recent years, including that of the Gutai group and other works from Kansai.

“We noticed that while Japanese postwar artists were becoming more highly valued, they were not so in the international market,” says Jo. “But after the Guggenheim exhibition in New York (Gutai: Splendid Playground, 2013) their prices jumped in an instant.” Sensing a shift in the market, Jo began researching and planning a gallery to showcase such works. And when a narrow patch of land, barely four metres in width, became available in Nozaki-cho, he approached renowned architect Tadao Ando to turn it into a reality.

The distinctive concrete building offers a unique experience across six levels, placing viewers close to the works. The inaugural exhibition showcased the Gutai Art Association, while future exhibitions will focus on Kansai’s pioneering avant-garde artists, as well as the emerging talents building on their legacy. The gallery’s unconventional setting and innovative spirit promises new discoveries for artists and audiences alike.
ichion-contemporary.com

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4.
The photographic archive
Photo SeMA
South Korea

A building that mimics the contours of a camera aperture makes for a striking architectural statement – and a fitting venue for South Korea’s first public photography museum. Opening on 29 May, the Photography Seoul Museum of Art (Photo SeMA) encompasses about 7,000 sq m across three above-ground and two subterranean levels. The building was designed by Vienna-based architect Mladen Jadric and realised in collaboration with South Korean architect Yoon Geun-ju, director of 1990uao. Drawing inspiration from the mechanism of a camera aperture, the museum’s twisted monolithic form departs from conventional right angles, with walls and floors rising fluidly along a curve. Jadric says that there are more similarities between the practices of architecture and photography than you might expect. “Photography is an image drawn with light and architecture is a play of forms unfolding under light,” he tells Monocle.

Photo SeMA’s director, Han Jung-hee, says that the museum’s mission is “to establish the 140-year history of Korean photographic art”. The institution identified more than 2,000 photographers active between 1880 and 1980 and acquired about 21,000 images and archival materials. “Our goal was to collect landscapes and portraits that offer a visual record of their era,” says curator Son Hyun-jung. Those procurements included the archive of Im In-sik, a photographer of the Korean War, and Park Young-sook, a pioneering figure in feminist photography. Photo SeMA will finally bring into focus the rich history of South Korean photography.
sema.seoul.go.kr

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5.
The Italian outpost
Thaddaeus Ropac
Milan

The neoclassical Palazzo Belgioioso is the sumptuous location for Austrian gallery Thaddaeus Ropac’s new Milan outpost. Elena Bonanno di Linguaglossa, its executive director, is brimming with excitement when she shows Monocle around the unfinished site. “I’ve never been able to hold a brush but I’ve always had a curiosity for contemporary art,” she says. “My grandmother worked as an assistant for Belgian painter Paul Delvaux. I was fascinated by the stories she told me.”

For Bonanno di Linguaglossa, taking a role under Thaddaeus Ropac was an easy decision. “There’s no one like him in the industry,” she says. When Monocle visits, the space is still under renovation but the neoclassical crown mouldings and large bay windows overlooking the quiet courtyard give a taste of what’s to come. Works will be exhibited in two grand rooms on the first floor, and sculptures will be displayed in the public courtyard. 

Milan has a growing presence of international artists, buyers and gallerists tapping into the community of wealthy collectors who have chosen Italy’s financial capital as their home. “It’s the moment to be here,” says Bonanno di Linguaglossa.
ropac.net

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6.
The photographer’s home
Studio Naegeli
Gstaad

Over the past century, the timber-hewn chalets that line Gstaad’s main promenade have slowly transformed into a string of luxury fashion maisons but Chalet Naegeli is a notable exception. Founded in 1914 as an Alpine photography repository, it’s the former studio-residence of photographer Jacques Naegeli, who documented Gstaad’s transition from humble farming village to glitzy ski resort. 

The premises became a bank in the 1970s but, last winter, Naegeli’s great-grandson, Christian Högl, and his wife, Anna, brought the chalet back to life as Studio Naegeli, a documentation project aimed at reviving the photographer’s archive. 

The Högls aren’t just looking to the past. The two-storey site will host programmes alongside a global roster of galleries focusing on modern art. When Monocle stops by, the debut collaboration with Galerie Mitterrand in Paris is preparing to open and 15 artworks have been shipped over. These include works by François-Xavier Lalanne, Jean Dubuffet, Günther Förg and Yayoi Kusama.

There is momentum here to refocus Gstaad’s identity around its artistic heritage, and the town has buy-in from an international crowd of holidaymakers. Visitors from France, the US, Canada and Hong Kong pass by when Monocle visits Studio Naegeli. “A lot of visitors here have second homes in Gstaad, so the tourism feels more personal,” says Anna, who previously worked as international liaison for the Moscow Art Fair and as a curator in Bern. “Gstaad is home to a concentrated group of collectors, which encourages a friendly climate for purchasing art.” 

Just like Jacques once did, Christian and Anna live above their beloved chalet-gallery. “When Jacques lived here, the house was alive with creative spirit,” says Anna. “We hope to reconnect Chalet Naegeli with its artistic and cultural heritage.”
studionaegeli.com