Dar Bellarj Speculative Garden Opening and Market
2 – 7pm
A Market of Seeds & Flavours
A gathering to exchange seeds and explore culinary and medicinal recipes from the garden
. Dar Bellarj
As part of our programme at Dar Bellarj, and running in parallel to workshops and conversations within Echologies, various stands will offer cooperatives produce, arts and crafts from various Marrakchi creators, tasty bites and more!*
This market is also imagined as a space and opportunity to initiate a seed swapping practice within the city: if you have seeds to exchange, bring them! And if you don’t, but you would like to get some and start your own little garden, come to take some – with the promise that you will share some back at the next harvest.
*Call to Creators and Producers:
If you are interested in having a stand at the market, reach out to QANAT or Harvest Festival (PM us or email francesca@global-diversity.org) to discuss opportunities!
2:30 – 4pm
Dar Bellarj’s Speculative Garden Opening
An afternoon marking the opening of the Gardening Days in our collective garden with the Ummahat of Dar Bellarj
Join us for an afternoon of gardening at the Speculative Garden of Dar Bellarj, guided by the Ummahat dial Dar Bellarj, as well as Ayoub Amahrous, Abderrazak Bassir, Alia Belgsir and Francesca Masoero.
The Speculative Garden of Dar Bellarj was first initiated between 2019 and 2020 by Entangled Ecologies, a research line of QANAT led in particular by AZ OOR, Louisa Aarrass, Sara Frikech, Abdellah Hassak and Francesca Masoero. As part of a new, collaborative programme of work aiming at expanding and opening the Dar Bellarj’s Speculative Garden to different communities in the city, this morning marks the inauguration of our “Saturdays at the Garden”.
Starting from October, the third Saturday of every month will invite you to join us to (un)learn together how to reconnect with the land, sustain the creation of ecosystems within the urban landscape and embody a circular practice in your daily life.
For this first afternoon at the garden expect an introduction to the different dimensions of the garden (especially its new succulents and cacti nursery, hydroponic system, and vegetal wall), and to start familiarising with strategies to set up a circular system allowing to create biodiversity and greenery to (your) urban space!
The Speculative Garden of Dar Bellarj is a long-term project curated by QANAT, and currently led by Francesca Masoero in dialogue with Alia Belgsir, Ayoub Amahrous, Abderrazak Bassir & Harvest Festival.
The Speculative Garden of Dar Bellarj is supported by the Susanna Biedermann Foundation and by the VNG International (International Cooperation Agency of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities).
4:30 – 6pm
Al Kharif [season #0]
Zra3na · Dar Bellarj Seed Library Opening
With interventions from Les Mamans Douées and High Atlas Cooperative members (in AR – with EN translation available)
. Dar Bellarj
This gathering marks the (re)launch of the collective and public space of Zra3na · Dar Bellarj Seed Library – a pedagogical and experimental space held by QANAT in dialogue with the Speculative Garden and Harvest Festival, which will be activated seasonally through specific and dedicated workshops and events starting with a winter season’s gathering, Al Shitaa’ [season #1] in December 2025.
This [season #0] builds upon earlier moments of the Entangled Ecologies projects with the Ummahat of Dar Bellarj where the speculative garden was brought into life through the sharing of collective knowledge, the gathering of fabulations through storytelling as well as the collection of culinary and medicinal recipes drawing upon cultural and personal memories.
These offerings now open up to wider networks of exchange by bringing the group into dialogue with three of Harvest Festival’s (the Global Diversity Foundation) High Atlas Cooperative partners to share stories, memories and knowledge on a selection of seasonal plant allies of the El Haouz cultural landscape.
This session encourages the art of storytelling and memory sharing as tools for transmitting living archives. Everyone is welcomed to bring their voices to the event and add to our collection!
Zra3na · Dar Bellarj Seed Library is supported by the Susanna Biedermann Foundation and by the VNG International (International Cooperation Agency of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities).