QANAT’s Artistic Engagement with Morocco’s Water Stress: Practising Ways of Living Together

Abstract

This thesis examines how the Marrakech-based collective QANAT reframes the commons through its artistic response to Morocco's water crisis. Guided by the principle of the ‘poetics and politics of water,’ QANAT addresses the commons as both a central theme and an organising structure. The research is based on ethnographic fieldwork using participant observation, interviews, and document analysis, informed by actor-network theory to describe the relations between human and non-human actors within the collective. Additionally, a diffractive analysis is used to show how QANAT’s public work and organisational practices are intertwined in their understanding of the commons. Engaging with debates in political ecology and artistic responses to the climate crisis, the thesis highlights QANAT’s focus on local knowledge systems, particularly those of women in Marrakech’s Medina. Over time, QANAT has developed shared artistic methodologies that contribute to creating a knowledge commons. By experimenting with community gardens and engaging with Marrakech’s history, the platform links concrete practice to broader discussions on the politics of water and critiques of neoliberal food systems, fostering collective responses to water politics and urban challenges