- 04 Dec 2013
THE STREETS OF CAIRO - BETWEEN DOCUMENTATION AND ART
Abstract:
What is now clear in the Arab world is that while the Tunisian, the Egyptian and other revolutions have started, these will unfold and metamorphose over many years to come. Concurrently, murals across the streets of Cairo blossomed, witnessing vigorous and constantly changing graphic diversity. Protesters of all stripes succeeded in showcasing their demands, their ambitions and most of all their cynicism on wall surfaces in all Egyptian cities and villages. Alongside, parliamentary and presentation campaigns are scrambling to form an epic story on all the walls of Cairo streets. Layers of drawings, posters, stickers accumulate to reflect hundreds of demands and multi-‐colored turmoil. Pictures of candidates for office are plastered on walls, torn, replaced by others which are torn again, with the mosaic creating virtual candidates who are no longer real. Graffiti is made and removed, in a constant ballet, by the military or the police or Islamists or others unknown, in a constant, permanent interaction between creation and omission.
The living murals change every day and every moment. Hence comes the importance of documenting the moment from historical, artistic and social perspectives.
The artist monitored his surrounding reality through photography then, through his own artistic intervention, reflected on his surroundings, his street, his city and his country. His artwork bursts with feelings and vitality, in multiple layers and mediums (paintings, tapestry, paper, mixed media, videos) expressing the turmoil, variety and sheer creative explosion playing out on revolutionary streets.
Registration is from 6.30pm and the talk will begin at 7pm sharp. Participants will have the opportunity to view selected pieces of Abouelnaga’s work at the seminar room.
Refreshment and writing materials will be provided.
About the Speakers
Egyptian prize-winning Mohamed Abouelnaga is a multidisciplinary visual artist and art curator.
Throughout his colorful career, he created award winning art projects, nurtured and invested in his community and brought up a new generation of young artists with his teaching, workshop and his multitude of practices.
Born in the Egyptian city of Tanta, Mohamed Abouelnaga graduated with honour in 1983 from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Alexandria University then received his Master’s Degree in 1992. He received his PHD in Philosophy of Art from Alexandria University in 1997. He is currently an assistant professor at the faculty of Specific Education in Cairo University.
He was the first Middle Eastern artist to receive a grant from the Japan Foundation to travel for six months to be part of a workshop, under the supervision of pioneering Japanese artist Kyoko Ibe, where he incorporated experiences and techniques in the arts of manual paper-making between Washi Japanese paper and Egyptian papyrus. During this period, Abouelnaga also participated in a variety of art and technical workshops and realized a solo exhibition in the Japanese city of Kyoto.
As a curator, he created in 2002 the biggest and most successful Artist Book Biennial in the Alexandria Bibliotheca. Entitled “Imagining the Book”. Also in 2002, he founded Elnafeza for Contemporary Art & Development where he trained more than 25 handicapped youngsters in using rice straws, Nile water lilies and bananas stalks for papermaking. Partly as a result, he became a fellow of Ashoka in 2005, the global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs, which gathers all the intellectuals aiming to reduce poverty around the world. In the same context, Abouelnaga recently participated at the recent conference of TransCultural Exchange that was held in Boston.
In 2009, he was assigned by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture to become the curator of the 25th Alexandria Biennial for Mediterranean Countries 2009.
In the past two decades, Abouelnaga exhibited in many several solo shows in Egypt and around the world, including Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, London, Roma and Lucerne, showcasing his painting, video and installations.
He received the Prize of the Mediterranean Sea at the 1998 Cairo Biennale, the First Prize at the Alexandria Biennial in 2001, represented Egypt in the Venice Biennial 2002 and more recently his Cairo 11 video won the first prize at the Danube Video Art festival in 2013.
