Contemporary Arab Representations, Cairo
dal 20/5/2003 al 27/7/2003
Segnalato da
20/5/2003
Contemporary Arab Representations, Cairo
Witte de With, Rotterdam
A long-term project which includes seminars, publications, performances and presentations of works by various authors: visual artists, architects, writers, poets and intellectuals but also actors of social and political life. A new generation of Egyptian artists is now emerging, encouraged by the support of private initiatives and benefiting from a wider pool of references circulated through the globalized urban network. Today performance: tabla dubb by Hassan Khan
With: Sherif El Azma, Anna Boghiguian, Mohieddin Ellabbad, Safaa Fathy, GOLO, Alaa Khaled & Salwa Rashad, Hassan Khan, Hani Rashed and Randa Shaath.
Contemporary Arab Representations is a long-term project which includes seminars, publications, performances and presentations of works by various authors - visual artists, architects, writers, poets and intellectuals but also actors of social and political life - with the aim of encouraging production, circulation and exchange between the different centers of the Arab world and the rest of the world.
The project thus aims to tackle heterogeneous situations and contexts which may sometimes be antagonistic or conflictive, in order to acquire more specific knowledge about what is currently going on in different regions of the Arab world, to look at the complex dimensions of esthetics in relation to social and political situations, and to encourage people to think more openly about the role played today by cultural practices in our own locations, under our own circumstances.
Different in this regard from the rest of Middle East (Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine and Jordan) Egypt has a heightened awareness of its own continuity, with a deep-rooted tradition, geographically, socially and historically. Political and geographical identity is not an issue in current debate. But literary and artistic experience can be conceived of as a struggle to achieve both individual freedom and political liberation. Historically, countless structural limitations (mediocre academic training, restricted access to information, lack of public space and debate for cultural life) obstructed the development of the modern movement in Egypt, often ending in academic/official production for the gratification and profit of the establishment.
A new generation of Egyptian artists is now emerging, encouraged by the support of private initiatives and benefiting from a wider pool of references circulated through the globalized urban network. The challenge is probably to articulate and consolidate a critical culture able to deal with the many complexities of the contemporary Egyptian context, and to oppose the simplifying procedures of standardization and codification at work in the dominant visual culture produced by globalization, and indirectly, by the "agendas" of a few large cultural organizations.
This project aims to introduce an open constellation of works developed independently from any institutional support by authors using very different media and strategies in order to confront the bewildering urban and social realities of contemporary Cairo.
IMAGE: Hassan Khan, tabla dubb, 2002
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Wednesday, May 14 (closed meeting)
Location: Rietveld Academy, department voorheen audio visueel
Lecture and studio visits by Hassan Khan
Sunday, May 18, 5. p.m.
Location: Witte de With, Rotterdam
Presentations and debate
With: Anna Boghiguian, Golo, Hassan Khan, and Randa Shaath.
Wednesday, May 21, 10 p.m.
Location: Off_Corso, Rotterdam
Performance: tabla dubb by Hassan Khan
Thursday, May 22 (closed meeting)
Location: Dutch Art Institute, Enschede
Lecture and studio visits by Hassan Khan.
Thursday, May 22, 8 p.m.
Location: Witte de With, Rotterdam
Lecture and debate (in association with the European Cultural Foundation, Amsterdam)
With: Safaa Fathy, filmmaker, poet, and writer.
June 18-25
Location: Lantaren/Venster, Rotterdam
Film program including feature films, short films, and documentaries (in association with Intishal al Timimi and the Arab Film Festival, Rotterdam).
June, date and time to be announced
Location: Witte de With, Rotterdam
Lectures and debates
With: Alaa Khaled and Salwa Rashad, editors of the magazine Amkenah, and Mohieddin Ellabbad, graphic designer, illustrator, and writer.
Contemporary Arab Representations, Cairo was made in association with the International Achitecture Bienniale Rotterdam and the 3rd Arab Film Festival, Rotterdam
With the kind support of the European Cultural Foundation
Witte de With, center for contemporary art, Witte de Withstraat 50, 3012 BR, Rotterdam