Egyptian Contemporary Art… since the Revolution
Leading Egyptian artists have been heard blaming their country’s inability to launch a strong pavilion at the recent Venice Biennales on its infrastructure...
The Art Newspaper listed the Egyptian pavilion at this year’s 58th Venice Biennale as one of the worst, many wondering if Egypt was at all interested in winning the Biennale’s Golden Lion Award.
Artists working under systems of oppression are suffering the consequences, as has been seen over the past few years with Egypt’s government involvement, using art as promotion for the country’s tourism and a lack of financial support towards contemporary art. Government cultural institutions and private foundations are not brave enough to face this challenge of censorship but small galleries, independent associations and independent artists are taking this risk, often receiving financial and moral support from foreign institutions instead. Following the 2011 uprising, it was the support provided by these institutions that allowed new practitioners to emerge and new independent festivals to be launched even though the Townhouse Gallery, which was established a decade before, showed Egypt’s art community’s effort to disperse the Egyptian art scene.
“The revolution was a turning point in art – Cairo, Alexandria and other cities flourished with artistic expression, including an abundance of street art.”
The revolution was a turning point in art – Cairo, Alexandria and other cities flourished with artistic expression, including an abundance of street art. In addition to the Townhouse Gallery, the Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF) started to revive and reclaim the public spaces of Downtown Cairo as a vibrant cultural centre, highlighting its rich social and architectural heritage. Non-profit art foundations such as ASCI, Medrar and CIC are also playing a major role in the art world.
In an interview with The Observer, artist Shady El Noshokat said that there are less than thirty artists in Egypt not living under authoritarian rule, working on their own to reach international acclaim. One such artist is Hassan Khan, who participated in numerous influential events and who won the Silver Lion award for the most promising young artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale. Other Egyptian artists working on their own and worth noting include Wael Shawky who is represented by the influential Lisson Gallery; Ghada Amer and Moataz Nasr who are represented by international Leila Heller Gallery; Armen Agop, Youssef Nabil, George Lappas, Lara Baladi, and Heba Y Amin amongst others.
Egyptian art galleries Gypsum, Mashrabia and Ubuntu represent a good number of serious artists known to the international art scene. Mona Marzouk is represented by Gypsum together with artists Ahmed Badry, Basim Magdy, Doa Aly, Fathi Hassan, Maha Maamoun, Mahmoud Khaled, Susan Hefuna and Taha Belal. Ubuntu Gallery has, in recent years, introduced a good number of their artists to the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair- these include artists Hayam AbdelBaky, Khaled Zaki, Sahar AlAmir and Samir Fouad. The Mashrabia Gallery has also introduced some of their artists, like Adel El Siwi, Ali Abdel Mohsen, Mustafa El Husseiny, Qarm Qart and others to the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair and the Beirut Art Fair. Other galleries in Egypt worth mentioning include the Karim Francis Contemporary Art Gallery, Soma Art School and Gallery, Darb 1718 and SafarKhan.
Exhibitions by Egyptian artists happening worldwide at the moment include Wael Shawky’s exhibition Cabaret Crusades III: The Secrets of Karbala at the Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, USA until 19 April 2020. Heba Y. Amin is currently co-curating the exhibition History is Not Here: Art and the Arab Imaginary at the Minnesota Museum of American Art, with Maymanah Farhat which remains open until 5 January 2020. She will be exhibiting her solo show Fruit from Saturn at the Zentrum für verfolgte Künste in Solingen, Germany until 2February 2020.
Armen Agop is one of the artists participating in the group exhibition The Eye and the Night, curated by Geraldine Bloche at the Institute des Cultures d’Islam in Paris until 9 February 2020 and for the first time ever, the sculptor will be exhibiting his paintings at the Meem Gallery in the UAE until 10 January 2020. The Tabari Artspace, who represent Khaled Zaki in the UAE, will be showcasing the second edition of his Resurrection works in October 2020 and Youssef Nabil will have his first retrospective exhibition Once Upon a Dream open at Palazzo Grassi in Venice, Italy, from March 2020 until January of 2021. Pilar Corrias gallery, who represent the artist Ghada Amer in London, will also be holding an exhibition with her latest paintings and sculptures during 2020.
If you find yourself in Cairo any time before 27 November, do visit Art D’Égypte’s Reimagined Narratives exhibition in Moez Street, Cairo, as well as other exhibitions being held at Egypt’s art centres and galleries. Try not to miss the Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF) being held between March and April, and the Cairotronica new media arts festival being held in June if you find yourself around Cairo at these times. Nevertheless, besides street art, the contemporary Egyptian art scene has, since 2011, faced many hurdles, including lack of funding and state censorship. However, many young, independent and creative artists still remain active. In addition to the Townhouse Gallery, the Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF) aims to both revive and reclaim the public spaces of Downtown Cairo as a vibrant cultural center, highlighting its rich social and architectural heritage.
The art practitioners, art aficionados, cultural journalists and – above all – the regular audience members of Egypt are really spoilt for choice when it comes to the contemporary arts scene, both in Cairo and Alexandria, and in several other cities. Even within the contemporary performing arts, there are countless events, formats, genres and colours,and a great deal of passion and dynamism on the
