Curated by Aleya Hamza and Edit Molnar
An international multi-disciplinary visual arts project in Downtown Cairo featuring a series of exhibitions, screenings, presentations, residencies, a workshop and a temporary publishing house.
Opening reception on Wednesday 17 December 2008
Symposia: 19-21 December 2008 | 9-11 January 2009
EXHIBITION VENUES
Contemporary Image Collective:
20 Safeya Zaghloul St., Mounira
Townhouse Gallery:
10 Nabrawy St., Downtown
Hungarian Cultural Institute:
13 Gawad Hosni St., Downtown
E-Mobilia Building:
23 Sherif St., Downtown, 4th floor, Apt 468
SYMPOSIUM VENUE
Rawabet Theater:
Hussein Me'mar St., Downtown
PhotoCairo4: The Long Shortcut is a large-scale visual arts project that explores the dynamics between informal and official modes of operation that continue to shape the social reality in this region and beyond. One main site is Cairo itself: a quintessential example of an explosive mega city situated in a state characterized by a mode of perpetual crisis. Under these conditions one can think of informal structures and strategies of existence as creatively pragmatic answers that are subversive, by definition rather than design. On the one hand, the programs examine transformations in images of officialdom and the rhetoric of power through media representations, while remaining interested in poetic accounts of daily life, personal narratives and creative strategies employed by individuals faced with the reality of navigating constantly mutating hybrid structures.
The program revolves around a number of loose coordinates. One main site is Cairo itself as a quintessential example of an explosive mega city situated in a state characterized by a mode of perpetual crisis. Under these conditions one can think of informal structures and strategies of existence as creatively pragmatic answers that are by definition - rather than design - subversive.
On the one hand, we would like to examine transformations in images of officialdom and the rhetoric of power through media representations. However, we are also interested in poetic accounts of daily life, personal narratives and creative strategies employed by Individuals faced with the reality of navigating these mutating hybrid structures.
Artists
Ala' Younis , Ahmed Kamel, Artur Żmijewski , Babak Afrassiabi, Bernard Guillot , David Thorne & Julia Meltzer, Doa Aly, Hala Elkoussy, Hassan Khan, Heidrun Holzfeind, Ihab Jadallah, Kareem Lotfy, Kobe Matthys, Larissa Sansour , Leopold Kessler, Maha Maamoun, Mahmoud Khaled, Mandy Gehrt, Mohamed Allam, Raed Yassin, Rana El Nemr
With publications, presentations and film programs by
Bassam El-Baroni, Ganzeer, George Azmy, Florian Wüst, Karim Tartoussieh, Martí Peran, Nat Muller, Pages Magazine, Urs Lehni and What, How & for Whom curators's collective (Ivet Ćurlin, Ana Devic, Dević, Nataša Ilić and Sabina Sabolović)
SYMPOSIUM #1
19 December 2008
3:00pm Welcome note by curators
3:30pm "Specimen 0920" Presentation by AGENCY
4:50pm Conversation between HALA ELKOUSSY and DINA RAMADAN
6.10pm "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" - Lecture by WHAT, HOW and for WHOM/WHW
7.30pm "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" - Screening program #1 curated by WHAT, HOW and for WHOM/WHW
20 December 2008
11:00am Conversation between RAED YASSIN and BASSAM EL BARONI
12:20pm Artist talk by HEIDRUN HOLZFEIND
1:40pm "Downtown Cairo: Imagined Scenarios…" Lecture by MONA ABAZA
3:00pm "Ideas for Post-It City Project" Lecture by MARTI PERAN
4:20pm "A Brief Tentative Map of the Filmic Terrain in Egypt" Screening program #1 curated by KARIM TARTOUSSIEH
21 December 2008
3:00pm Conversation between PAGES and MAI ABU ELDAHAB
4:20pm "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" Screening program #2 curated by WHAT, HOW and for WHOM/WHW
5:40pm "The Publishing House Project" - Presentation by MOTAZ ATTALA, SARAH INFANGER, GANZEER and GEORGE AZMY
6:40pm "Visual battle Fields: Citizenship, Media Activism, and the Struggle over Representation" Lecture by KARIM TARTOUSSIEH
8:00pm "A Brief Tentative Map of the Filmic Terrain in Egypt" Screening program #2 curated by KARIM TARTOUSSIEH
SYMPOSIUM #2
Friday, 9 January 2009
3:00pm Welcome note by curators
3:30pm Artist talk by MAHMOUD KHALED
4:50pm Conversation between HASSAN KHAN and BASSAM EL BARONI
6:10pm "Dreamscapes" Lecture by LIVIA PALDI
7:30pm "Dreamscapes" Screening program curated by LIVIA PALDI
Saturday, 10 January 2009
3:00pm "Norms, Manners and Conformity. Inventing social control through non-fictional film" Lecture/Screening by FLORIAN WUEST
4:20pm Artist talk by DOA ALY
5:40pm The Heavy Weight of Things Present: Jump Cuts into Mediations and Representations of Crisis" Lecture by NAT MULLER
7:00pm "Checking-in with the Publishing House" Presentation by MOTAZ ATTALA, SARAH INFANGER, GANZEER and GEORGE AZMY
8:00pm "FOXP2" Lecture by BASSAM EL BARONI
Venues
Contemporary Image Collective
Townhouse Gallery
Rawabet Theater
Hungarian Cultural Institute
Rented apartment
PhotoCairo4: The Long Shortcut is supported by the Danish Center for Culture and Development (DCCD), Prohelvetia: The Swiss Arts Council, Alcatel, Goethe-Institute, Mondriaan Foundation, RWE dea with additional support by the Spanish Embassy in Egypt.
