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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Focus Special Travel Sports People Features Living Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The right place, the right time
By Youssef Rakha
Those who are nostalgic for downtown Cairo's cosmopolitan atmosphere -- the urbane and culturally stimulating (often Jewish-dominated) environment in which people like painter Hassan Soliman first made their name -- will not fail to add the Townhouse Gallery to their list of favourite venues. Nor will those interested in the idea that art is an everyday activity, untrammelled by formalities and class distinctions.
A thoroughly contemporary place that recaptures turn-of-the-century memories, the gallery comprises a flat in a former Jewish townhouse, which had been shut down for many years. Contrary to expectations, it is now open to everyone, from sophisticated literati to street children, up to and including the electricians and car mechanics who take up the rest of the lane in which it stands.
With the Cairo Atelier within walking distance and Champollion Street winding down to the right, the gallery could not be better located, but it is its nonchalant character, and its openness to the possibility of change, that make it genuinely different, as Townhouse curator William Wells -- a Canadian British-educated artist with a startlingly affirmative vision for a buzzing Egyptian art scene -- seems to say.
In Cairo, the fine arts may have been marginal and exclusive, Wells concedes, but during the last few years, while he was living outside Egypt, things changed drastically. "On every visit back, I discovered there was just so much vitality here, so much more energy than even two years ago. So I felt that what I was doing [opening up an art gallery] was correct. And I was justified, because as soon as I opened the gallery I had so many people coming through this door with ideas. There is a wealth of creative talent out there, and there is a wealth of people interested in that talent." Naturally enough, "one of the first things I did was have this map made, highlighting seven sites in the area. Because I feel this is very much an area that has to be promoted. I get enormous pleasure out of walking down the streets when I see people holding this map, looking for Karim Francis Gallery. Because you know, the area used to be the art centre, at the turn of the century. I mean, just in the lane itself was the first applied arts college, and the Antekhana Gallery used to be here. There is so much happening in the downtown area, and people choose the area because of what it generates, you know, artistically..."
Why someone like Wells would want to invest his money and energy in Egypt, though, remains something of a mystery. After all, this is hardly the centre of the art world. In many galleries, artists have to pay rent; the effects of bad curating -- which often results in overcrowded walls and display mechanisms that work against the art -- are fatally demoralising. Besides, contemporary art in general is still far from credible in the public psyche.
But there is more potential here, the perceptive entrepreneur suggests, and the art world could be a very different place if things were done properly in the long run. "Two days a week," Wells explains, "I bring in portfolios and I go through them. I select the artists who exhibit in the gallery. I pay all the expenses... The artist doesn't have to pay for anything. Of course, if I sell a picture, I take a 30 per cent commission... My intention is that the gallery is not just a place for people to come and look at pictures, it's for people to come and buy pictures. That's why in my first year more of my effort is going into art education. I honestly can't tell you if I've made any profit. But I already have an expatriate market. My target is basically young Egyptians who have a sketchy understanding of art but feel that they want to know more."
As for the public, Wells is equally positive -- and justifiably so. The most unlikely people have already found their way into the Townhouse, and felt comfortable there. "Do you know what's interesting -- yes, that certainly has something to do with it." Wells seems to be thinking out loud. "Because I have had a lot of the people from the lane coming up, out of curiosity, spending time, walking around the gallery. In certain exhibitions they'll spend a long time. They'll ask questions, they'll tell me they don't understand anything, they think it's weird, they think it's strange. But -- they're here, and they would never have stepped into a gallery before. I've got people who continually come back, people who have shops down the lane. And they want to talk about it, they want to argue with me about the images on the wall. That is a really important point for me. As soon as I opened, people said to me you've got to get benches in here, people want to sit. Generally most nights there are people out there, having cups of tea, talking, often not about the art, but..."
What's more, however, is that "now the doors are open [in the West]. I have a number of friends who have galleries in London," Wells informs me, "and they're very interested in what I'm doing here. The young artists that I've been working with have been exposed to the international art scene to a much greater extent than the generation before them and the generation before that. But at the same time they are trying very hard to maintain links with their Egyptian roots." A formula that seems to be working, since, on the other hand, "you can see the burgeoning of Egyptian art in terms of the establishment's hold on certain areas of the market. And what you do see is that there is a breaking up, a loosening up, so that young people are allowed to sort of break through, and an example of that is Shadi [El-Noshoqati], who's 28-years-old, being taken to Venice." The art scene, in other words, is in the process of being democratised, and initiatives like the Townhouse, while remaining beneficial to those who take them, can only contribute to the process. Wells is quick to point out that networking, another essential constituent of the formula, can only operate through such initiatives.
This is not all. Within the same flat, an Egyptian artist, Yasser Ghurab, runs a small space called Artwork where, parallel to whichever exhibition happens to be on, he sells books, drawings and various objects. Though the little café that everyone has anticipated is not yet to be found, expansions are already underway. "I've taken the third floor, which is a flat slightly larger than this," Wells explains. "It has six rooms and it's been closed for nearly as many years as this one, because this was closed in 1912 or something like that. We have a Swiss artist who's moved in there, and he is doing art in situ, and that will be open to the public in May... which I am hoping will be a continual process... Upstairs will be slightly different, more experimental. I want people to come in and maybe artists in residence will be working up there -- I'm looking for different ways to use the space alternatively..."
So Wells has big plans, and his vision keeps expanding. "Certainly I'm not the first person that will have said this to you" -- he has returned to his original topic -- "but other foreigners coming from Europe have said exactly the same thing. Now they feel they are very lucky to be a part of Egypt's burgeoning art scene, right now, moving into the millennium if you like. Things are happening. There's no question about it," he affirms -- and it certainly does feel like "you're in the right place at the right time".
photo: Randa Shaath
