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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 9 -15 November 2000 Issue No.507 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 9 -15 November 2000 Issue No.507
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Books Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The bazaar factor
By Youssef Rakha
The transition from Ceramics Museum grounds to Gezira Arts Centre was markedly smoother than usual: no unfriendly security, no hassle over the photography permit, no need to show an ID at the door. The staff were helpful and courteous, doing the kind of -- effective -- PR that has on occasion characterised recent Ministry of Culture events, and even apologising for inconveniences beyond their control. One such inconvenience, alas, is the lack of any information on the Italian contribution to this event in either Arabic or English, an administrative blunder that strategically undermines the exhibition's professed purpose of intercultural exchange. As part of the Italian Egyptian Festival, a joint venture of the Ministry of Culture and L'Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Parallels: Generations, Trends, Techniques, curated by Carmine Siniscalco, invites questions about what intercultural encounter implies and means.
Rita Tagliaferri posits a divided existence
The lack of an adequate verbal "parallel" leaves the exhibition goer clueless as to who the Italian artists are, how they might be the counterparts of certain Egyptian artists, or where they stand vis-à-vis the establishment. Inside the galleries only the names of the artists are given, with or without the date of birth; there is no attempt at classification, contextualisation or information about the works on display. The reasoning behind particular juxtapositions is consequently unclear, although in the Ragheb Ayyad Hall there is one notable exception: Giovanni Balderi's classic Greco-Roman figures, drastically dehumanised, parallel Nagui Farid's ancient Egyptian seated figures, which are similarly small and decapitated. That the two artists were born in 1970 and 1964, respectively, indicates that they belong to roughly the same generation. Some conclusion might be drawn about that generation of artists across both countries adopting an ironic approach to its heritage. Yet it is not as if the notion of contemporary perspectives altering one's view of one's ancient civilisation has not been played out in art enough already.
The position of Italian works in relation to Egyptian ones at this exhibition generally offers no clue as to how they might interact. The Ahmed Sabri Hall hosts some of the seemingly permanent staples of the Egyptian semi-academic scene, often seen in government-supported exhibition spaces: fantastic little toys by Ahmed Nawwar, tiny limb-like frameworks of metal by Sobhi Girgis, and what look like Abdel-Hadi El-Gazzar-inspired paintings by Sabri Mansour -- to mention but three examples. Within sight Veronica Piraccini's partly fluorescent abstractions do interesting things with light, Silvana Leonardi employs a very distinctive impressionist technique to paint portraits of the same woman (herself?) and Marina Profil offers, among other concept-centred endeavours, a blown-up heap of postcards, facing down, among which "BLA BLA" is unobtrusively but firmly spelled out in block capitals -- three equally random examples, more likely to be seen in private, internationally connected galleries. One can compare and contrast the two sets of examples from a postmodern, multicultural standpoint. That they do belong to two distinct cultures or issue from different social-political backgrounds, however, is a fact the curators of the exhibition fail to approach.
Collective exhibitions of contemporary art often have an overpowering, bazaar-like effect. One comes out with the suspicion that one has been the dupe of a carefully engineered showcase of predominantly unworthy products. To take in everything is taxing. To effectively compare and contrast is well nigh impossible. To make general connections is an endeavour prone to error but it at least facilitates description. And in this vein one might make the (possibly unfair) comment that the Italian works are in many cases more articulate in appealing to the viewer, and more liberated with regard the human body and its effects. In the Al-Hussein Fawzi Hall, Luisa Zanibelli's bold patterns in black-and-white and black-and-red instantly grab the eye, before one notices the presence of two of the veteran Nazli Madkour's pieces. And in the Kamal Khalifa Hall, Gloria Forti uses actual fabric to create two-dimensional but eerily life-like images of garments. Stephano Campitelli and Rita Tagliaferri variously depict a chopped up human body or face, reflecting an explicitly Freudian, Pop Art sense of self.
Besides providing a more intense concentration of works than the Ahmed Sabri Hall, the Ragheb Ayyad Hall contains not only the screen on which the work of seven Italian video artists is played but Self Annihilation, the up-and-coming Egyptian artist Shadi El-Noshoqati's subtly atmospheric multi-media installation: alongside a bridal veil hung up on hooks, there is a small screen showing a metal structure burning on the river bank, while the day slowly progresses from dawn to dusk. Mohamed Abla's photo-based collages of the river bank are an interesting variation on his Cairo Atelier exhibition with photographer Randa Shaath. The range of the work is astounding. Back at the door, Edolo Masci's giant seashells manage to arrest motion for a few more minutes, while Andrea Lelario's story book illustration-like drawings do their disorienting work again. One inevitably goes away with a single image inscribed on the mind's eye, however: on Adel El-Siwi's tall, narrow canvas, an uncertain, bespectacled face blends into the bark of a tree, so that the more one looks the more they seem indistinguishable.
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