The Arab Spring: The Egyptian Experience

The European Parliament Office in Cyprus and the Jean Monnet Chair of the University of Nicosia invite you to the public debate titled “The Arab Spring: The Egyptian Experience”, to be held at ARTos Foundation on Friday, 7 December 2012 at 18:00. On the same day an exhibition of photographs on the Arab Spring gathered by the European Parliament Office in Malta, as well as selected video collages from the Egyptian revolution and an exhibition about the graffiti scene of Cairo during and after the revolution, will be inaugurated.

The ARTos Foundation – Cultural Observatory of the M. East invites you to a series of presentations under the subtitle “Evolution of a Revolution” to take place on the following day, Saturday, 8 December 2012 at 18:00, by Aida Eltorie, curator, Ammar Abo Bakr, street artist and muralist, Leila Saad, actor, director, producer, and professor of theatre and communication followed by a premiere screening in Cyprus of the short film “Homo Bulla: 18 days” by Melina Nicolaides. A programme for both days of the event follows.

Programme

Friday, 7 December 2012 at 18:00
The Arab Spring: The Egyptian Experience
18:00 Inauguration of photo exhibition on the Arab Spring by H.E. Mr Patrick Scullion, Ambassador of Ireland to Cyprus

18:20 Welcome by:
Mr Michalis Attalides, Rector of the University of Nicosia, Holder of the Jean
Monnet Chair
Mr Tasos Georgiou, Head of the European Parliament Office in Cyprus

18:25 Short video on the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize on Human Rights

18:30 Speeches by:
Mr Ioannis Kasoulides, Member of the European Parliament
Mr Andreas Mavroyiannis, Deputy Minister for European Affairs

19:00 Open discussion with participants

20:00 Closure of the event
Reception
There will be simultaneous interpretation into Greek and English

Saturday, 8 December 2012 at 18:00
The Arab Spring: The Egyptian Experience
Evolution of a Revolution
18:00 Aida Eltorie, Curator
18:20 Ammar Abo Bakr, Street artist
18:40 Leila Saad, Actor, director, producer, and professor of theatre and communication
18:50 Screening of “Homo Bulla: 18 days” by Melina Nicolaides
19:00 Discussion

The presentations will take place in English

Aida Eltorie is an independent curator and director to an independent charitable organization: Finding Projects Association. Founder and Curator of 6 Contemporary Arts space (Cairo), Eltorie’s most recent project involves curating one of the exhibitions for the London 2012 Festival, and the late Ahmed Basiony at the 2011 Egyptian Pavilion of the 54th International Venice Biennale. Her past work includes curating the film program at Manifesta 8, under the curatorial auspices of The Chamber of Public Secrets, and the video collective Contemporary Arab Video Encounter (CAVE) at Maraya Art Centre (Sharjah, UAE). Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Practices Journal (Dubai); Volumes 4, 5, and 6, Eltorie has worked with The Townhouse Gallery of contemporary art (Cairo) for a period of 5-7 years from when the Gallery first opened in Cairo, during which she was also involved with The International Museum of Women (San Francisco) when they first launched in March 2003. By 2007, Eltorie moved to New York whereby she was accepted as a curatorial intern at The Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth Sackler Feminist Art Center, and continued her time there working with Bidoun Magazine for a year and then Christie’s auction house with the Indian and Southeast Asian Department. She independently produced a number of international projects with artists and cultural practitioners from the Middle East and Europe, with various support granted from institutions like ProHelvetia Swiss Arts Council and The Ford Foundation. Published works can be read in Rawi Magazine, Contemporary Practices Journal, and catalogues for shows curated by Daniela da Prato on art from Arab World and Iran in Paris; Breaking News (2008), Golden Gates (2009), and Patrizio Travagli’s Monograph, MMX (Florence, 2010).

Ammar Abo Bakr is one of the most proactive street artists and muralists in Egypt today. Abo Bakr teaches at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Luxor, and his drive is to educate and communicate through visual languages, taking his work from the atelier to the public space; his murals are as much about his own artistic expression as they are generating and contributing to a larger dialogue with the public.
Many of his iconic pieces have become famous far beyond Egypt; Abo Bakr’s works have cased walls in Cairo, Luxor, Alexandria, Beirut, Frankfurt, Berlin, Amsterdam and Brussels, journaling the Egyptian Revolution’s many turning points, as well as themes about Coptic and Islamic culture, folk art and Egyptian history. He became best known for his mural on Mohammed Mahmoud Street leading into Tahrir Square, honoring the Revolution's martyrs, giving them brightly colored angel wings in a sign of respect.

Abo Bakr launched the “No Walls” graffiti campaign in March 2012 where he used trompe l’oeil to artistically transform concrete barriers erected by Egypt’s Interior Ministry into visual expressions of hope and life, emblemed by Arabic texts taken from verses of the Koran, does he honor and address the autocratic demonization opposing the spiritual authority enforced by his collective voice – the people.
Welcomed into our public space, do we value the religious verses designed in florescent paints, and linearly setup against grey walls, as though secretly appearing only when a set of car lights cross against the facade of Abo Bakr's work, gleaming with outlines of the Arabic form. Teaming up with Azharite poet Ahmed Abul Hassan, Abo Bakr discovers a whole new meaning and value to his work, as he commodifies public art with religion. His work will be on view in a group show entitled "The Written Word" at 6 Contemporary Arts, Cairo (Egypt), Dec. 2nd, 2012 - Jan. 14, 2013.

Leila Saad (Egypt/USA) is an actor, director, producer, and professor of theatre and communication. She has directed and performed in a variety of theatrical, film, TV and radio productions in Cairo, Los Angeles, Portland and Boston including ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’, ‘John Brown’s Body’, ‘Autumn in New York’, ‘School for Wives’ (acting), and ‘Guys and Dolls’, ‘Noises Off’, ‘Dido and Aeneas’, ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ (directing). During her 35-year residence in the USA she has taught at Boston University, Boston Children's Theater, the Actors Workshop in Boston and Portland State University. Her teaching specializations include Acting, Public Speaking, Leadership and Team Building and Interpersonal/Cultural Communication. She has also worked as Assistant Dean of Students at Boston University, and as producer and director for "WE" Experimental Productions in Boston. In Cairo, she taught at The American University in Cairo, the Academy of Dramatic Art and at Helwan University’s College of Hotel Management and Tourism. Miss Egypt 1958 and 1st Egyptian Woman Director in 1970, she is currently Artistic Director for ACT, Alumni Community Theatre in Cairo where she teaches, produces, acts and directs.

Homo Bulla: 18 days - Synopsis
Filmed entirely underwater, the ancient metaphor of ‘man as a bubble’ is transformed into the story of the 18 day revolution of Egypt. Moving images of rising, splitting bubbles, filled with the ‘breath of life,’ illustrate the capacity of mankind, of the collective - to breathe together as one.

Concept and artistic direction: Melina Nicolaides
Music: Chrysanthos Christodoulou
Running time: 10’30”

This film was funded by the Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture, within the framework of the Cultural Exchange Program between Cyprus and Egypt.

Melina Nicolaides was born in the Washington, DC and raised in Asia and Europe. She has a BA from Princeton University, presenting a thesis on a study of the Orient through Verdi’s opera ‘Aida’, and an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, received with the 1997 Graduate Painting Award. Exhibiting in Cyprus and internationally, she has participated in biennales, art workshops and symposia, and since 2001 has shown her work frequently in Egypt. She is the recipient of various art distinctions, including three National Endowment for the Arts Visual Art Grants, and her work has been written about in publications such as the Washington Post, Art News, Contemporary Practices Journal and can be found in public and private art collections in the USA, Europe, and in the Middle East. Her artistic process is motivated by a personal history of constant reorientation between countries and cultures; recently living and working for the first time in Cyprus has influenced her thematic interests and shift into film and installation work.

The event is open to the public.

Exhibition opening hours:
Saturday 10:00 – 13:00
Monday – Tuesday 10:00 – 17:00
Until Tuesday 11 December

For more information: 22 445 455 [email protected]