Latest in Culture Highlight
Latest in Culture
Jumia: customer always comes first
The website acts like a grand store for everything a customer might need, not unlike Amazon.
IRL: Townhouse’s exhibition wants people to doubt
The exhibition itself is of a kind rarely seen in Egypt, dealing with net-based works that one expects to see in the virtual world, and projecting them onto the real world.
A torrent of donations
Mosireen featured on the famous torrent website The Pirate Bay
Abu Simbel featured in the doodle of the day
The Google doodle today shows the moment that the sun shines on the faces of the statues, drawing the attention of the world to this intriguing phenomena and highlighting the treasures that Egypt has to offer to its visitors.
Dark cloud above Cairo
From one day to the next the smell of the air changes, and yes, it is possible to notice differences in the terribly polluted air of Cairo.
Prominent figure in Egyptian theatre Hanaa Abdel-Fattah dies
After earning his PhD from Warsaw University, Abdel-Fattah returned to Cairo and taught at the city’s Higher Institute of Theatrical Arts.
Controversial Egyptian movie 678 wins several awards
The two international festivals are big in their own categories; the Cordoba festival is one of the biggest, independent African film festivals in Europe, while the Heartland Film Festival features international independent films and since its inception in 1992 has become one of the fastest growing festivals in the US.
Selling on Cairo streets
With many people struggling to survive from one day to the next, the amount of vendors eking out an existence by trying to sell four pairs of shipship and seven white cotton T-shirts is increasing.
Seed-bombing in Cairo
Environmentalists sow native Egyptian seeds throughout cities.
License to punish
So, this morning as I packed my bag I added a few extra things to make sure we would have a productive day at work. Shears, scissors, assorted lengths of rope and of course a straight razor.
“Oil and Sand,” Egypt’s pre-coup royal home movie
The film is a glimpse into history, said Sabit, pointing out that king Farouk was backed by Britain, while the Free Officers Movement that ousted him, he believes, was US-backed.
Seeing red
The battikh and mangoes have nearly completely disappeared and have been replaced with shiny, bright red, juicy deliciousness that taste great in salads, sauces and soups.
ArtBeat Festival: A cultural meeting point
The band was astonished by the Mansoura audience, who sang along with the German lyrics, without understanding what they were saying. “The audience was the best public I have ever played for,” said Max Gaier, vocalist.
TransDance: Puzzling and confrontational art at the British Council
“None of these pieces have ever been seen in Egypt, or anywhere in the Arab speaking world, we only know the outcome of the change they initiated. By asking Cuena to reenact some of the famous pieces the audience got to experience a live performed trip through history.”
Lambs to the slaughter
Earlier this week I looked up from Twitter to watch the pick of the day being dragged to the waiting butcher who was still sharpening his knife. Messages about the march to Maspero filled my timeline as the rest of the sheep did not even twist a tail as their fellow flock-mate was dragged to its end.
The ancient tradition of Cairo’s bath houses
By Abdel-Rahman Sherief Bath houses have been part of Cairo’s heritage since medieval times. The bath houses, or Hammam as they are called in Arabic, were first founded by the Fatimid caliph Al-‘Aziz Bellah. The bath houses of Cairo, built to be Egypt’s capital by his father, the Fatimid Caliph Al- Moez, used to be …
Time for a woman to win Nobel Literature Prize, say pundits
Egyptian feminist Novelist Nawal el Saadawi among other women whose names are making the rounds ahead of the Nobel Literature Prize announcement on Thursday.
Prokofiev for kids at the Opera house
Nevertheless, seeing a talented live orchestra is always something to behold, even if your ear is not attuned to the subtleties of classical chamber music and seeing the symphony orchestra play in tune with the story being told was a real treat.
Re-Art recycling workshop: create a masterpiece from scrap
“..we thought, well, we could use this material. We all have a lot of things in our houses that we do no longer use, like newspapers or magazines and glass jars. We can use them in creative ways,” Zanzer said.
TransDance breaks down barriers with Open Your Bags, Please
Open Your Bags, Please is a series of interviews where the audience is invited to participate and ask the choreographers anything they would like to know, “even if it is as simple as ‘why did you wear that costume in your last show?'” said Hafez.
Suez national museum open to public on 24 October
Suez is a marginalised city, even by Egyptian standards. While it is no secret that most of the nation’s funds go to our major two cities, Cairo and Alexandria, any resident of Suez will tell you that the city was, more than any other, neglected by Mubarak . In fact, it is widely known that Suez …
Jazz Mate: enhancing the music scene in Egypt
Pictures of icons hanging on a brick wall, sentimental tunes playing in the background, and a TV playing jazz concerts or documentaries complete the setting of JazzMate. The venue will have performances every Friday, although Mustafa said that they are seeking to host live music on a more frequent basis.
The charm of circus brought to Al-Azhar park
“The crowd here is very friendly and very nice. They are a great audience, they cheer you on and interact with you. We get a lot more encouragement from the people here than we do back home in Belgium,” said Wout, one of the performers.
TransDance explores theory alongside practice with panel
The panel then took to examining the idea of cultural and artistic exchange and the role of embassies, with many representatives from cultural institutes and embassies present, and how culture is a representation of a certain country to another.
New in the cinema
A short preview of the new movies in the cinemas this weekend.
Circus festival set to proceed despite last minute hurdle
Despite lack of permission to host opening ceremony in Abdin square, circus group vows to plow ahead
Kids are the root of all evil
They go barefoot, are always smudgy and have the pleading look down pat, yet their eyes are 80 years old. They turn vicious if you decline their wares and insults and curses, shouted in small, shrill voices, will follow those who say no down the street.
TransDance: ‘Table Talks’ makes everyone an artist
In this performance this relationship is up to the audience, there may be some who only watch, thus turning themselves into spectators, or if they all watch, then I alone become the performer or the artist. But it is up to the dynamics of the audience and it is not through any choice of my own which makes it much more compelling to see.
Shnit Film Festival premiers in Cairo
The Shnit Film Festival, currently in its tenth year, will see Cairo join nine other cities across five continents when it opens at the Darb 1718 Contemporary Art and Culture Centre today. Sixty four international short films will simultaneously be screened in Cairo and the other nine cities. The festival will last for three days …
TransDance opens to high expectations
“The central idea of the festival is to explore our bodies as sites of documentation and considering using different art forms as documents,” Adham Hafez, the director of the festival said. “Why not use a performance, a sculpture, a film or installation as a means to document?”