Latest in Culture Highlight
Latest in Culture
CirCairo: Cairo Circus festival returns
The shows will include both traditional and modern forms of circus entertainment, and feature acrobatics, fire shows, magic and comedy shows.
Fifth panorama of the European film
The event takes place amid continuous efforts to strengthen Egyptian cultural ties with the outside world, especially in the post-revolution era, where much in the Egyptian cultural scene is changing, or more precisely, evolving.
CIC launches Hydrarchy
Instead, most of recorded history takes place on land, at least in our minds. Lands are the place where most of history is concentrated but the sea has been monumental in shaping modern history.
Salalem celebrates seventh birthday
“I would describe our music as indie pop. It is made to be accessible, both in terms of music and substance, to all demographics and to make people have fun,” Jamal said.
Exhibition gives attention to art of children’s book illustrations
Mashrabia gallery in Downtown Cairo is currently exhibiting Sahar Abdallah’s illustrations from her newly-released children’s book, A Picture and a Book. The gallery features the book’s illustrations in their full glory, accompanied with captions and descriptions. The book may be aimed at children, but the exhibition is for everyone. Abdallah studied at Helwan Univeristy and …
Video: Luxor Film Festival draws international attention
Luxor hosted the first edition of the Luxor Egyptian & European Film Festival from 17 to 22 September.
New in the cinema
If this movie lures you with the flashy name of director Oliver Stone, the eye candy that is Salma Hayek and annoying-mouth-movements lady aka Blake Lively, or if you maybe you have a thing for veteran bad guys like John Travolta and Benicio Del Toro, you are in for a disappointment.
Street festival promotes peace in Dokki
Friday was the second edition of the free festival and around 700 people attended. The event’s activities started at 4pm and included graffiti workshops, drawing on the street, the walls and the ground. Several organisations set up booths to advertise or sell their ideas or products and on the stage bands competed for the “Best Band” prize.
The cult of personality
A perfect example is Mona Eltahawy who was arrested in New York City a few days ago. In a carefully colour-coordinated attack of spray paint and raincoat on an offensive ad in the city’s subway, Eltahawy professed to be exercising her freedom of speech.
Black Lips and Lazzy Lung rock out in Cairo
Their set was very well received by the crowd at Cairo Jazz, who may have gotten a little bit too rowdy towards the end, staying true to punk standards. The band sounded great but some of the subtleties of their music got lost in the venue’s acoustics and sometimes instrument separation was a lost cause.
Meetphool: Where art meets art
The platform serves as a link between artists and facilitates for them to connect and have access to new and innovative ideas and to showcase their projects easily.
Bikya’s Book Club resumes activities in Nasr city
The book club is designed to be open and to encourage dialogue and a platform through which ideas on literature can be discussed.
New Arrivals
As summer comes to an end it is time to pack away the entertaining beach-reads and browse through the new arrivals in Cairo’s bookstores. Brand new novels by Arab authors and new translations of treasured tales are vying for shelf space and the attention of the avid reader. Here is our pick for the coming month.
Egyptian artist to be featured in Beijing Biennale
Al Qurity is an established Egyptian artist, not an emerging one, and the work that was showcased there was also shown at Masar exclusively.
Ephemeral art finds permanent home in Wall Talk
The group launching the book stressed that it was a collaborative effort, between the artists who created the graffiti, the photographers who captured it, and those who found the graffiti before it was erased.
Venezuelan Film Week offers eclectic mix of cinematic diversity
The Venezuelan Film Week features a selection of films from all different genres, effectively introducing the richness of Venezuelan cinema to the Cairo public.
Mosireen: The truth will set your revolution free
Spreading the tools of telling the story is also getting closer to the truth. The revolution we had still is facing an attack made by the media, and the only way to fight back is by creating out own media, or the people’s own media.
Egyptian architects shine during the Venice Biennale
The project’s idea came from movements in natural phenomena, such as the earth and the planets, as well as electrons in an atom.
Then there was Peace; One Day in Cairo
Darb 1718 celebrating Peace One Day
In Pictures: New graffiti on Mohamed Mahmoud walls
Colour returns to Mahmoud Street
An empty soapbox
I was all set to leap on my own soapbox. But as I was thinking of how I would heap my arrogant scorn on the heads of those I deem beneath contempt, my plans abruptly changed during my ride to work.
Shady Ahmed delivers at Cairo Jazz
After all, the point of doing this is to be heard, not to be popular, so a record is important. Tuesday marks the beginning of a new place in my musical career.
New in the movies this weekend
Resident Evil: Retribution It would not be our movie preview if we did not get to talk about a sequel. This week’s star is the fifth installment of the Resident Evil series, where viruses turn people into flesh-eating mutants, or something of that ilk. Loosely based on a videogame of yore, a black spandex clad …
The walls will not be silent
In a sweeping effort to clean up Tahrir and the surrounding area, scores of little men with paint brushes covered the iconic revolutionary graffiti with a thick layer of creamy paint. Effectively creating a huge blank canvas for the spray-painting artists. It took only a few hours before the first new artwork appeared and all …
The soaring hunting hawks of Gzert Saod
Maintaining this heritage is not without controversy though. “Hunting with hawks is treated like dealing with drugs,” Sheikh Metlq El Tahawy said, referring to an environmental law that forbids hunting with hawks and imposes fines of up to EGP 50,000 on those who breach it.
The ancient art of tally
There are three types of tally; Islamic, Coptic and folkloric with overlapping designs between the three types. “The first piece of tally I saw in Asyut belonged to an old, simple woman. It was a folkloric piece which depicted carvings of mosques and churches beside each other,” said Zaghlol.
Chilean culture week opens in Cairo
The works were all representative of the artists’ native Chile in one way or another, often reflecting both the nature and people of Chile. In addition to the artworks exhibited in Cairo, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina has also received 13 works in a notable ceremony that will be permanently on display there.
The trouble with the Cairo International Film Festival
“The FIAPF has not specified that this will happen though obviously it would not be good if the festival was not held two years in a row. But why would it not be held? We have permission from the FIAPF to hold it. The only reason why it would not happen is because the Ministry is in the way. This is a clear case of the minister creating the problem and then using it as an excuse to bring the organization back under the his wing.”
Shakhabeet exhibition is charm on display
The exhibition itself offers a nostalgic insight into the minds of children with some being endearingly childish and simple and others surprisingly sophisticated. One of the drawings portrayed a grotesque male face that was almost disturbing, but excellent nonetheless, by a 12 year-old budding artist.
Photography courses at CIC
CIC aims to encourage development of “artistic practice, engagement and discourse” as stated on their website. Part of this mission is the CIC PhotoSchool that will start its fall semester on 25 September. This week, open photography classes that offer a taste of the different subjects that will be taught this fall are available to anyone contemplating singing up for a class at the CIC premises.