Medrar Projects “The City” – Open Studio by Mohamed Abo Gabal “The City” – Open Studio by Mohamed Abo Gabal

“The City” – Open Studio by Mohamed Abo Gabal

“The City” – Open Studio by Mohamed Abo Gabal

Open Studio

Medrar for Contemporary Art

27 April 2025 - 29 April 2025

We announce “The City” is an ongoing research project by Mohamed Abo Gabal, initiated in 2024, reflecting on how cities across the Middle East shift, expand, and contract under the pressure of political, economic, and institutional decisions. The work follows the city not as a fixed place, but as a space in flux, where transformation happens gradually or abruptly, deliberately or unintentionally. These shifts are often shaped by agendas that remain unclear or unacknowledged.

The project approaches urban space as a site where memory, power, and belonging are constantly negotiated. Who remains, what is removed, and how the past is referenced or erased are questions that run throughout the work. These decisions often bypass those most familiar with the space—residents, workers, and others whose presence rarely enters official narratives. It takes shape through research, movement, and close observation. It doesn’t aim to capture a singular image of urban life, but instead follows what is being rearranged, redefined, or slowly withdrawn. Small details such as altered building facades, renamed streets, or empty lots become entry points into broader conversations about space, displacement, and access.

Opening Sunday, 27th of April, at 6 PM, and runs until Tuesday, the 29th of April, from 4 to 9 PM 

In parallel of the open studio, “Grey Is The New Green” a discussion by Fares Zaitoon on Sunday, 27th of April, at 7 PM

and “Counter Narrative to the Urban Transformations of Cairo: a discussion by Ahmed Zaazaa on Monday, 28th of April, at 8 PM.

Address: Medrar, 10 Gamal Eldin Abo ElMahsen, 8th floor, Garden City, Cairo.

About the speakers:

Ahmed Zaazaa

Ahmed Zaazaa is an urban researcher and designer whose work focuses on social and climate justice in housing and urban planning. He co-founded two entities working in the field of urbanism, the most recent being 10 Tooba for Urban Studies and Applications. Through 10 Tooba, Zaazaa produces studies and guideline manuals in areas such as participatory development, spatial justice, and environmental equity. He also manages participatory projects with marginalized or underserved communities in both urban and rural areas across Egypt.

 

Zaazaa is also a co-founder of Madd Platform, which works closely with local communities through participatory research and planning, as well as advocacy campaigns.

 

Academically, Zaazaa has served as a Professor of Practice at Nile University and as a lecturer at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport.

Fares Zaitoon

Fares Zaitoon (b. 1990, Egypt) is a documentary photographer and visual artist born and raised in Cairo. His work explores themes often considered taboo, including drug addiction, mental health, identity crises, and personal obsessions. 

 

Zaitoon often uses his own life experiences as source material for his projects. After leaving university in 2016, he committed himself fully to his art, focusing on stories that resonate with him. He pursued further education through a full scholarship at the Danish School of Media & Journalism and H-S Hannover University.

His works were exhibited at Cairographie Festival in 2017; in ‘Hakawi’ as part of a Paris showcase organized by Cité Internationale des Arts, and in Zamalek Art Gallery in Egypt in 2019. Also, his work has been featured in Vice Arabia, CNN Arabic, Mada Masr, Daily News, and Cairo Scene, British Journal of Photography, Spiegel magazine, and his most recent achievements include being nominated for the CAP Prize 2020 for Contemporary African Photography, in 2021 earning a scholarship to the Danish school of media and journalism, and in 2022 receiving a scholarship to H-S Hannover University.