Urgent Thoughts
Urgent Thoughts
Talks
Medrar for Contemporary Art
5 July 2025 -
We announce «Urgent Thoughts», a series of ongoing meetings organised in collaboration with ASCII program, scheduled to take place every other Saturday starting in July 2025. The program offers a space for the presentation and simplified exploration of a theoretical idea that may hold significance for its connection to the creative practices of young artists in Egypt today.
The series focuses on raising questions and fostering collective discussions around concepts that probe the relationship between knowledge and practice. It examines connections that might expand both artistic and learning experiences. Urgent Thoughts also offers brief introductions to experimental strategies for learning beyond the framework of the school or teacher, while reflecting on the foundations of a cultural structure that supports the artist as an active and influential figure in contemporary society
We announce the first session of “Urgent Thoughts” titled “Statement in Drawing”
This session invites reflection on drawing as a medium traditionally associated with documentation processes, its historical connection to scientific research, intellectual inquiry, and the presentation of knowledge in its various forms. It also explores drawing’s role as a key inspiration for the imagination of the contemporary creator.
“The second presentation, titled The Making of the Image: Between the Apparent and the Phenomenon, unfolds a profound meditation on the philosophical ideas that dwell in what appears on the surface of the image, and in all that lies hidden beneath, the sensory, intellectual, and cognitive energies that converge to render the image an extraordinary phenomenon in the depths of human consciousness.”
“Void” is the theme of the third session in the “Urgent Thoughts” series, organized in collaboration between Medrar for Contemporary Art and the ASCII Program in Cairo, Egypt.
This third session delves into the concept of Void as a lens through which to examine the relationship between knowledge and creative awareness. It addresses the various states of the image، its ِِapearence, its presence, and its virtual perception—and how these states interconnect and resonate within human consciousness as a phenomenon worthy of deep analysis and reflection.
The meeting specifically focuses on the notions of installation in space and contemporary interpretations of the shifting dynamics between space, place, and emptiness in contemporary art.
“Virtual” is the theme of the fourth meeting in the “Urgent Thoughts” series, presented by the artist and academic professor Shady El Noshokaty in collaboration between Medrar for Contemporary Art and the ASCII Program in Cairo.
It continues with the fourth meeting, focusing on exploring the notion of the “Virtual” and its role in achieving an “immersive” experience in today’s technological arts.
The participating artists in the presentation:
Ahmed El Shaer
Samia Dawood
Mohamed El Maghraby
Rodeina Fouad
Join us on Saturday, August 23, 2025, from 7 to 9 pm.
“The Archive as Contemporary Art” is the theme of the fifth session in the Urgent Thoughts lectures series.
This fifth session focuses on the concept of the archive as one of the most significant art forms through which contemporary artistic inquiries have emerged. It delves into rethinking memory, history, authenticity, and fiction, as well as the notions of time and the contemporary individual’s position in relation to their daily practices of archiving, research, and speculation.
on Saturday, September 27, 2025, from 7 to 9 pm.
“The Context Game” is the theme of the sixth session in the Urgent Thoughts lectures series, organized in collaboration between Medrar for Contemporary Art and the ASCII Educational Program in Cairo, Egypt.
The sixth session focuses on presenting and analyzing the concept of “context” and understanding its crucial role in shaping contemporary art, particularly conceptual art, where context itself becomes the material of the artwork. The manipulation of its multiple meanings becomes the true substance of the artistic idea. Consequently, the ability to read and interpret context has become one of the most essential skills in current art practices, determining the nature of artistic production, the site of display, the modes of reception, and the forms of audience interaction.
Join us on Saturday, November 22, 2025, from 7 to 9 pm.
