A solo exhibition by Ahmed Elshaer Photography, Video, Video game
Opening: Sunday 14 January, 7pm, Daily from 3pm until 9pm, except Fridays
Exploring hybrid spaces that have been created through strategy games which reflect the relationships between the virtual and physical world. In these spaces, you have the opportunity to explore a different world or create your own with tools available within this space.
This is how the controversy ended over how novelist Jules Verne extraordinary journeys were the end of its era, where it was said that it was no longer possible to travel to unknown places on earth. In “other spaces” man became wandering with space-time scenarios of different and unusual premise in the virtual worlds or redesigning the place with the concept of hybrid spaces in the virtual world but in reality.
The project came through walking around the sites and places that got the trait of the hybrid space with the same hypothesis and tools of these spaces in the virtual world of strategy games in which i found several points that have this particular trait.The starting point was a refugee camp in Calais, northwestern France and the site of the Atlantic Wall in Dunkirk. The first part of the project has been carried out in France and the second part in cairo.
Opening: Saturday, 9th December 2017, 7pm Exhibition runs till: 23rd December 2017 Daily from 3 pm to 9 pm, except Friday
This exhibition presents works made by Irish artist Bryony Dunne over the past four years when she lived between Egypt and her native country. In film, photography, installation and sculpture, Dunne draws together research-driven documentary projects with her own artistic interpretations.
Dunne’s work examines the volatile relationship of man with nature, and often traces the historical links between the two countries, Ireland and Egypt, she calls home. These links are manifested in her photography and video works from Dublin’s Natural History Museum, Cairo’s Agricultural Museum and the Giza Zoo, among other sites.
During her early work in South Sinai, Dunne met a 70-year-old Bedouin woman, who lives year-round in her orchard, solo and self-sustained. One day, after weeks of repeated in-depth visits, Amriya said, “You should make a film about me and my doctors [her orchard and the mountains].” That film was made—a prologue to the other works in “Amriya”—and this solo exhibition is dedicated to her.
There will be a live performance by sound artist Asem Tag at 9pm on the opening night – Sat 9th Dec
Opening: 1 October 2017, 7pm Exhibition runs till: 19th October 2017 Daily from 3pm until 9pm, except Friday Address: 7 Gamal El Din Abou El Mahasen, 1st floor, Apt 4, Garden City
Inspired by epic stories, Marwan Elgamal created the animation “A Green House”. Visually influenced by Islamic manuscripts and ancient Egyptian aesthetics, as well as by contemporary movies, shows, games and comic books, his animations evoke curiosity, estrangement and nostalgia.
“A Green House” is centered around the theme of constant transformation, a transcendence without trial, a familiar meeting with things unknown. It is a pretence where the two main characters accept unfoldings, as if they are not newcomers, nothing baffles them, taking in the events with an interminable smile, everything makes sense to them when it shouldn’t. They are born as adults, they share a home where the peaks of mountains on the horizon are in hands’ reach, a confounding splitting sea is at their breakfast table. The roof of their house is given arms extended and brought together at the palms with fingers pointing upward. They are met with a vision and a delegate descends to usher them upwards, on and on, into five realms.
During this journey they come across alternate spatial points, machines and entities, where concepts have taken form, and that seem to imbue them with novel characteristics and lessons. Through the red desolate cube, the tingling blue mist of the sphere, through the lustful golden prism, in the mechanical unravelling x, through the dispersing boundless flower. They become altered with each development until they are endlessly evolved – or have not changed in the least. They are fulfilling their life goal, it is exhilarating and expected at the same time. A life where the void extending beyond their limits is another arm to grab hold of, where the farthest distance is beyond the sun or somewhere next to the living room.
“Naema’s Office is Bleeding 3”, is an exhibition of the most notable artworks produced during the painting and collage workshop, instructed by artist Hany Rashed.
Opening: Sunday 27 August, 7pm. The exhibition will run from Sunday, 27 August to Thursday, 14 September 2017 at Medrar, Daily from 4pm to 10pm except Fridays.
We’re excited to announce that Medrar is participating Supermarket 2017 – Stockholm Independent Art Fair 23–26 March. Featuring artworks by artists Ahmed Sabry, Dania Hany, Esraa Elfeky, Marwa Saad, Mohamed Elmaghraby, and Nourhan Maayouf.
The exhibition Discursiveness suggests analogy within the works of Yannick Jacquet, Fred Penelle and Dia Hamed as instances of an expansive communication between tactile ( and digital forms of practice. Their works meander across multiple stages and mediums like printmaking, sculpture and digital media. With a passion for luminance and shades, their works not only accentuate the stability of materials in static objects, but also strengthens the viewer’s senses towards the motion represented in a set of blinking pixels. In an immersive non-discursive setup, Jacquet and Penelle address transmission in old school wood engraving, vintage technologies and digital masking, while Hamed procedurally shuffles through skill, tool and automation. He tries to jabber in a conversation in which one can lose track of how “things” are made, lingering over the intermediate processes, languages and technologies of creation.
Mécaniques Discursives,Terrain and Viscosity, digitally animate and illuminate physical forms. Time deconstruction allow for invoking reverberation among the exhibited pieces. Transcending of substance towards observable mechanisms is how Yannick, Fred and Dia echo within the walls of Medrar’s exhibition space.
Mécaniques Discursives Installation by Yannick Jacquet and Fred Penelle
While the passage of time seems to accelerate every day, Fred Penelle and Yannick Jacquet offer a pause, a suspension, a breath. A strange mechanism stretches across the wall, populated with shadowy chimeras. They are mysterious and yet somehow familiar. Is this a laboratory experiment or the plan for a future network? Minutely constructed like a fine clock, it traces connections, routes, genuinely-false, looping itineraries, inviting escape, inviting dreams. The narrative is deconstructed like a thousand-storied film script. Every effort is made to lead astray, to turn around, to forge ahead. Time is shredded, decomposed, lost…and yet everything references it. Mécaniques Discursives is like a parenthesis between two epochs: Gutenberg’s and Big Data’s. By contrasting the oldest form of image reproduction (woodcutting) with the most recent digital technologies, the installation straddles centuries and contracts time.
Terrain, Viscosity Two installations by Dia Hamed
We’re currently witnessing an excessive development in the field of augmented vision. Various platforms are asking us to look around in 360º. A market boost in virtual reality products promotes a new experience of perceiving the surrounding environments, using additional information and intuitive controls. In order to supply enough media for such influx, big effort is now exerted in offering artists, designers and “ordinary people” accessibility to create and manipulate three dimensional worlds. Yet the act of simplifying 3D software interfaces contributes to our disconnection from the inherent complexity of how such tools are able to mimic surfaces and shades of our physical reality.
Dia Hamed draws back to the very essence of matter formation, trying to find resonance in the evolution of appearance from states of absolute randomness to patterns of natural systems, as well as in the development of computer algorithms from mathematical turbulence functions to spectacular simulations of natural textures. Random systems gain aesthetic appeal when they become manifest in pattern order. Patterns can only develop when randomness is perturbed by external forces, whether natural as of energy (gravity, pressure and temperature applied to particles) or artificial as of parameter adjustments (function dimensions and random seed number applied to pixels). Solid structures and fluid dynamics seem to share the same governing rule: the irregularity of data fluctuation, where data in this sense define the position and brightness of pixels on screen, same way as it does to particles in the real world.
Hamed transforms the medium from one state to another, between automated tools and the artist’s manual intervention. The symptom of Oscillation in his compositional process echos the irregular variations in which matter originates. Terrain and Viscosity are exercises in abstraction. Using light as the animating component of presentation, the visuals combine filmed natural textures with their peer synthetic representation in pixels, and converge over the surface of physical sculptures.
Terrain involves digital projection mapping on a raised-relief map. It highlights the contributions of Georgy Voronoi, Ken Musgrave and Kim Perlin to the world of computer graphics, specifically their discoveries in noise algorithms to simulate solid nature forms. Viscosity compares microscopic footage of soap reactions to its code generated simulation, within a sculpture made out of materials that were once in a liquid state. Viscosity features Alan Turing’s reaction diffusion systems and Steven Worley’s cell noise to simulate liquid forms.
Opening: Monday 19 December 2016, 7pm Exhibition runs till 19 January 2017 Daily from 3pm until 9pm, except Friday Address: 7 Gamal El Din Abou El Mahasen, 1st floor, Apt 4, Garden City
Graphic design: Tarek Rady Translation: Sara Allam Technical support: Mido Sadek
Medrar for Contemporary Art, Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art, And SOMA Art School and Gallery
From 4 September 2016 to 5 October 2016
Opening Sunday 4 September 2016, 7 pm, Medrar, Mashrabia, Soma.
Roznama is a periodical competition and exhibition for contemporary visual art by young Egyptians, organized by Medrar for Contemporary Arts. The competition’s objective is to encourage creative contemporary artworks, which are different from the classical forms taught at art academies. This is achieved through providing a space for experimentation, research, and mixed media and multimedia production. Roznama also takes an interest in traditional art forms, such as painting, sculpting, and avant-garde photography. Roznama aspires to become a platform that presents distinguished artworks, introducing artists from Egypt and supporting them by all possible means.
Roznama 5 is supported by Peacock, and Yunus Emre Institute (Turkish Cultural Center in Cairo)
Awards
Solo exhibition presented by Medrar, Artists Ahmed Sorour and Malak Yakout.
Three months residency at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris- France. Presented by Institute Francais (Ahmed Shawky)
5000 EGP presented by Mashrabia Gallery, Artist Imane Ibrahim.
5000 EGP presented by Gypsum gallery, Artist Ahmed Shawky.
5000 EGP presented by Al-Ismaelia for Real Estate Investment, Artist Ahmed Tawfig.
5000 EGP collective prize presented by the artists (Mohamed Abla, Shady El Noshokaty, Hany Rashed, Hala Elkoussy, Huda Lotfy), Artist Ahmed Sorour shared with artist Malak Yakout.
Photography prize presented by CIC, Contemporary Image Collective, Artist Nourhan Maayouf.
1000 EGP coupon for art purchases presented by Alwan stationary, Artist Mona Essam.
Addresses Medrar for Contemporary Art 7 Gamal El Din Abou El Mahasen St Garden City, Cairo Daily, from 3pm until 9pm, except Fridays
Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art 8, Champollion St, Donwtown, Cairo Daily, from 11am until 8pm, except Fridays
SOMA Art School and Gallery 14 Maraashli St, Zamalek, Cairo Daily, from 12pm until 9pm, except Fridays
Curated by: Mohamed Allam, Ghita Skali
Project manager: Peacock, and Medrar’s teamwork (Dahlia Salem, Mohammed El Boghdady, Isabella Bommarito, Yasmine Nagui, Ghita Skali, Fatma Elzahraa, Mina Fakhry, Karim Adel)
“Naema’s Office is Bleeding 2”, is an exhibition of the most notable artworks that were produced during the painting and collage workshop by artist Hany Rashed.
Opening Thursday, 10 March 2016, at 7 pm.
The exhibition will run for 10 days, from 10 to 21 March 2016 at Medrar. Daily from 4 p.m to 9 p.m.
Second Comics Week in Egypt Exhibition by Swiss artist Barbara Mauli
Opening 3 February 2015 7 p.m. The exhibition lasts from 3 to 7 November 2015.
Exhibit daily from 3pm to 9pm except Friday
Medrar will host at 7pm next Monday 2 November 2015 the opening of the second edition of “Comics Week in Egypt” which this year sees entries from Switzerland, England, Germany, and the United States as well as extensive entries by Egyptian artists.
The organization of “Sefsafa” for the second cycle of COMICS Week is part of the Foundation’s attempt to publicize this area and promote the exchange of experiences between Egyptians and Europeans on the one hand, and Egyptian artists and some others on the other, as well as the most important challenges facing COMICS art in Egypt and the prospects it presents for young people.
This week was chosen as the “art of comics and freedom of expression”, where one cannot live without the other.
This year’s cycle includes two training workshops for amateurs and professionals, two round tables on the art of “comics and freedom of expression”, one on “Independent publishing in comics”, an exhibition by artist Barbara Moyle (Switzerland) and another exhibition compiled by a number of Egyptian artists.
Egyptian artist Khaled al-Safati will be honored on the closing day for his pioneering role in promoting the field of comics in Egypt.
Medrar for Contemporary Art in collaboration with Contemporary Image Collective (CIC) presents Roznama 4 Visual Arts Competition & Exhibition from Egypt 5 September – 5 October 2015
Vacation: from Saturday 19 until Sunday 27 September
Opening: Saturday 5 September, 7pm, Medrar Sunday 6 September, 7pm, CIC Daily, from 3pm until 9pm, except Fridays
Roznama is an annual competition and exhibition for contemporary visual arts, organized by Medrar for Contemporary Art and – this year’s edition – in collaboration with Contemporary Image Collective. A platform for the full spectrum of visual art mediums, ranging from the traditional to the most experimental, Roznama showcases the latest and most notable video art, digital art, photography, graphic art, painting, sculpture, ceramics, installations and mixed media creations by young and emerging Egyptian artists under 30 years old. Competition prizes are offered by the British Council, Ismaelia company for Real Estate Investment, the Townhouse Gallery, CIC, Alwan Stationary, and artists Adel El Siwi, Ahmed El Askalani, Hala El Koussy, Hany Rashed, Huda Lutfi and Mohamed Abla.
An Exhibition of Drawings by Maghraby & Tawfig I always see objects under the microscope to understand what they are, but what If I put the crimson shoe under the microscope? Salma said. Salma’s use of the microscope is purely for informational purposes; the microscope is sort of an eye that Salma sees through… sees the reality of things around her. Whenever Salma puts an object under the microscope … fines lines appear … and form a structural creation … in an unregulated mechanical movement. Salma sat for days looking through the microscope… observing the structural creation .. that constantly changes. The Crimson Shoe was the only object she never put under the microscope, as all she had was an old painting of the shoe and not the shoe itself. Salma went to the shoe maker with the painting of the shoe. How do you have this painting? The shoe maker asked So you have the Crimson Shoe? Salma said Yes, the shoe maker replied. Salma quickly took the shoe…put it under the microscope…and a serial number appears: 10426003850620… Salma looks up and wanders what these numbers are.
The Good, the Bad and the Crimson Shoe Opening: 2 August 2015, 7pm Exhibition runs through 20 August 2015 Daily from 3pm until 9pm, except Friday Address: 7 Gamal El Din Abou El Mahasen, 1st floor, Apt 4, Garden City
On the occasion of launching the fourth edition of Roznama competition and exhibition for visual arts, Medrar celebrates the winner of the last edition, by presenting “Hello, I’m an artist”, Sara Nabil’s first solo exhibition.
At “Beirut”, a contemporary art centre located in Cairo, I met and talked with the assistant curator, a graduate of Fine Arts of the American University in Cairo, of the space and her advice to me was to always introduce myself… to shake hands like this … and to say I am … and I do … that I cannot just make art and neglect this part.
Sara Nabil introduces herself and her artistic project through her first solo exhibition “Hello, I’m an artist” where she presents some personal experiences using different artistic mediums, including photography, drawing, painting, installation and video. In general, her work touches upon 3 main issues: the instinct to colour which drove her to study art at a young age, the relation between art and the public, and contemporary art vs. romanticism.
Opening: Tuesday 2 June 2015 at 7pm
through 16 June 2015.
Daily from 3 pm to 9 pm, except Friday.
Address: 7 Gamal El Din Abou El Mahasen St., 1st floor, apt. 4, Garden City, Cairo
This exhibition is one of Medrar’s prizes for Roznama 3.
