JOB VACANCY AT MEDRAR: PROGRAM COORDINATOR

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 PROGRAM COORDINATOR 

We are looking for an ambitious, highly organized person to join our team as a Program Coordinator. The position is full-time and flexible working hours are necessary.

We prefer candidates with two years of work experience in an administrative position. Candidates should have an excellent command of written and spoken Arabic and English.

 Working Hours: Full time job, Sundays to Thursdays, 8 hours between 11am and 7pm. Longer shifts might be asked on events days.   

Contract Period: 12 months, renewable.

 Qualifications 

  • 1-3 years of professional experience in the field of management or administration. 
  • Proficiency in spoken and written English and Arabic is mandatory.
  • Previous experience or involvement in the arts and culture field is a plus.

 Main Duties 

  • Manage activities and operations at the office and exhibition space.
  • Schedule and coordinate meetings and appointments.
  • Maintain and update event and workshop schedules.
  • Maintain an updated archive of Medrar’s projects and programs.
  • Draft contracts, letters of invitation, letters of agreement and application forms.
  • Process applications received through calls.
  • Liaise with publicity designer, assembling material, following up on proofreads, and underseeing printing and distribution. 
  • Managing and updating Medrar’s website and social media platforms and responding to enquiries. 
  • Maintaining a regularly updated mailing list.
  • Creating and sending monthly newsletters.

 Required skills 

  • Excellent communication skills
  • Excellent interpersonal relations and teamwork
  • Excellent organization and time-management skills
  • Excellent social media marketing skills 
  • Proactive and enthusiastic approach to project management
  • Ability to take initiative, proposes ideas, and add to the already inspiring and dynamic team.
  • Flexibility and ability to work independently, and among teams
  • Ability to work with multi-stakeholders and partners

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

We highly appreciate your time and interest invested in applying for this position.  

We will inform you of the selection results within three days after the deadline, and expect us to call you personally if you are shortlisted

Applications are only valid through filling out the application form here before 31 October 2022.

PLEASE NOTE THAT APPLICATIONS RECEIVED BY EMAIL WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. 

XR WORKSHOPS SERIES

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MedRX portal is launching a series of workshops introducing the techniques used in the extended reality technologies: VR, AR, and Creative Coding. These three mini-workshops will be implemented in the program separately.

The program will give you a practical insight into the usage of these mediums, the software & hardware used in each, as well as how to apply this knowledge to your own projects after the workshops.

The main aim of the program is to build a well-equipped community of artists, designers, and creators from various fields to broaden their practices by the usage of technology as a tool.

With the contribution of guest artists & instructors from different backgrounds in each of the workshops.

Each workshop will run for 3 days covering all essential topics to enable participants to be confident continuing working on their projects & ideas.

For details on the schedule, deadlines for each workshop, and fees please read below, and wait for more details on each workshop in the upcoming updates.

About the VR workshop:

This workshop is designed for beginners and for those interested in exploring the world of VR and who don’t have any previous experience. You can apply to these three sessions to learn the basics of making and practicing Virtual reality and learn about the different technologies, software and headsets, with the collaboration of 412Labs instructors.

Day 1: Introduction to VR technology, an introduction to Unity3D interface, creating VR environments & materials.

Day 2: 412Labs instructor will introduce techniques of locomotion (movement & teleportation) in VR

Day 3: Session about the methods of interaction with objects.

By the end of the sessions, participants will be able to build & experience their projects on the headsets.

Workshop Requirements:

  • Bring your own laptop that is capable of running Unity software
  • Workshop Outcomes & Objectives:
  • Learning to use a very powerful program & game engine (Unity3D).
  • Being able to start your own VR Unity projects.
  • Joining a great community of art & technology enthusiasts.
  • Getting introduced to the MedRX portal.

Dates: 17, 18, 20 October (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday) From 5 – 9 PM

Deadline for applications: 15 October at 11:59 PM

Fees: 800 EGP

We will contact the selected participants to proceed with the reservation.

About Creative Coding workshop:

This 3 day workshop is dedicated to introducing creative coding and its implementation in graphic design and the interactivity that can be included.

Dates: 24,25, 27 October (Monday, Tuesday,Thursday) From 5 – 9

Location: Medrar (Offline)

Deadline for applications: 22 November at 11:59 PM

Fees: 800 EGP

We will contact the selected participants to proceed with the reservation.

About the AR workshop:

Augmented reality is deeply implemented in our lives, and has huge potential especially due to the accessibility of its hardware – a smartphone. Therefore the participants will be able to practically create images and interactions. Guest speaker Agnes Michalczyk (The Mozza) will share some of her work and talk about her methods of creating AR through the workshop.

Dates: 13,14, 16 November (Sunday, Monday, Wednesday) From 5 – 9

Location: Medrar (Offline)

Deadline for applications: 10 November at 11:59 PM

Fees: 800 EGP

We will contact the selected participants to proceed with the reservation.

Application form below.

*Some of the sessions will be held in English, so a decent knowledge of the language is required

**You can apply for all/any of the 3 workshops. (Applying for 2 of the workshops grants a discount of 20% on the total fee and applying for 3 of the workshops grants a discount of 30% ) 

OPEN CALL – FANTOMAS

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DEADLINE: Saturday, 1 October 2022

Lab Duration: 4 days a week from 5 October to  2 December 2022
Lab Days: Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday
Lab Times: 11 am to 4 pm
Location: Medrar for Contemporary Art

Medrar for Contemporary Art, the Visual Arts Forum (Palestine) and Flyer (Italy) are happy to announce the open call for our upcoming lab: FANTOMAS. 

This alliance was implemented in the framework of the All-Around Culture programme by L’art Rue & MitOst and co-funded by the European Union in Egypt and EUNIC – European Union National Institutes for Culture in Egypt.

Fantomas is an 8-week lab that will take place from October to November 2022 at Medrar for Contemporary art where 5 visual artists will create VR experiences that embody future imaginations of collective realities. In the first 3 weeks of the lab, artist and curator Maha Maamoun will support the participants in the conceptual development of their projects and later on, artist Jean-François Robin will accompany them in the production phase.

As we shift from the world of magic to the realm of science fiction in the 1950s, in Egypt, writers and filmmakers alike begin to imagine new ways and places to be. From Tawfik Al Hakim’s plays entitled ‘Lunar Report’ and ‘A Poet on the Moon’ to ‘Journey to the Moon’ directed by Hamada Abdel Wahab, an interest in imagining other worlds through narratives of moon exploration grew. The latter movement and the entire sector of arts and culture was deeply impacted by the socio-economic and political transformations the country suffered since the defeat of 1967.

Today, having access to more technological innovations and tools, a desire and need to reconnect with the present moment and imagine or potentially produce alternative worlds reemerges. Medrar for Contemporary Art (Egypt), the Visual Arts Forum (Palestine) and Flyer (Italy) invite artists to take part in the Fantomas lab and reflect on the current socio-economic contexts as well as build VR artworks that embody conceptions of a future that goes beyond the colonization of distant planets. It is an invitation to dig deeper into the relationship between the literary form and virtual reality as a way to expand our imaginations of what lived realities are and could be. How would the future look, sound, or feel if we remain in the same space?

Guidelines and Requirements:

  • The call is open to artists from different disciplines willing to experiment and integrate their artistic practice with Virtual Reality (VR) technologies, game engines and modeling softwares to create VR artworks.
  • A minimum experience/familiarity with 3D modeling is required.
  • A minimum experience/familiarity with Unity is a plus. 
  •  A dedicated technical team from 412Labs will work closely with the participants and provide technical support throughout the Lab. During the first week, the participants will be introduced to Unity and during the second week will take part in hands-on exercises on Unity.
  • ِA good level of spoken and written English is necessary.
  • Participants must have their own computers and the ability to run the required programs.
  • To apply, the applicants are required to fill in the application form with all the required material and information. Applications missing any required information will not be considered.
  • The selection criteria of participants is based on originality and feasibility of the proposals within the duration of the Lab and proven understanding of how the proposed projects can make use of available technologies to create artworks. 
  • The Lab will encourage artists to work together in groups. Yet, the participants have the option to work individually.
  • Medrar provides a limited budget to support the production of the artworks, as well as a participation fee granted for the participants upon completion of their projects within the set deadlines
  • The participants have the possibility to work on their projects during Medrar’s opening times and also outside of Lab hours.

The DEADLINE for submissions is Saturday, 1 October 2022 

To apply, kindly fill in this form: https://forms.gle/F7sWRcbaEcnazXTw6

*Medrar announces this program within the framework of MedRX, its newly launched umbrella project consisting of a series of activities (workshops, labs, exhibitions, screenings, meet-up sessions etc ) aiming at building a community of artists from different disciplines interested in developing their arts practices through the exploration and integration of available XR technologies. To know more: https://staging.medrar.org/projects/medrx/ 

“All-Around Culture aims to foster a vital cultural ecosystem in the Southern Mediterranean countries as an enabling environment for the social and economic inclusion of young people. The programme is co-funded by the European Union.’’

Visual identity by Amr El Kafrawy

3D: Mohamed ElMaghraby

JOB VACANCY AT MEDRAR: PROGRAM MANAGER

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Vacancy at Medrar for Contemporary Art 
PROGRAM MANAGER 

Deadline: Wednesday, 4 May 2022 

We are looking for an ambitious, highly organized person to join our team as a Program Manager. The position is full-time and flexible working hours are necessary.

We prefer candidates with at least two years of work experience in an administrative position. Candidates should have an excellent command of written and spoken Arabic and English.

Working Hours: Full-time job, Sundays to Thursdays, 8 hours between 11 am and 7pm. Longer shifts might be asked on events days. 

Contract Period: 3-month paid trial followed by a 12-month renewable contract 

Qualifications:

  • Previous experience or involvement in the arts and culture field is a must.
  • At least 2 years of professional experience in the field of management or administration. 
  • Proficiency in spoken and written English and Arabic is mandatory.
  • B.A. or equivalent in Business, Management, Administration, or related fields is a plus.

 Main Duties 

  •  Implement and oversee strategies for the organisation long-term sustainability 
  • Manage fundraising and reporting by communicating with relevant partners, establishing and developing existing and new partnerships, writing detailed program budgets, project proposals, timelines, as well as projects narrative and financial reports 
  • Coordinate and oversee Medrar’s projects and programs, by acting as the main contact persons for artists, donors and funding agencies and institutions.
  • Foster the development of good relations with other cultural organizations 
  • Manage activities and operations at the office and exhibition space.
  • Maintain and update detailed program schedules.
  • Oversee projects curation 
  • Oversee and coordinate insourced and outsourced personnel 
  • Schedule and coordinate meetings and appointments.
  • Coordinate with Medrar’s accountant relevant financial and accounting requirements 
  • Draft contracts, letters of invitation, letters of agreement, letters of support, and application forms.
  • Process applications received through open calls.
  • Liaise with publicity designer, assembling material, following up on proofreads, and underseeing printing and distribution.
  • Attend all events organized by and/or in collaboration with Medrar 

 Required skills 

  • Excellent communication skills
  • Excellent interpersonal relations and teamwork
  • Excellent organization and time-management skills
  • Proactive and enthusiastic approach to project management
  • Ability to take initiative, propose ideas, and add to the already inspiring and dynamic team.
  • Flexibility and ability to work independently, and among teams
  • Ability to work with multi-stakeholders and partners

We highly appreciate your time and interest invested in applying for this position. Due to logistic reasons, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
Salary is commensurate with experience. 
We will inform you of the selection results by Wednesday 4 May 2022 by email. 
Applications are only valid by filling out the application form here before Wednesday 4 May 2022. 

https://forms.gle/kLjA3joEDwBpKUGZA

PLEASE NOTE THAT APPLICATIONS RECEIVED BY EMAIL WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. 

Open Call – VIORAMA LAB & EXHIBITION

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VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) LAB AND EXHIBITION

Lab duration: 3 days a week from 21 March to 28 April 2022

Lab days: Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays

Lab times: 11 am to 4 pm 

Exhibition opening on Sunday, 8th of May 

Location: Medrar

Medrar for Contemporary Art is thrilled to announce the first project of its newly launched MedRX umbrella project,  which houses an array of activities opening realms beyond our current reality.* 

Viorama is a Virtual reality (VR) Lab and Exhibition aimed for artists to explore through lectures and hands-on activities the potential of VR audiovisual tools in relation to their arts practises, reflect on concepts of VR and new formats of narration, and prototype and implement VR-based projects to be showcased in an immersive exhibition. The (VR) Viorama Lab is led by Dutch instructor Daniel Ernst with the contribution of guest speakers Morehshin Allahyar, Jesse Cummings and George Zakaria, alongside the technical support of 412labs.

Dioramas have a longstanding tradition in museums, where they depict all kinds of spectacular and often impossible scenes. If you visit the museum a week from now, that exact same moment of the diorama will be there for you to visit. The gazelle would still be eaten by the lion and the dinosaur is still sinking into a tarpit. They are moments stuck in time like a mosquito caught in ember.

The most important aspect of Virtual Reality is presence. Presence in this sense encompasses both the physical and mental occupation of a virtual space. The more presence a VR experience provides, the more a player can disconnect himself from the real world to accept the virtual actuality as a new reality. But this takes time. Time that dioramas have plenty of.

Unlike “real” dioramas, VR dioramas allow you to step past the restrictive glass and into the scene. You can experience the emotion that is depicted, without experiencing the pressure of a linear story that is barreling to its conclusion. You are there and you have all the time in this world to cross into this new reality. The only thing you have to do is be somewhere else.

In 6 weeks the participants of this Lab will get the chance to work on their dioramas based on a distinct and personal moment. During this Lab the participants will be handed tools and techniques to create a finished VR diorama from the early inception of an idea to a fully working interactive VR experience. The topics discussed are : thumbnailing, greyboxing, interaction design, audio and music and narrative design.

The Lab will include from 6 to 8 participants who will work on conceptualising, prototyping, developing, implementing and finalising artistic projects using VR technologies and related softwares and programs. A dedicated technical team from 412 Labs will work closely with the participants and give support throughout the Lab. The participants will be provided with fees for the production of their works. In order to support participants’ full commitment, the artists participants will receive participation fees upon completion of their projects within the planned deadline. 

The selected works will be exhibited in Medrar starting from May 8, 2022. 

GUIDELINES AND REQUIREMENTS:

  • The call is open to artists from different disciplines willing to experiment and integrate their artistic practice with Virtual Reality (VR) technologies, game engines and modelling softwares to create VR artworks.  
  • A minimum experience/familiarity with 3D modelling  is required
  • A minimum experience/familiarity with Unity is a plus 
  •  A dedicated technical team from 412labs will work closely with the participants and provide technical support throughout the Lab. During the first week, the participants will be introduced to Unity and during the second week will take part in hands-on exercises on Unity.
  • The Lab will be held in English. Thus a good level of spoken and written English is required
  • Participants must have their own computers and the ability to run the required programs
  • To apply, the applicants are required to fill in the application form with all the required material and information. Applications missing any required information will not be considered 
  • The applicants are required to submit a simple concept for a project relevant to the Lab content and bridging between the arts and new technologies 
  • Applicants can support their application with previous designs and works relevant to the application proposal 
  • The selection criteria of participants is based on originality and feasibility of the proposals within the duration of the Lab and proven understanding of how the proposed projects can make use of available technologies to create artworks. 
  • The Lab will encourage artists to work together in groups. Yet, the participants have the option to work individually 
  • The production of the artworks throughout the Lab will be fully covered 
  • The participants have to commit to work on the concept  development, prototyping, and implementation of the project and take part in all the Lab activities. 
  • Upon completion of their projects within the set deadlines, the participants will be provided with a participation fee. 
  •  Participants are required to wear their masks throughout the Lab and to maintain safe distance. 
  • The participants have the possibility to work on their projects during Medrar’s opening times also outside of Lab hours 

The DEADLINE for submissions is Tuesday, 15 March 2022 

To apply, fill in this form: 

https://forms.gle/tjomopmti6MV6UpP9

Only applicants whose proposals are selected to participate in the Lab will be notified via email, no later than Monday, 17 March 

Find some useful links on the programs and softwares to be used during the Lab: 

https://www.blender.org/ : 3D modelling software.

https://www.adobe.com/products/medium.html : 3D Sculpting software

https://unity.com/ : Game Engine

MEDRAR INTERNSHIP PROGRAM 2022 #2 ARCHIVE INTERNSHIP

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Archiving  Internship

The Imaging Resources Intern will learn how Medrar’s physical and digital assets – content that is stored digitally, like photographs and videos – are managed and associated with programs and exhibitions. The intern will work directly with the Lab Coordinator at Medrar to help store, manage, distribute, retrieve, and archive its physical and digital assets.

Medrar has a wide range of archive material specialized in publications related to arts and culture events since the early beginning of the millennium. The physical archive includes flyers, catalogs and brochures documenting various events and festivals in the different disciplines of visual arts that have occurred in Egypt, but also more broadly in the region since the early 2000s. Moreover, Medrar has an audio-visual archive of events from the same time period, which is progressively made available on Medrar TV. Medrar is also keen on preserving traces of all the editions of the Cairo Video Festival since 2005 and is in the process of developing a platform documenting all the past editions. 

Hence, this internship will allow you to have access and closely explore extensive contemporary art experiences, events and practices in Egypt and the region that remain undocumented and unknown outside of Medra’s archive. You will learn simple and practical archiving methods and you will witness as well as take part in discussions which are anchored by 3 main questions: Why is archiving important? How can it be useful? And What are the different possibilities offered by this practice?

A successful candidate is detail oriented, possesses computer fluency (and interest), and has excellent organizational skills.

Tasks Description

  • Medrar.TV
  • Youtube Channel: Add virtual tags in google sheets for published videos to create youtube playlist for similar tagged events or for the different editions of same main event (ex. exhibition and events that tackle the perception of body, DCAF 1,2,3,4 …., Cairo Video Festival 8th 9th 10th … etc.)
  • Watch & view different locally archived documentation videos across the years and add tags & categories.
  • Add credited artists/curators/project managers/institutions data for the documented event.
  • Filter through raw video material archived.
  • CVF
  • Data Entry for CVF Website (Artists & artworks names, participating organizations & countries)
  • Gather data about artworks submitted (ex. #techniques used #inspiring artistic movements #topics discussed)
  • Organize Submissions info sheets for different editions
  • Library
  • Categorize & Label available books & publications
  • Add digital data for the library
  • Organize the physical books & publications in a friendly

Internship Learnings Points

  • Being in close contact with a huge amount of events & interviews associated with various arts & culture institutions and artists from different backgrounds.
  • Gaining access to terabytes of submitted video artworks from all over the world & looking to a rich collection of publications..
  • Learning some advanced archiving techniques using software tools (WordPress, SQL Databases…) (No technical background is required).

Period of internship: 1 month (extendable).
Paid Internship

Deadline for applications: 15 February 2022

MEDRAR IS LOOKING FOR A DISTRIBUTOR! 

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Medrar is looking for a Distributor! 

Medrar has a rich archive of videos and films spanning the early 2000s documenting arts and culture events, festivals and exhibitions in Egypt and the region, which is partly made available on Medrar TV. Moreover, Medrar has preserved throughout the last 16 years its extended archive of all the Cairo Video Festival (CVF) editions and produced its very own audio-visual artworks. To ensure the sustainability and spread of this rare and valuable material, Medrar is looking for a distributor to organize, manage, curate and distribute both its archive and productions!

Deadline: 10 January 2022

We will get in touch with shortlisted candidates only to schedule interviews (by the 10th of February latest).

 Tasks and Responsibilities 

1- Manage and Distribute MedrarTV and CVF Archive

  • Curate material from CVF and MedrarTV 
  • Update CVF and Medrar TV strategies and marketing plans 
  • Clear Copyrights for MedrarTV and CVF content
    • Establish contracts for individuals (for CVF single-artist works)
    • Establish waivers and/or contracts for multiple people (for event documentation)

2- Manage and Distribute Medrar audio-visual productions

3- Build Distribution Structure: 

  • Elaborate a distribution strategy 
  • Write and Implement a policy for distribution (pricing, media formats, terms of use…)
  • Elaborate and Curate programs from Medrar’s productions and archive
  • Responsible for supervising potential commissions
  • Manage in coordination with the Medrar team the digital and physical marketing plans of relevant productions.
  • Outreach to international institutions (target professors with relevant publications, museums, universities …)
  • Network for promoting artists’ work; establish and maintain strategic partnerships with festivals, curators, etc.

Application Form: https://forms.gle/5QxG1HtGZMvRVgD68

OPEN CALL: NAEMA’S OFFICE IS BLEEDING 4 – PAINTING & COLLAGE WORKSHOP

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Facilitated by artist Hany Rashed

Heads up for the 4th edition of “Naema’s office is bleeding”,  facilitated by renowned multidisciplinary artist Hany Rashed. Medrar for Contemporary Art is thrilled to host a new round of this workshop that has accompanied young and aspiring creative artists to explore and expand their visual practices. 

The workshop invites the participants to create collage compositions by exploring the potential of collage techniques and combining an array of materials including drawing, painting media, photography, paper, cardboard and magazine clippings. A variety of topics will be addressed during the workshop spanning natural elements and animal figures with a focus on human figures. The collage process will be based on quick decision-making and consist of a transformative practice of re-creation. In the course of collage making, images will be selected from a diversity of traditional and contemporary sources – photography, paintings and internet imagery -and rearranged to create new relationships, at times complementing each other at others conflicting. Encouraged to produce a multiplicity of works in a short time, the artists will take different approaches to deconstruct, modify and juxtapose components to identify possible ways for the imagery to evolve and develop their own language. Through a mental and hands-on playful process, the images extrapolated will become personalised: as the original context is disrupted, new configurations and meanings will unfold to bring new order in the form of new subjectivities rooted in fantasy and alternative realms. 

The workshop activities will be articulated in different interventions of experts  – artists and gallerists-  in the field of contemporary visual arts (TBA). The lectures will touch on matters related to the emerging Egyptian contemporary scene, pricing of artworks methodologies, gallerists’ parameters for artworks selection, showcasing and curation criteria, and will give the participants the opportunity to share experiences and discuss with artists engaged in the local art scene and market. 

The workshop will kick off on December 1st and run until December 9th. The works created will be exhibited in a 2-week showcase from December 12th and 26th. For the participants to gain experience with selling, all the works displayed will be on sale at symbolic prices.  The workshop organisers will be in charge of selecting the works to be exhibited and their selling price. 

The workshop is facilitated by Hany Rashed and co-facilitated by Mona Essam.

Requirements for participation:

  • Filling in the application form:
  • No specific age or experience is required, but it is preferable for the participant to have minimal expertise in drawing and painting. 
  • Workshop days: daily from Wednesday 1st to Tuesday 9th (Friday closed) from 6 to 10 pm (if the case of many participants, there will also be classes from 1 to 5 pm) 
  • The workshop participation fee is 600 EGP. Upon receiving acceptance by email, the workshop fee can be paid at Medrar. The deadline for paying the fee is the first day of the workshop, Wednesday, 1st December 2021 
  • Workshop fees are non-refundable after the commencing of the workshop
  • The materials including cardboards, colours and glue, are provided by the organizers. The participants are required to bring 5 magazines each, scissors and different size small brushes (2, 4 and 6 inches) 

Deadline for submitting applications: Monday 22nd November 2021. Selected participants will be notified by Thursday, 25 November 2021 

Address: 7 Gamal El Din Abou El Mahasen St. Garden City, 1st Floor, Apt.4, Cairo, Egypt, 11519

Tel: (+2) 02 27957714

Email:victoria@medrar.org 

OPEN CALL – CREATIVE IMPACT LAB CAIRO

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 OPEN CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS 

 CREATIVE IMPACT LAB CAIRO 

Medrar, ZERO1 and the U.S. Embassy Cairo are pleased to announce the open call for participants in Creative Impact Lab Cairo.

Creative Impact Lab Cairo is a five-week online creative exchange that utilizes community-driven digital and new media art projects to address women’s empowerment. It is scheduled to run June-July 2021.

The lab consists of five activity phases:

  • Artist Talk: a presentation by the U.S. lead artist introducing the participants and the public to their creative practice.
  • Workshops: a workshop series led by the U.S. artist which leverages their specific area of expertise. In parallel, the topic of women’s empowerment is explored by applying frameworks from the arts, social entrepreneurship, and community engagement.
  • Project Development: Participants prototype artworks that apply workshop skills to address women’s empowerment.
  • Panel Review and Virtual Exhibition: the lab culminates in a public panel review wherein Egyptian and U.S. experts provide feedback on participant project prototypes. Projects are revealed to a wider public audience at a virtual exhibition opening.
  • Sustainability Meetings: the U.S. artist and participants discuss how their artworks might develop beyond the Lab.

We are looking for Egyptian residents (age 18+) with:

  • An interest in technology, new media, and/or digital art; experience in the arts is preferred, but not required
  • An interest in exploring women’s empowerment
  • A desire to learn from new perspectives and new tools
  • A willingness to work and create in a collaborative environment
  • Youth (age 18-35), women, and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply

Participation in the Lab is free of charge and those who participate fully will receive a stipend.

Submissions will be accepted until May 27, 2021.

Questions? Please contact Maya Holm (maya@zero1.org).

To apply and participate, please fill out this form

Lead artist for Creative Impact Lab Cairo, Katherine Behar. Photograph by Marianne M. Kim. Image courtesy of the artist.

OPEN CALL: THE MOTION OF THE IMAGES- PRODUCTION WORKSHOP

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CALL FOR SUBMISSION 
 THE MOTION OF THE IMAGES
 PRODUCTION WORKSHOP 
 for video art and experimental film 

Deadline for application submission: 15th of March 2021

Workshop dates: 15th of April to 15th of June 

More than ever, we are faced with the question of the image. What are these images that we produce, that we invoke, that we watch, and that are watching us, monitoring us? We are at once the creators, the producers, the actors, the extras, the witnesses and the audience of this spectacle. What is, then, this movement of the images that never ceases to haunt the world that is more and more threatening as much then threatened?

How can we still see, hear, in spite of everything? 
The pulse, the waves, are there, they have not yet abandoned us.

The workshop will invite 5 participants residing in Cairo to develop their proposed concepts and Medrar will offer a budget to produce a video art/ experimental film for each participant. 

Along with the technical aspect, the workshop will have a strong focus on the conceptual element of filmmaking. Participants will dive through the history of cinema, the regional realities of filmmaking, critically looking at produced artworks and discovering their own approach to translating an idea and developing it further into a film. The workshop will assist each participant to realize their ideas, starting from the conceptual process into planning, production, post-production and screenings and distribution of the films.

Part of the workshop’s seminars (different guests from different horizons will be invited) and some screenings are open for the public and will be announced here and on our social media networks.

Producer: Muhammad Taymour

Workshop Manager: Mena El Shazly

To apply, please fill in the form below and submit it before the 15th of March, 2021. Only selected applicants will be notified.

For further inquiries contact cvf@medrar.org

 Terms & Conditions for the production workshop 

– Applicants must be willing to fully commit to the workshop four days per week between the 15th of April and the 15th of June.
– Applicants are obliged to attend lectures, screenings and sign up for one-on-one meetings with the workshop conductors.
– Participants must produce a work (video art/ experimental film) by the end of the workshop.
– All participants should submit a survey/ report at the end of the workshop.
– All rights relating to the project must be fully cleared to Medrar. Medrar must without any limitations possess or be able to acquire all rights to the project.
– A showcase of the final outcome of the workshop will take place in the context of the 10th edition of Cairo Video Festival, in addition to a feature in the publication. 

This workshop is organized by Medrar for Contemporary Art with the support of the Netherlands Embassy in Cairo.

Medrar is implemented with the support of the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture – AFAC, through a grant from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation – SDC.

JOB VACANCY AT MEDRAR – PROGRAM COORDINATOR

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Vacancy at Medrar for Contemporary Art 

Program Coordinator

We are looking for an ambitious, highly organized person to join our team as a Program Coordinator. The position is full-time and flexible working hours are necessary.

We prefer candidates with two years of work experience in an administrative position. Candidates should have an excellent command of written and spoken Arabic and English.

 Working Hours: Full time job, Sundays to Thursdays, 8 hours between 10 am and 6 pm. Longer shifts might be asked on events days.   

Contract Period: 12 months, renewable.

Qualifications:

  • 1-3 years of professional experience in the field of management or administration. 
  • Proficiency in spoken and written English and Arabic is mandatory.
  • Previous experience or involvement in the arts and culture field is a plus.

 Main Duties:

  • Maintain and update event and workshop schedules.
  • Schedule and coordinate meetings and appointments.
  • Maintain an updated archive of Medrar’s projects and programs.
  • Manage activities and operations at the office and exhibition space.
  • Draft contracts, letters of invitation, letters of agreement and application forms.
  • Process applications received through calls.
  • Liaise with publicity designer, assembling material, following up on proofreads, and underseeing printing and distribution. 
  • Managing and updating Medrar’s website and social media platforms and responding to enquiries. 
  • Maintaining a regularly updated mailing list.
  • Creating and sending monthly newsletters.

Required skills

  • Excellent communication skills
  • Excellent interpersonal relations and teamwork
  • Excellent organization and time-management skills
  • Excellent social media marketing skills 
  • Proactive and enthusiastic approach to project management
  • Ability to take initiative, proposes ideas, and add to the already inspiring and dynamic team.
  • Flexibility and ability to work independently, and among teams
  • Ability to work with multi-stakeholders and partners

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

We highly appreciate your time and interest invested in applying for this position.  

We will inform you of the selection results within three days after the deadline, and expect us to call you personally if you are shortlisted

Applications are only valid through filling out the application form here, before 7 April 2021.

Update

Applications are only valid through filling out the application form here, before 3 July 2021.

PLEASE NOTE THAT APPLICATIONS RECEIVED BY EMAIL WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. 

OPEN CALL – WITH DOORS CLOSED ARTISTS GO VIRAL 2

Written by

Medrar for Contemporary Art is excited to launch the second edition of “With doors closed artists go viral”. This time, it expands its program and virtual reach not only to Egyptians but also Arab artists.  

The first edition was held last May-June 2020, inspired by the ambition to boost the unheard artistic need of expression of artists grappling with ongoing global issues. An online program of live art performances gave the young participants the opportunity to come forth by performing live in front of global virtual audiences. https://staging.medrar.org/doors/

Following the success of the first edition, with this new edition, Medrar hopes to encourage cultural exchange among Arab artists, acknowledge, award, and promote outstanding performances created by artists through a wide variety of interdisciplinary approaches, and engage regional and international audiences. 

In this prolonged period of global and regional uncertainty and distress in which we are asked to reinvent ourselves, Medrar calls for artists to reimagine formats for artistic expression and invites them to present their most recent and innovative ideas for performances to stage live through Medrar’s online platforms. Applicants are invited to take creative approaches to performing arts – whether in an apartment or artist’s studio or an open space – and encouraged to collaborate with other participants and the public through shared online spaces. Artists are invited to reflect on the novelties – whether challenges or benefits – entailed by conceiving a site-specific work in a non-arts environment, and explore notions of space and situatedness in relation to their artistic practice, as well as to experiment and push beyond the physical borders of participation and interaction with the audience.  

Questioning the idea that the digital world is disrupting human connections, Medrar motivates artists to explore and benefit from available digital technologies to bring new enriching perspectives to arts practices. It may be surprising how performing live could be both artistically inspiring and an effective human way for people to connect, express themselves and share interests, perceptions, thoughts, and tastes. 

“With doors closed, artists go viral 2” online program will run from November to December, showcasing to Medrar’s social media platforms a variety of live performances by emerging and defining voices of contemporary art and culture in the Arab world. 

 GUIDELINES AND ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: 

  • The call is open to Arab artists living in the Arab region or elsewhere 
  • The call does not impose any age limit and welcomes participants from all genders, backgrounds, and religions 
  • There are no theme or discipline restrictions. The selection criteria will be based on originality, creativity, and authenticity of the proposed performances. The program selection will encourage a variety of genres and disciplines. 
  • The proposed performance can range from theater, dance, music, lectures, spoken word, circus arts etc, and/or incorporate some or all of these through an interdisciplinary approach. 
  • The duration of the performance should not be less than 15 minutes and not exceed 40 minutes 
  • You can present a new creation or a readaptation of a performance you created and/or staged not before 2019. 
  • The selected artists will not be allowed to pre-record their performance and share it. They must perform live in front of a camera using any of the software suggested by Medrar to go live to Medrar’s Facebook account. 
  • The artist(s) can complement their live performance with additional online material, such as videos, photos, and written content. 
  • The selected artists living in Egypt will have the possibility to be supervised by an expert technician, who will provide technical support with the preparation and setting up, in order to ensure the best quality possible for the live performance. The setting up will be either done at the location chosen by the artist or at Medrar’s premises according to the artist’s preference and the logistic capacity of the place in terms of internet connection and devices. 
  • Medrar will support artists with a symbolic fee for each performance(regardless of the number of artists involved) provided after the end of the program

To apply, the applicants are required to fill the application form including all the required material. 

-Only applicants whose artworks are selected to participate in the exhibition will be notified via email, no later than 4 November 2020.

 Apply here 

For any questions regarding the application contact: victoria@medrar.org 

The deadline for receiving applications is 21 October 2020 

We’re looking forward to seeing your new artistic creations!