"Something Else, Off Biennale" Wants To Bring Back Cairo's Artistic Glory Days

About 100 years ago, Egypt was prominently known as the core for art, culture, and intellectual achievements in the Arab world. Astounding talent, a refined community of patrons and collectors within and outside of Egypt's borders, helped bolster a flourishing artistic centre that rival any other city in the world. Sadly, now in the dawn of the next century and a new millennium, Egypt has fallen by the wayside. Private patrons and official institutions have ceased their support of a waning and stagnated artist population. While other cities in other countries have eclipsed Egypt totally, a non-profit initiative now seeks to reinvigorate Egyptian artists and patrons to reclaim the halcyon days of Cairo at the turn of the 20th century.  

 

Something Else, Off Biennale Cairo kicked off on the 28th of November as a month-long non-profit independent visual arts initiative to support contemporary Egyptian and international art. Taking place at several properties by El Ismaileya for Real Estate in downtown Cairo the initiative is set to run for 30-days, which started with an art installation at Cinema Radio and Mahmoud Bassiouny St, with a reception at the Goethe Institute. The month-long event features galleries, exhibitions, performances, films, music, workshops, as well as talks led by local and international artists. Some of the schedule highlights include a talk by Neil Van Der Linden on Electronic Music In The Middle East and North Africa as well as feature performances by Yara Mekawei and El GeZzawe.

 

You can check out the initiative’s website here.