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School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Presents 'Histories Of Now: Six Artists From Cairo' (PHOTOS)

Cairo From Cairo's Perspective
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History inherently has a sort of distance to it. When learning about events that occurred far away, long ago, it is easy to think of history as a sort of fictional narrative. Yet a new exhibition on the current climate of Cairo tells its story with powerful images as well as words, culminating in an immediate and intimate experience, a history of now.

One year after the first protests shook up Tahrir Square, SMFA brings you 'Histories of Now: Six Artists From Cairo' a look at the city from those who live, breathe and fight for Cairo. Six of the most influential multimedia artists of Egypt bring you a colorful and raw view of a country at a critical juncture of its being. The artists shape Cairo in their own ways while presenting the shaping of the nation at this difficult in-between point in history. There's no time like the present, they say.

One artist captures the whirlwind of passion in Cairo through the spinning skirts of the mesmerizing Whirling Dervishes, while another presents a scared yet hopeful look upward from a young boy as he scratches his head. One video is a tribute to the Cairo street life while another focuses on stammering and the difficulty in translating from emotion into language. The aesthetic techniques contribute to the pictures of Egypt's current socio-economic climate, which is in flux. The artworks are not just recording history, they are changing it.

'Histories of Now: Six Artists from Cairo' features work from Mohamed Abla, Ahmed Basiony, Hala Elkoussy, Shady El Noshokaty, Sabah Naim and Moataz Nasr. It will exhibit at Boston's School of The Museum of Fine Arts until March 17.

Histories of Now
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Mohamed Abla, Out of the Water (still), 2010. Video.This work is based on documentary footage about the residents of Qorsaya Island as they strive to defend their homes and way of life when confronted by army supported developers trying to push them out.
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Mohamed Abla, Out of the Water (still), 2010. Video.This work is based on documentary footage about the residents of Qorsaya Island as they strive to defend their homes and way of life when confronted by army supported developers trying to push them out.
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Ahmed Basiony, 30 Days of Running in the Place (still), 2011. Three-channel video installation.This three-channel installation was edited and curated by Basiony's friend and colleague, Shady El Noshokaty. 30 Days of Running in the Place combines video documentation of 2010 action performance that translated his movement (running in place) into an image via sensors and software program with four days of footage of revolutionary events in Cairo (January 25-28, 2011), which ended with Basiony's assassination in Tahrir Square on January 28, 2011.
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Ahmed Basiony, 30 Days of Running in the Place, 2011. Three-channel video installation. Installation shot at 2011 Venice Biennale.A five-channel version of this video installation was first featured in the Egyptian Pavilion of the 54th Venice Biennale.
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Hala Elkoussy, First Story-Mount of Forgetfulness (still), 2010. HD video, 28 minutes.Mount of Forgetfulness tells the story of Rawi (Arabic for 'storyteller'), a young man who discovers that stories are "dying" in the wake of unprecedented levels of pollution, and resolves to save them from oblivion.
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Hala Elkoussy, First Story-Mount of Forgetfulness (still), 2010. HD video, 28 minutes.Given Egypt's storytelling tradition, which dates back to its ancient times, Mount of Forgetfulness serves as a metaphor for the country's extraordinary cultural heritage and the way it informs contemporary culture.
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Shady El Noshokaty, Stammer--A Lecture in Theory (still), 2007-10. Multimedia installation.Stammer is a multifaceted art project that utilizes multimedia, texts, drawings, videos and installations. Centered on the notion of stammering, it explores the difficulty of verbal communication and the relationship between language and emotions.
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Shady El Noshokaty, Stammer--A Lecture in Theory (still), 2007-10. Multimedia installation.This piece is representative of El Noshokaty's work, which centers on the duality between the limitations imposed by the body (nature) and the possibilities inherent in consciousness itself.
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Sabah Naim, People of the City (still), 2007. Video, 15 minutes.People of the City is a poetic tribute to the people on the streets and in the subways of Cairo.
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Sabah Naim, People of the City (still), 2007. Video, 15 minutes.Sepia toned, shifting in and out of focus, and occasionally scratched to the point of invisibility, this work is typical of Naim's musings on issues of memory, remembrance and frustrated attempts to capture that which is fleeting.
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Moataz Nasr, Merge and Emerge (still), 2011. Three-channel video installation. Courtesy Galleria Continua, San Gimignano/Beijing/Le Moulin. Photo by Oak Taylor-Smith.Featuring a mesmerizing dance of Whirling Dervishes, this three-channel video is part of a larger group of Nasr's recent works, guided by his engagement with Egypt's history, politics, and his longing for a spiritual unity.
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Moataz Nasr, Merge and Emerge (still), 2011. Three-channel video installation. Courtesy Galleria Continua, San Gimignano/Beijing/Le Moulin. Photo by Oak Taylor-Smith.Through dance, Sufis reach a higher state of consciousness which raises them above difference and conflict into a perfect state of peace and balance; this piece is a call by the artist for unity and solidarity in the midst of the looming dangers of division and conflict at a time of otherwise promising possibilities.

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