Baad El Bahr for Cultural Development
Baad El Bahr for Cultural Development (BEBA) was created in 2008 by individuals from diverse national and cultural backgrounds, and since then they have been involved in various branches of Egypt’s cultural scene. Confounding expectations of what is typically meant by the word “culture”, this shared project distances itself from trends and academia.
One of BEBA’s key missions is to use contemporary arts to build bridges between cultures. In addition to encouraging and supporting young artists, it also organises innovative exhibitions and encourages conceptual development. Indeed, we are inspired by the hope that art will become less of a luxury and more of a necessity.
BEBA seeks to reach an ever-expanding audience of non-specialists—but making art available to everyone doesn’t have to mean doing away with quality. Rather, the goal here is to achieve a greater level of understanding through the use of workshops and training seminars in various artistic pursuits.
Through its close collaboration with other Mediterranean countries, BEBA intends to position Egypt as a wellspring of ideas: a center for production and propagation rather than just a destination for imported cultural programs. From this perspective, long-term “quiet” activities such as the translation and publication of literary texts are combined with influential events like the Cairo Mediterranean Literary Festival, which appears every year under the banner of a different theme. Past editions of the festival have centred on themes such as “Literature and Humor” (2010, the festival’s inaugural year), “Literature in Cities” (2011) and “Literature and Body” (2012).
Developing the From Rags to Riches (FRTR) project began conceptually with the emergence of attention that was placed on public spaces in Egypt during and after the 2011 revolution, which took place mostly in the streets of the country, both in protest and with the arrival of new forms of public art. Encouraged by this new interest, BEBA has expanded the FRTR project as another creative step in its long-term strategy of promoting art in public spaces.
Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art
Located in Downtown Cairo, Mashrabia Gallery is the oldest gallery of contemporary art in the city. Since 1990, the gallery has played a pioneering role in the diffusion of contemporary art in Egypt. Removed from dominant artistic traditions or commercial trends, the gallery has developed its own rigorous criteria for selecting artists and their works, preferring originality, the power of art pieces in themselves and the use of innovative languages that are free of decorative and academic components.
Mashrabia actively supports the idea that visual art has to be more accessible to a general audience. As such, the gallery has expanded beyond monthly exhibitions at its downtown art space by organising exhibitions at local institutes and curating a number of projects in public and historical places in Cairo. Among these initiatives are Noubar (NOmad Urban Breaking Art, 2005–2006), Azhar Park Meets Contemporary Arts (2005, 2006) and Invisible Presence (Looking at the Body in Contemporary Egyptian Art, 2009–2010).
The From Rags to Riches (FRTR) project is the most recent one that Mashrabia is curating.
Baad El Bahr for Cultural Development (BEBA) was created in 2008 by individuals from diverse national and cultural backgrounds, and since then they have been involved in various branches of Egypt’s cultural scene. Confounding expectations of what is typically meant by the word “culture”, this shared project distances itself from trends and academia.
One of BEBA’s key missions is to use contemporary arts to build bridges between cultures. In addition to encouraging and supporting young artists, it also organises innovative exhibitions and encourages conceptual development. Indeed, we are inspired by the hope that art will become less of a luxury and more of a necessity.
BEBA seeks to reach an ever-expanding audience of non-specialists—but making art available to everyone doesn’t have to mean doing away with quality. Rather, the goal here is to achieve a greater level of understanding through the use of workshops and training seminars in various artistic pursuits.
Through its close collaboration with other Mediterranean countries, BEBA intends to position Egypt as a wellspring of ideas: a center for production and propagation rather than just a destination for imported cultural programs. From this perspective, long-term “quiet” activities such as the translation and publication of literary texts are combined with influential events like the Cairo Mediterranean Literary Festival, which appears every year under the banner of a different theme. Past editions of the festival have centred on themes such as “Literature and Humor” (2010, the festival’s inaugural year), “Literature in Cities” (2011) and “Literature and Body” (2012).
Developing the From Rags to Riches (FRTR) project began conceptually with the emergence of attention that was placed on public spaces in Egypt during and after the 2011 revolution, which took place mostly in the streets of the country, both in protest and with the arrival of new forms of public art. Encouraged by this new interest, BEBA has expanded the FRTR project as another creative step in its long-term strategy of promoting art in public spaces.
Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art
Located in Downtown Cairo, Mashrabia Gallery is the oldest gallery of contemporary art in the city. Since 1990, the gallery has played a pioneering role in the diffusion of contemporary art in Egypt. Removed from dominant artistic traditions or commercial trends, the gallery has developed its own rigorous criteria for selecting artists and their works, preferring originality, the power of art pieces in themselves and the use of innovative languages that are free of decorative and academic components.
Mashrabia actively supports the idea that visual art has to be more accessible to a general audience. As such, the gallery has expanded beyond monthly exhibitions at its downtown art space by organising exhibitions at local institutes and curating a number of projects in public and historical places in Cairo. Among these initiatives are Noubar (NOmad Urban Breaking Art, 2005–2006), Azhar Park Meets Contemporary Arts (2005, 2006) and Invisible Presence (Looking at the Body in Contemporary Egyptian Art, 2009–2010).
The From Rags to Riches (FRTR) project is the most recent one that Mashrabia is curating.
