What Is From Rags to Riches?
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From Rags To Riches (FRTR) is a pilot project that is wholly devoted to upcycled public art in Cairo. The endeavour is pursuing two sensitive topics that have never been similarly dealt with in Egypt: the re-use of discarded materials and the attention towards public spaces, thereby incorporating a social, moral and political dimension as well as an environmental one.
Why Public Art?
Public art is created by artists or groups of artists worldwide to communicate and interact with a broad section of people on issues that are relevant to their lives. In its tangible form, it can consist of sculptures, murals, installations, fountains, street furnishings, park amenities and light works, to name but a few. Public art exists on a permanent or temporary basis and should be freely accessible to everybody in a public space. Permanent works are sometimes integrated with architecture and landscaping in the creation or renovation of buildings and sites.
Public art may make a statement on the present or the future, or it can commemorate history. Due to its high symbolic value, public visual art creates a local identity, adds dimension, depth and character to a community and inspires young minds, while also adding to the overall beauty and quality of life of a place. It makes a unique contribution to the life of a city by enhancing a human-made environment through which the city’s inhabitants pass on a daily basis.
Public art in Egypt is most often left to the unpredictable decisions of different institutions. The result is a confused series of interventions within cities, varying from pure decoration to the actual damage of existing urban assets. In fact, the main problem is the lack of consideration towards the public domain that has been demonstrated by Egyptian institutions, which have neglected initiatives aiming to improve the urban context and have instead left behind a confusing mix of antiquities and historical remains as well as invasive and unfinished modern buildings.
FRTR contributes towards making public art a substantial element of human development, one that shapes both public spaces and individual conceptions, thereby overcoming the widespread idea that ‘what is public is not mine’ and enhancing awareness and ownership among citizens. The project aims to build solid cultural foundations where artistic creativity, freedom and diversity of expression can grow, allowing peaceful exchanges and development and innovation within the cultural sector.
Why Recycled Materials?
Like other mega cities, solid waste management is a huge challenge for Cairo, as the city produces more than 15,000 tons of solid waste per day. Waste collection is managed by both formal and informal sectors (comprised of traditional garbage collectors), but a significant amount of waste cannot be disposed of properly and is thus left on the streets and at dumping sites, which causes ecological and health problems in the city and surrounding areas.
But there is artistic potential in this trash—which can, indeed, become hidden treasure—and such is the aim of FRTR.
When subjected to an artistic and creative process, scorned materials like plastic bags or bottles, broken glasses, old pieces of iron and scraped tires can reveal their beautiful qualities of transparency, flexibility, lightness, brightness and colour. The production of large-scale artworks, skilfully crafted for a strong visual impact, will demonstrate how even the most unusual materials can compete with traditional ones in achieving aesthetic value.
The presence of up-cycled artworks in public spaces poses important questions regarding how one can reduce, reuse and recycle waste products. While enhancing environmental awareness, the conceptual contents of the artworks are also intended to function as means to increase social cohesion and inclusion.
FRTR aims to address the search for a better quality of life and the positive process of changing how a city’s residents both see and experience the surroundings that they share, and through which they live different realities.
Why Public Art?
Public art is created by artists or groups of artists worldwide to communicate and interact with a broad section of people on issues that are relevant to their lives. In its tangible form, it can consist of sculptures, murals, installations, fountains, street furnishings, park amenities and light works, to name but a few. Public art exists on a permanent or temporary basis and should be freely accessible to everybody in a public space. Permanent works are sometimes integrated with architecture and landscaping in the creation or renovation of buildings and sites.
Public art may make a statement on the present or the future, or it can commemorate history. Due to its high symbolic value, public visual art creates a local identity, adds dimension, depth and character to a community and inspires young minds, while also adding to the overall beauty and quality of life of a place. It makes a unique contribution to the life of a city by enhancing a human-made environment through which the city’s inhabitants pass on a daily basis.
Public art in Egypt is most often left to the unpredictable decisions of different institutions. The result is a confused series of interventions within cities, varying from pure decoration to the actual damage of existing urban assets. In fact, the main problem is the lack of consideration towards the public domain that has been demonstrated by Egyptian institutions, which have neglected initiatives aiming to improve the urban context and have instead left behind a confusing mix of antiquities and historical remains as well as invasive and unfinished modern buildings.
FRTR contributes towards making public art a substantial element of human development, one that shapes both public spaces and individual conceptions, thereby overcoming the widespread idea that ‘what is public is not mine’ and enhancing awareness and ownership among citizens. The project aims to build solid cultural foundations where artistic creativity, freedom and diversity of expression can grow, allowing peaceful exchanges and development and innovation within the cultural sector.
Why Recycled Materials?
Like other mega cities, solid waste management is a huge challenge for Cairo, as the city produces more than 15,000 tons of solid waste per day. Waste collection is managed by both formal and informal sectors (comprised of traditional garbage collectors), but a significant amount of waste cannot be disposed of properly and is thus left on the streets and at dumping sites, which causes ecological and health problems in the city and surrounding areas.
But there is artistic potential in this trash—which can, indeed, become hidden treasure—and such is the aim of FRTR.
When subjected to an artistic and creative process, scorned materials like plastic bags or bottles, broken glasses, old pieces of iron and scraped tires can reveal their beautiful qualities of transparency, flexibility, lightness, brightness and colour. The production of large-scale artworks, skilfully crafted for a strong visual impact, will demonstrate how even the most unusual materials can compete with traditional ones in achieving aesthetic value.
The presence of up-cycled artworks in public spaces poses important questions regarding how one can reduce, reuse and recycle waste products. While enhancing environmental awareness, the conceptual contents of the artworks are also intended to function as means to increase social cohesion and inclusion.
FRTR aims to address the search for a better quality of life and the positive process of changing how a city’s residents both see and experience the surroundings that they share, and through which they live different realities.
