"Curating A Revolution": Egyptian Artists Cry Out For Mubarak's Resignation (Museum-Myths-Busted)

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Wed Feb-02-11 03:08 AM
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"Curating A Revolution": Egyptian Artists Cry Out For Mubarak's Resignation (Museum-Myths-Busted)

Edited on Wed Feb-02-11 03:23 AM by Turborama

http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/36852/curating-a-revolution-egyptian-artists-cry-out-for-mubaraks-resignation/">"Curating a Revolution": Egyptian Artists Cry Out for Mubarak's Resignation

By Ben Davis

Graffiti on a small building in front of the National Museum reads "No to Stealing,"
"Overthrow Mubarak," "No to terrorizing the country," and a poem is obscured by
the tree on the right.

With Egypt bursting into full revolutionary upheaval over the last week, and the 30 year dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak tottering under the pressure of mass protests, the raging velocity of current events has given artists little time to react. Yet culture has been pushed into the spotlight, with Egyptian antiquities chief Zahi Hawass putting out a statement condemning the looting at the nation's museums. Concern that the nation's art be protected from the masses has become a major preoccupation of media reports, with even Metropolitan Museum of Art director Thomas Campbell voicing worries about the effect an uprising might have on the nation's patrimony. Meanwhile, former Egyptian Museum head Wafaa El-Saddik http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/36841/mummies-are-beheaded-and-museums-ransacked-amid-egypts-revolutionary-chaos/">threw the blame back on Hawass's culture authority itself, suggesting that the museum's own underpaid guards may have looted the museum.

Meanwhile, the few contemporary artists who have managed to have their voices heard are squarely in the anti-Mubarak camp. Despite the Internet blackout in Egypt, "http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/31871/chelsea-museum-hits-the-mark-with-iran-inside-out/">Iran Inside Out" curator Sam Bardaouil has managed to contact a few artists in Egypt, and has been spotlighting their voices on his Facebook page. Earlier today, for instance, Bardaouil posted a message from artist Amal Kenawy — whose work has been seen at the Dak'art and Sharjah Biennales — after speaking with her in Cairo. "No more intimidation! Our fear is gone," reads Kenawy's message. "On the streets no one is thinking 'I am a Christian or Muslim, Brotherhood or Baradei! We are all one. I am honored to be part of this and for my son to witness a new era and have a better future. Mubarak is gone! We will march tomorrow!"

Even though Egypt's hated secret police are known to crack down viciously on dissent, the arts have played a leading role in the country recently, for instance in organizing solidarity between Egyptian Muslims and Coptic Christians. On January 7, in response to terrorist bombings of churches on New Year's Eve, Muslims from across the country http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=220146">attended Coptic mass to act as "human shields" against further bombings. The initiative was partly spearheaded by El-Sawy Culture Wheel, a prominent arts venue in the country. Whether true or not, Wafaa El-Saddik's assertion that the Egyptian Museum was looted by its own guards resonates with a http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2011/jan/30/egypt-protests-live-updates#block-35">widespread theory on the Egyptian street that Mubarak has deliberately attempted to foment chaos in order to justify a crackdown, and that looting has been carried out by out-of-uniform police.

=snip=

Another missive on Bardaouil's Facebook page comes from Lebanon-born, Cairo-based artist Lara Baladi, founder of the http://www.nomadicartists.com/">"Nomadic Artists" culture summit event, which has brought artists and journalists to Cairo's Townhouse Gallery. Baladi strives to refute the government-sponsored media's narrative focusing on the danger of criminal gangs: "The police are dressed in civilian clothes and looting to discredit the protesters," she asserts. "But the people are strong, cleaning the streets, helping each other find food. The police opened the prisons setting the inmates free. We are being tear gazed (sic) even in our homes. But we are strong! We want Mubarak Out!" An http://hyperallergic.com/17924/art-revolution-egyptian-protests/">eye-opening account posted on New York art Web site Hyperallergic by Syrian journalist Danny Ramadan firmly put Hawass's story in the context of Mubarak propaganda: "People in the streets... do not believe a word the current regime says, and Hawass is no different." (The prominent antiquities official was today appointed to a new position in Mubarak's reorganized cabinet.)

Full article: http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/36852/curating-a-revolution-egyptian-artists-cry-out-for-mubaraks-resignation/

"The f-word was used prominently on one tank and followed by the name of Mubarak;
the officers didn’t seem to mind. Everyday people have been standing next to
the tanks, or even on the vehicles, and often posing for photos. Sometimes they
even ask the officers to take photographs with them. One of the officers asked a
9-year-old girl carrying the Egyptian flag to join him on top of one of the tanks.
Her father was extremely proud."

From http://hyperallergic.com/17924/art-revolution-egyptian-protests/">this article written by an eyewitness.

http://art-for-a-change.com/blog/2011/02/the-looting-of-the-egyptian-museum.html">The Looting of the Egyptian Museum

Web log author, http://www.markvallen.com/">Mark Vallen

Pro-Democracy demonstrators rushed to protect the Egyptian Museum;
they are pictured here guarding the museum entry gate in a still
from http://www.euronews.net/2011/01/29/egyptians-form-human-shield-to-protect-museum/">a video by Euronews.

As the 30-year old tyrannical regime of Mubarak begins to crumble under popular pressure, chaos reigns on the streets. During the massive protests and fierce police repression of January 28, the downtown Cairo headquarters of Mubarak’s hated political party was torched by furious demonstrators. The neighboring Egyptian Museum seemed in danger from the flames, but more importantly, people wisely thought it might come under attack by opportunistic bandits - and so rushed to defend the institution which houses the treasures of King Tutankhamen as well as the nation’s largest collection of Pharaonic artifacts. As it turned out, nine men did succeed in breaking into the museum by entering through the rooftop. They shattered museum display cases, threw the contents to the ground, and ripped the heads off of two mummies.

=snip=

But who exactly were the men who broke into the Egyptian Museum? They were certainly not anti-Mubarak demonstrators. Perhaps the British journalist Robert Fisk can provide some insight into their true identity, he is currently reporting from Cairo. In his Jan. 29 report for The Independent, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/robert-fisk-a-people-defies-its-dictator-and-a-nations-future-is-in-the-balance-2197769.html">A people defies its dictator, and a nation’s future is in the balance, he wrote about the “battagi,” Mubarak’s vicious plainclothes police force. Battagi means “thug” in Arabic, and Fisk observed swarms of battagi at protests “who beat, bashed, and assaulted demonstrators while the cops watched and did nothing.” Fisk witnessed battagi - armed with steel rods, sharpened sticks, and police truncheons - collaborating with Mubarak’s uniformed security forces.

Fisk characterized the battagi as corrupt hooligans, “these men, many of them ex-policemen who are drug addicts, were last night the front line of the Egyptian state - the true representatives of Hosni Mubarak, as uniformed cops showered gas on to the crowds.” In his Jan. 30 report for The Independent, http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-egypt-death-throes-of-a-dictatorship-2198444.html">Egypt: Death throes of a dictatorship, Fisk wrote: “there are growing suspicions that much of the looting and arson was carried out by plainclothes cops – including the murder of 11 men in a rural village in the past 24 hours – in an attempt to destroy the integrity of the protesters campaigning to throw Mubarak out of power.” Fisk went on to mention the vandalism at the Egyptian Museum, “Again, it must be added that there were rumours before the discovery that police caused this vandalism before they fled the museum on Friday night.” The Hindu newspaper also reported that “officers from the much despised police force” were held responsible by many Egyptians for the looting of the museum and other buildings.

In addition, National Geographic published an open letter from Ismail Serageldin, the director of the magnificent Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a leading Egyptian library and cultural center located on the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria. In that letter titled “To our friends around the world: The Events in Egypt, Mr. Serageldin noted that “lawless bands of thugs, and maybe agents provocateurs,” where responsible for looting, while Egypt’s pro-democracy demonstrators helped to protect the nation’s important cultural institutions. Serageldin’s message was published on the home page of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina website, and I am reprinting his dispatch in full: http://art-for-a-change.com/blog/2011/02/the-looting-of-the-egyptian-museum.html

http://hyperallergic.com/17924/art-revolution-egyptian-protests/">Art and Revolution During the Egyptian Protests

by Danny Ramadan

=snip=

Zahi Hawass, the Head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, claims that http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/vandals-ravage-egyptian-museum-break-mummies">about 1,000 people looted the museum’s gift shop and grounds. “Later,” he famously said to the media, “nine people carrying mummy skulls were arrested as they tried to leave through emergency exits.”

People in the streets, however, do not believe a word the current regime says, and Hawass is no different.

“I have been here since Friday evening,” says Ahmed Magdy, one of the protesters who refused to leave Tahrir square since the beginning of Friday’s demonstrations. “I heard about the museum looting news but I can confirm that none of the protesters were trying to steal anything from the gift shop in the museum. The protesters are not looking for any personal gains here. They just want to get their country back.”

“I remember the gift shop to be extremely small from my visit to the museum last year, I don’t think it would fit one thousand people,” he adds sarcastically.

Full piece: http://hyperallergic.com/17924/art-revolution-egyptian-protests/

Ahmed (aka Danny) Ramadan is a Syrian journalist who has been working and living in Egypt since 2003.

Follow Ahmed on Twitter @DannyRamadan.