DUST
Xenia Nikolskaya
May 6th – June 13th, 2012
May 6 – Exhibition opening and book launch, First Floor Gallery
May 12th – Symposium, ‘Tracing Time’, Rawabet Theatre
With: Shaimaa Ashour, Dr. Vittoria Capresi, Mohamed Elshahed, Xenia Nikolskaya, Ola Seif*
On view at the Townhouse First Floor Gallery from May 6 through June 13, Xenia Nikolsaya’s “Dust” is both a photographic exhibition exploring Egypt’s abandoned architectural heritage, and a publication of texts and images that will be launched at Townhouse on May 6. “Dust” will be accompanied by “Tracing Time” symposium* on the occasion of the exhibition and book launch at Rawabet Theater on May 12th, where historians, architects, artists and theorists Shaimaa Ashour, Vittoria Capresi, Mohamed Elshahed, Xenia Nikolskaya and Ola Seif will discuss a myriad of issues relating to the architectural legacy of the region in light of their individual research and projects.
“Dust” explores the conditions and relevance of empty architectural spaces in Egypt, presenting an entwined dualism: dust as materiality that layers the city, literally tracing the passage of time upon urban objects – but also as a temporal metaphor that registers these changes on the level of memories, both past and present.
Architecture constructed in Egypt in the late 19th and early 20th centuries – usually referred to as ‘Cosmopolitan Architecture’ – is rapidly succumbing to neglect, a real estate frenzy and the overpopulation of the cities. These factors lend particular urgency to Nikolskaya’s documentation of these spaces. Since she first initiated this project in 2006, a number of the locations depicted in her work have been demolished, while others have gone through a process of renovation and modernization.
Nikolskaya's ”Dust” is complex and multi]layered in that its qualities not only span the artistic, but also have the added value of documenting Egypt’s fading and forgotten architecture. In addition to the aesthetic value, her series is also a valuable source of in]depth information, baring long]term witness to a country’s ongoing economic and social changes. When the artist first embarked on this project in 2006, she was driven by curiosity. But with Egypt coincidentally progressing though a momentous shift in its history, ”Dust” has come to illustrate an economic stagnation, which has engulfed Egypt over the past three decades. Nikolskaya's project underlines the significance of documenting a country in its transformative phase, and highlights the urgency of reflecting on Egypt’s history in order to understand its future.
“Dust” was completed in January 2011. The accompanying book has now been released by Dewi Lewis Publishing and contains a total of 70 images from thirty locations in Egypt, including Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, Minya, Esna, Port Said and villages around the Delta, as well as an essay by On Barak of Princeton University.
Curated by Alexandra Stock
With special thanks to the Swedish Embassy in Cairo.
Thank you also to the Goethe Institut Kairo, FfAI and Townhouse.
*“Tracing Time” - a symposium on the occasion of the exhibition and book launch of "Dust" by Xenia Nikolskaya on May 12th in Rawabet Theatre:
“Tracing Time” begins at 4:00 PM and ends at 7:00 PM.
All talks are open to the public with simultaneous translation by Sarah Enany.
The speakers of the symposium, in alphabetical order:
Shaimaa Samir Kamel Ashour is an architect, a part-time assistant lecturer at Cairo University and Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport, an independent field researcher and a freelance photographer. Since 2007 she has covered her topics of interest in a personal blog, where she highlights neglected Egyptian architecture of the 19th and 20th century by interlacing text and images in a narrative context. Ashour ‘s M.Sc. thesis has been published as a book entitled ‘The Egyptian Architecture between Two Revolutions (1919-1952)’. She is currently writing her Ph.D. thesis on the consumption in contemporary architecture. She is also one of the co-founders of Docomomo** Egypt, and a member of the Architectural Committee in the Supreme Council of Culture under the auspices of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture.
For more information visit:
www.shaimaa-keephuntingphotos.blogspot.com
www.paper.li/Shaimaa_ashour/1327336583%20
Vittoria Capresi is the Associate Professor of History of Architecture at the German University of Cairo, Faculty of Architecture and has lectured at the Vienna University of Technology, Department Baugeschichte :: Bauforschung (History and Research of Architecture) and at the University of Florence, Faculty of Architecture. In 2007 she obtained her Ph.D. with distinction from the Vienna University of Technology with her thesis titled The Architecture of the Rural Centres founded in Libya – Italian Colony – during Fascism. 1934-1940. In 2009 she contributed to the Rotterdam Biennale of Architecture and has since collaborated with numerous projects both in Europe and North Africa. Capresi has directed advanced workshops on many aspects of architecture in Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Egypt and her main research topics include European urbanism and architecture in North Africa, the perception of urban spaces, both historical and contemporary and Italian Fascist urbanism and architecture in the colonies - in particular Libya. Capresi is a founding member and chair of Docomomo** Egypt.
Mohamed Elshahed is a doctoral candidate in the Middle East Studies Department at New York University. He lives in Cairo, where he is conducting dissertation research on architecture and urban planning in Egypt from 1939 to 1965, with an emphasis on the Nasser years. Elshahed has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and a Master in Architecture Studies from MIT. Elshahed has contributed to publications such as Journal of Architectural Education, Architectural Record, Topos, and Review of Middle East Studies. He has also contributed to various websites such as Jadaliyya, Places@Design Observer and AlJazeera English on matters related to architecture and urban planning in Egypt. He blogs about Cairo’s architecture and urbanism at Cairobserver.com.
For more information visit:
www.cairobserver.com
Xenia Nikolskaya lives between St. Petersburg, Stockholm and Cairo. She studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and received her MFA from the Russian Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. In 2008 Nikolskaya was granted a Fulbright scholarship, and has received others from the Nordic Council, The Swedish Institute and Sleipnir, as well as grants from the Nordic Cultural Fund, Soros and DBW. Nikolskaya has worked as a professional photographer since 1995. Her work has been exhibited in numerous solo- and group-shows internationally and is held in prestigious collections, such as Sveriges Allmaänna Konstförening, UBS Bank and in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Arts Centre. Her work has been commissioned by Newsweek, GEO, Cosmopolitan, ELLE and the Hermitage State Museum. Nikolskaya has lectured on photography at the Russian Academy of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg State University, Rutgers University, New York and as a visiting professor at the American University Cairo.
For more information visit:
www.xenianikolskaya.com
Ola Seif is an art historian specializing in medieval middle eastern markets, modern Cairene architecture and the history of Egyptian and middle eastern photography. She is the author of the book: Khan al-Khalili: A comprehensive mapped Guide to Cairo's Historic Bazaar (1992) and Echoes of Cairo: A Glim1se of Its Photographic Heritage (expected in October 2012). As a freelance photographer her works have been published in many Cairene newspapers and magazines in the 80 and 90s. Currently she is the curator of the photography and the Egyptian cinema collections at the Rare Books and Special Collections Library of the American University in Cairo.
**Docomomo is a non-profit organization whose full title is ‘International Working Party for Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and Neighborhoods of the Modern Movement’. Docomomo's main goals are brought together in the Eindhoven statement, which was issued at the conclusion of the founding conference in 1990: Bring the significance of the modern movement to the attention of the public, the authorities, the professionals and the educational community concerned with the built environment. Identify and promote the recording of the works of the modern movement, including a register, drawings, photographs, archives and other documents. Foster the development of appropriate techniques and methods of conservation and disseminate this knowledge throughout the professions. Oppose destruction and disfigurement of significant works of the modern movement. Identify and attract funding for documentation and conservation. Explore and develop the knowledge of the modern movement.
For more information visit:
www.docomomo.com
www.docomomoegypt.com
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