apexart's international residency program presents

Wednesday, March 14, 6:30 pm

The talk will introduce Modern and Contemporary art in Egypt and its relation to the various political, social and economical movements and paradigms - in Egypt's recent history and present - that have created the cultural context and sphere in which the country's art exists.

Bassam el Baroni is an independent writer/curator based in Alexandria, Egypt. In late 2005 he co-founded Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF), a collectively run artist-led space, the first in Egypt's second largest city. As a writer he has written texts on the work of many artists, including Susan Hefuna, Amina Mansour, Mona Marzouk and Karim Rashid. His writings have also appeared in a number of local and international publications such as Bidoun, A-42 Arte and Culturas, and Canvas. His recent curatorial projects include the exhibition Family – You, Me and the Trajectories of a Post-Everything Era, PROGR - Zentrum für Kulturproduktion, Bern, Switzerland (2006) and Prototypes for an Advanced Outdoor Visual Culture (2006), an art in public spaces project in Alexandria with the artist duo Winter/Hörbelt and art students from Alexandria and Frankfurt.

Dina Ramadan is a PhD student in the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures. She completed her BA in English and Comparative Literature at the American University in Cairo in 2002. Since arriving at Columbia her area of concentration has been modern and contemporary Arab cultural production including visuals arts, cinema, and literature. Her recent research and writing has focused on the representation of contemporary Middle Eastern artists within the Western contexts. Her dissertation research is concerned with the institutionalization of modern and contemporary Egyptian art.

Directions: A, C, E, N, R, Q, 6, J to Canal and 1 to Franklin.

apexart’s international residency program is supported in part by National Endowment for the Arts, the LMCC, The Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation. Bassam el Baroni's residency is supported in part by a grant from the Ford Foundation.