Tips from the culture desk: August 2-8 in Cairo and Alexandria

The Mada culture desk was starkly divided as to which events to attend this week. The engine of the cultural scene is returning to full velocity, but it’s still summer — so after several weeks’ break, are we refreshed enough to eagerly return to heady issues of contemporary art, or do we conserve our energy and enjoy the simple pleasures of entertainment while we still can? Fortunately, with an exhibition, an arthouse screening, and two very different kinds of concerts to recommend this week, both are possible in the coming days.

Sunday, August 2 – “The Good, the Bad and the Crimson Shoe,” Medrar

Medrar’s first show of the season, “The Good, the Bad and the Crimson Shoe,” on view from August 2-20, is a (presumably collaborative) exhibition of drawings by Mohamed El Maghraby and cartoonist Ahmed Tawfig (a Google search reveals that the latter spells his name Tawfiq on his social media accounts, but inexplicably he’s Tawfig in the press release and on the poster).

As is the mode with many of the “young, emerging” artists in this scene, the press release is a cryptic and seemingly mystical short story about a mysterious character called Salma looking at lines under a microscope, not daring to look at a painting of something called the Crimson Shoe under the microscope, and then finally being mystified by a string of numbers when she puts the actual Crimson Shoe under her lens.

The short story was written by Maghraby, who professes to be interested in philosophy among other things (the text belies an interest in mystical numbers and design, as well as some sort of ontological quandry regarding the reality of images and objects, all of which has also been en vogue here for some years now). A quick look at Meghraby’s Behance profile shows a strong interest in lines, numbers and urban scapes. A peek at Tawfig’s Facebook profile shows some blocky, linear cartoons. And photos posted on the Facebook event page for the exhibition reveal some snippets of small-format figurative drawings that seem to have minimal, cartoon-looking figures floating against a blank field. I suppose how it all comes together will be revealed at Sunday’s opening.

Opening on Sunday, August 2, starting at 7 pm. Medrar, 7 Gamal El Din Abou El Mahasen Street, Garden City, first floor, Apt 4. Free entrance. Contact: 02.27.95.77.14, [email protected]

Tuesday, August 4 – Double screening at Cimatheque

On Tuesday, Cimatheque presents a double-header of two sort-of-parafictional films that won the Berlinale’s THINK:FILM award, starting with Pierre Huyghe’s 19-minute short, Untitled (Human Mask) (2014), an art film featuring a (real) monkey in Japan who has been trained to work as a waitress. It starts with footage of a dystopian post-Fukushima landscape, then transitions to the monkey sitting alone in an abandoned restaurant, wearing a mask of a young woman’s face.

According to a brief account on the Berlinale website, the short is a meditation on the contemporary human condition. Basically (and ever-so obviously), we're all trapped, alienated, divorced from our own humanity, et cetera — the typical pretentious (post) anthropocene bullshit that so many contemporary artists have been making bank on in recent years. The description alone is just another reason why this enormously successful French artist always makes my eyes roll into the back of my head (I still resent him for killing that anime character. And with the monkey, the exploitation continues). Readers, please attend this screening so you can join me in angry judgment against him (or, I suppose, disagree with me entirely).

Huyghe’s dubious short is followed by a 62-minute film by Maciej Sobieszczanski and Lukasz Ronduda. In The Performer (2014), artist Oskar Dawicki plays himself as he tries to discover whether or not he exists. The film is blackly weird in its hopelessness (as so many Polish things tend to be), and Dawicki is a personal hero of mine — he was a member of the Azorro Supergroup, which did a series of sweet and hilarious videos about the deeply empty absurdity of the contemporary art world.

Dawicki’s solo work tends to be similarly absurd and cheeky, as well as sort of sad, regretful and uncomfortable, with an inevitable dose of post-post-(post?)-modern disengaged irony. He struggles to understand the nebulous reality of his own existence and that of art in general, while embracing the heroic failure of the uselessness of being an artist at all (while giving the impression that he might be mischievously flipping the bird at us for even taking him seriously, in the first place).

Dawicki himself will be at the screening, along with Ronduda (who is also a very interesting curator, writer and art historian), so it’s an opportunity not to be missed to talk to the man in person. Come to furrow your brow at snooty Pierre Huyghe, and stay to engage with the good stuff.

Screening starts at 7 pm. Cimatheque Alternative Film Center, 19a Adly Street, fifth floor, Apt 28/29, downtown Cairo. Free entrance. Contact: [email protected]

Tuesday, August 4 - Aya Metwalli & Telepoetic, Cairo Jazz Club

If you find it too hot and tedious to sit quietly and contemplate some art films, head to Cairo Jazz Club, where Cairo-based electro-instrumental musician Aya Metwalli and Alexandria’s electronic post-rock offering Telepoetic are sure to please the crowds. Maha El-Nabawi calls Metwalli a musical enigma: “Looking at her SoundCloud song history, it’s clear that she doesn’t stick to one musical style. Instead she seamlessly drifts through genres with a curious sense of sonic experimentation.”

Telepoetic has been performing since 2006 with Amir Rizk on drums and pads, Mohamed Desouky on bass guitar and Ahmed Saleh manning the electronics, keys and electric guitar. Their debut album Ensehab, released in 2013, was well-received, and the group has been touring it in Cairo, Alexandria, Beirut and Dubai. Telepoetic’s performances are often accompanied by stage visuals and light shows.

The event starts at 10:30 pm Cairo Jazz Club, 197 26th July Street, Agouza. Reservations are recommended: 02.33.45.99.39. Entrance is free, but the first order has a mark-up for entertainment.

Saturday, August 8 - Kamilya Jubran, Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Palestinian oudist, composer and singer Kamilya Jubran — who was featured in Mada’s list of progressive oud players this May — is considered one of the most influential musicians of the past two decades, inspiring a new style of Arabic song as she invokes the plight of Palestine. She was lead vocalist and qanun player in the Sabreen ensemble until 2002, and since then she has been collaborating with an array of European musicians on various projects. Jubran will be performing in the open air up in Alex as part of the biblioteca’s summer art festival, which just kicked off this weekend.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=vckB48v7zVo

The event starts at 8:30 pm on Saturday at Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s open air theater. Tickets are LE75 seated, and LE50 standing.