Tips from the culture desk: May 31-June 6 in Cairo, Alexandria

Here are four potentially exciting events happening this week, as recommended by Mada's culture desk. 

CairoCats - Sunday

Jared McCormack has long run a visual blog about cats in Cairo, and downtown cafe Kafein asked him if he’d make an exhibition based on it for their new initiative, K Art Space, which is in the cafe. He agreed, deciding that his part of any profits would go to the Egyptian Society for Mercy to Animals (ESMA). The result includes unusual postcards and some handsome-looking tote bags.

CairoCats opens May 31 at K Art Space, 28 Sherif Street, downtown Cairo. Tel: 0106 413 8200

Garden City art tour: Openings at Gypsum and Medrar - Tuesday

Two exhibitions open a few doors away from each other, and both sound very intriguing. Hello, I’m an artist is the charmingly-named first solo exhibition by Alexandrian artist Sara Nabil (b. 1987). And for What are you doing, object?, artist-run project Nile Sunset Annex (co-run by Mada’s culture editor, Jenifer Evans) has curated a show of new, remade and already existing physical artworks by 11 important Egyptian artists born between 1919 and 1992, most of whom have never exhibited in the same space and time before.

Hello, I’m an artist opens June 2 at 7 pm, and runs through June 16 at Medrar (7 Gamal Eddin Abou al-Mahasen Street, 1st floor, apt. 4, Garden City). What are you doing, object? opens at 8 pm the same evening and runs through July 7, at Gypsum Gallery (5 Ibrahim Naguib Street, ground floor, apt. 2, Garden City).

Cimatheque launch, Wednesday

Long-awaited alternative film center Cimatheque finally opens itself to the public on June 3, with Tawfik Salah’s last great film, Al-Makhduqun (The Dupes, 1972), an adaptation of Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani’s Men in the Sun. This kicks off a program of rarely seen films, found footage and old commercials, alongside an exhibition curated by Ala Younis and Rana El Nemr. Keep checking the Facebook page to find out the details, and look back at the blog that documented the cinema-building process.

19a Adly Street, 5th floor, apt. 28/29, downtown Cairo. [email protected]

Alexandria's Oufuqy Music Forum - throughout the week

Entering its fourth edition, the always interesting Oufoqy Music Forum kicks off the Mediterranean summer on June 1 with a diverse daily program of free music, films, seminars and workshops. Launched in 2012 in El Cabina, Oufuqy has expanded in its following editions to host activities in several networks of alternative culture spaces and even restaurants in Alexandria. It has also gained a reputation for spotting uncoming talent. Organized by Gudran Association for Art and Development, this year it invites artists for 22 concerts from Cairo, Alexandria, Sudan and Europe to perform. Find the full program here.