Tips from the culture desk: Promising arts across 5 Egyptian cities

This is a great few days for decentralized cultural production and consumption, thanks largely to two exciting events from Mahatat. This week also sees the fifth Dinner at the Movies event in Cairo and the start of the ninth National Theater Festival in Cairo and Alexandria.

And Nile Sunset Annex launches its 20th publication — and earring designed by artist Paul Simon Richards and made in the workshop of Zeinab Khalifa — in the capital tonight.

City Shadows exhibition - Saturday and Sunday

This unusual two-day exhibition is an intervention in the abandoned Villa Fernand on Abdel-Salam Aref Street in Port Said. Using the city itself — its sound archives, photography, music and oral histories — the visual arts component of City Shadows is curated by artist Nadia Mounir, with music by Nancy Mounir and Amr Mostafa, under the guidance of established artist and Contemporary Image Collective cofounder Rana El-Nemr.

The event is part of a research project launched six months ago exploring the possibility of reviving derelict spaces through art and providing new platforms for artists. As a way to engage audiences, a social media campaign asked people to send photos of abandoned spaces of their city, using the hashtag #cityshadows2016. The project is organized by Mahatat for Contemporary Art, an energetic non-profit that researches and organizes artistic events and interventions in public spaces around the country.

8 pm, July 16 and 17, Villa Fernanad, Abdel-Salam Aref Street, Port Said. Free. Facebook event here.

Dinner at the Movies - Sunday

In the 5th Dinner at the Movies event, an imaginative and engrossing collaboration between downtown Cairo neighbors Cimatheque - Alternative Film Centre and Eish & Malh that Mada’s Andeel has called “an inspiration,” the film program focuses on personal relationships.

Eish & Malh turn down their lights and set up a series of long tables facing a large wall projection, and for each short film they discreetly bring out a course of dinner devised specially in relation to what’s going on onscreen. This month, both films and food move from sunny, courtship to horrible breakups, and from marriage to siblinghood, and includes directors as diverse as late American surrealist Man Ray and young Egyptian artist Shayma Aziz.

July 17, at 7:30pm. Bookings required. Facebook event here. Cost varies between LE115 and LE185, depending on the main course you choose.

Shahrazade Outside Halls - Monday and Tuesday

Mahatat are having a busy week, meaning we are lucky enough to have opportunities to see multiple artistic interventions in public and unconventional spaces in various northern cities. As part of their Art of Transit program — which organized tours by performing art troupes in public spaces — Awtar Quartet is performing Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s popular symphonic work Shahrazade (1888) in the streets of Damietta and Mansoura.

The versatile Awtar Quartet, founded in 2012 by Yasser Ghanim, plays a colourful mix of sounds including classical, jazz, tango, folk, latin and Arabic music. Mahatat’s previously tours for artists, such as clowning troupe Outa Hamra, the Cairo Contemporary Dance Center, Masl theater troupe and classical music on balconies with Teatro Independent, have been received to great acclaim.

July 18 in Damietta and July 19  in Mansoura. Free. Follow the event page for more details.

9th National Theater Festival - starting Tuesday

There’s a chance to catch multiple plays in Cairo and Alexandria as part of the ninth edition of the National Theater Festival. Dedicated to late actor Nour El-Sherif, the festival spans three weeks and almost 40 plays from 11 governerates around the country — includes troupes from the public, private sector and universities. Several awards will be handed out on the closing event in August.

Multiple venues across the country from July 19 to August 8. Full program here.