CAIRO - 9 JULY 2017: After realizing that artistic practices are tailored and limited to certain places in the urban cities of Egypt, closing the door on most of its potential audiences, five cofounders decided to launch a social and cultural hub, Mahatat, in late 2011 where everyone in the county had access to art, decentralizing the Egyptian art scene.
Mahatat was cofounded by Myriam Makhoul, Marie Girod, Mayada Said, Heba ElCheikh and Astrid Thews. The team realized that not only are most of the cultural activities limited to Cairo and Alexandria but also noticed that these activities feature the same artists.
Restricting the cultural events to urban cities excludes the other governorates exposure to different forms of art which contributed to the negative connotation of art and artists as a practice that is not taken seriously in all its forms; music, theater, painting, and many more.
By allowing everyone in the public to access art, Mahatat is not confining art to private space while utilizing the dynamics and challenges of art in public space.
It is aiming to balance the double edged sword of art as an exclusive practice for an elite audience that must be appreciated as well as a form of entertainment that should be allowed to everyone. Reem Khedr, Program Coordinator at Mahatat, added “A culture where you ask people to pay to see something artistic is not there yet.”
Mahatat envisions art to be more accessible for all the Egyptian society. They aim to create a pool or a hub for “cultural operators” in Egypt. This could only be done through enhancing the cultural management skills and through creating a network of emerging artists.
On the other hand, Mahatat’s plans to provide “interventions in public spaces for different audience” in both Nile delta and Suez Canal Regions. They work on providing learning opportunities for young artists through the group of volunteers they have in each governorate.
Art Scene in Egypt
Egypt has seen several golden ages in which art has thoroughly flourished; however currently, Mahatat’s team has recognized that the art scene in Egypt is now different.
“Unfortunately, it is not supported and the environment is not encouraging. It is always looked up as a hobby and waste of time sometimes or even a luxury. So yeah there are general sensitivities,” clarified Khedr.
Yet, she believes the there is a fine number of potentials that can change the equation
“Fresh grades for example from applied arts or fine arts represent a spine of renaissance ... (that is emerging in Egypt),” mentioned Khedr.
Mahatat’s team asserts that the support in Egypt, whether financially or socially, needs “a lot of work to be developed.”
Contemporary art vs. Egyptian audience
Mahatat focuses on contemporary art performances that reflect social problems across Egypt. Although this genre is pretty dynamic and requires some sort of level of art background, Mahatat presents those ideas in easy to understand performances and symbolism.
Khedr explained “They usually grasp the idea quickly and they comment and it shows in their comments. That is what makes it always interesting, especially that we try to go to the same places so you can see how their interaction is with different kinds of interventions.”
Projects and Public Space
Since their launch in 2011, Mahatat has had 17 projects including publications, workshops, seminars, and interventions. “The first real on ground project was called shaware3na. It started in 2012 in metro stations and some squares like Midan Abdeen and there were different types of interventions like mime, clowning, contemporary dance, screening of short movies,” Khedr said.
Mahatat has a few plans left for 2017; they have an ongoing project called “Access to Art” that began in 2014 until the end of 2017. This program consists of “9 transit tours and 6 art community workshops and 4 artistic workshops.”
In September, Mahatat will launch two community art workshops in Ezbet Kheirallah in Cairo for nonprofessional artists and in October, they will have a workshop for emerging artists in Ismailia and allow them to meet professional artists and strengthen their skills and hopefully the outcome would be displayed in a public space.
One performance that certainly resonated with Mahatat’s audience was Opera on Balconies. The singer performed French, Italian and Arabic opera on a balcony. It was an interesting combination of a form of music so confined to Opera houses or closed rooms to be openly echoing on the streets.
Security permits represent plays a remarkable role in the success of Mahtat projects.
“We take some criteria into consideration when we scout for locations …we try to choose locations that are easily accessible and at the same time we are not causing hindrance or inconvenience to people around,” said Khedr.
Mahtat's team notifies authorities 3 weeks before their project’s implementation date.
“Like usually they do not say no; at the same time we do not make any political content. We are usually asked why we do this and what kind of content it is. May be this facilitates the process,” said Khedr.
Publications
Mahatat noticed that whenever you search for any publications concerning art and public space none of the publications are about the Middle East. Therefore, Mahatat launched the Co-writing Lab to document their performances and research to become a platform where artists can share and exchange their research.
“It is a project that more to do with the academic side of things. It was to document the ways and the practices of different performers across the Middle East and the region in general,” Communications Officer at Mahatat Menna Azmy explained.
“City Shadows” is one of Mahatat’s publication that focuses on “transforming abandoned spaces through the art.” It was a research project inspired by their “Balcony Opera” performance that mapped out abandoned places and presented a guide and toolkit on how to choose and perform in abandoned spaces.
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