The 22nd Aswan International Sculpture Symposium (AISS) concluded Saturday evening at the Open Museum in Aswan. A traditional folk dance and Jaafary performance were given by the Aswan Folk and Wadi Kar Kar troupes after the ceremony. The ceremony concluded a 40-day symposium, during which 15 Egyptian and international artists created sculptures out of granite. Culture Minister Helmy El-Namnam attended the closing ceremony, after viewing the newly finished sculptures and visiting the Open Museum, which showcases works from every previous edition of the symposium. Among the attendees on Saturday were Ahmed Awwad, head of the Culture Development Fund which sponsors the symposium, and Magdy Hegazy, Governor of Aswan. “Our celebration of the 22nd Aswan Symposium today embodies the country's dedication to art and creativity. It also highlights granite sculpting, an ancient art at which our ancestors excelled. It preserves this art while expanding it with new works by artists from Egypt and around the world,” Hegazy said in a speech at the closing. This year the symposium's general commissaire was sculptor Nagui Farid, assisted by artist Mohamed Sabry. The participants included five international artists, Hiroyuki Asakawa from Japan, Liu Yang from China, Valerian Jikia from Georgia, Klaus Hunsicker from Germany and Jose Carlos Millan from Spain. The 10 Egyptian participants included four returning artists with experience in the symposium's workshops: Therese Antoine, Maged Mikhail, Reem Osama and Ali Saadallah. The first-time Egyptian participants included Al-Shaimaa Darwish, Ahmed Magdy, Tamer Ragab, Abdelmegid Ismail, Ola Mousa, and Shorouq Helal. The closing also celebrated AISS' induction into the International Sculpture Symposium Alliance (ISSA), presented by its Secretary General, Chinese artist Liu Yang. For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture
