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Revolutionary exhibition of Ahmed Basiouny: A martyr's energy outlives him At a retrospective exhibition held at the AUC's Sharjah Art Gallery, you meet Basiony the artist, who lost his life in the heat of Egypt's uprising
Ahmed Basiony was fearless. And overrun with energy. At the American University in Cairo's Sharjah Art Gallery, the spectator is overpowered with Basiony's life and artwork. If the name doesn't sound familiar, a visit to this exhibition makes it unforgettable. Basiony was an artist who lost his life in Tahrir Square on 28 January 2011; amid the gunshots and chants for Egypt's freedom in the first bloody day of the uprising. The twirling Sharjah Art Gallery at AUC now houses a retrospective of Basiony's career. The exhibition focuses on footage taken by Basiony in Tahrir Square days before he was shot dead amid protests, juxtaposed with his installation project, 30 Days of Running in Place, as well as a poignant documentary prepared by close friend and project curator, Shady El-Noshokaty, that presents Basiony as an artist, teacher, father and martyr of the revolution. The exhibition is the second stop in a three-part memorial exhibition sponsored by the American University in Cairo. The exhibition will visit three of Egypt's cultural venues; Darb 1718 Contemporary Art and Culture Centre, the ASCII Foundation for Contemporary Art Education and AUC'S Sharjah Art Gallery. Dressed in a bright blood red shirt that matches his puffy eyes, El Noshokaty is crouched on the floor of the Sharjah gallery, exhausted after more than 24 hours of preparing for the big opening. "People do not know who Basiony is," says El Noshokaty defiantly. "Yes, he is a martyr, fine. But people don't realise how unique and extraordinary he is." He continues, on a fervent roll: "When someone like him dies, it is a great loss to any country with a plan to become civilised by geniuses who emerge to change it." "This memorial exhibition is meant to unveil the man behind the name," El-Noshokaty, says, keen on introducing Basiony as an artist first. Ahmed Basiony delved into interactive art; he pioneered sound art and stood out in performance and installation artworks. After graduating from the Faculty of Art Education at Helwan University in 2000, Basiony went on to acquire a Master's degree in Creative Potential of Digital Sound Art. Basiony's work played with the notion of constructed reality and capturing images through sound. He created his own interactive digital language to express moments and realities. He pioneered the education of digital art sound in Egypt by organising workshops that focused on sound experimentation. On the second floor of AUC's Sharjah Art Gallery, a screen captures Basiony as he taught his students how to manipulate sound waves during an experimental digital sound art workshop held at the Faculty of Art Education at Helwan University in 2010. The retrospective video steals you away into a world where Basiony was still alive and performing for his students and the general public such as in Symmetric System (December, 2000). The flashback is interrupted, however, by the sounds of the protests emerging from the downstairs installation. The recording shows Basiony, with his jet-black curls framing his buoyant face, amid the roars of angry men. His hands are uninhibited- they dance around to imitate sound waves. "What I want you to do now is draw your own waves," he asked his students. In the video Basiony teaches with his voice, with his hands, with his body. He is seen playing around with his vocal cords, mimicking sounds of flies and monsters, to the delight of the class. The video heartrendingly shows you another side of the artist. "This is the last workshop he ever did. He was phenomenal that day," remembers El-Noshokaty who has dedicated massive amounts of time to paying tribute to his lost friend. "He pioneered the concept of visualising sound- to see the image as a sound, training your senses to speak in different languages." "I believe, I think I exist, therefore I exist," Basiony believed. Footage Basiony shot in the initial days of the revolution is showcased on a wall branching from the documentary. Two large screens exhibit two videos shot and edited by Basiony on the first two days of revolution. The first video documented the first evening prayers in Tahrir Square. In the deep dark shadows that emerge from the second video, you catch a hint of movement; it is tense. And seconds later, tear gas spreads through the air like cotton candy, wounded men brush past, and the running resumes. A series of miniscule screens are then lined up across another wall. Basiony shot these clips with his mobile phone and are similar to so many we've seen before on YouTube and social media. But these are shot by Basiony. El-Noshokaty is a big fan of these videos. He says they capture a sense of panic and take you inside of Basiony's state of mind. "What's intriguing is that he runs and laughs and talks to himself. That's typical Basiony- he has random conversations with himself." Downstairs, two screens show a performance by Basiony in the garden of the Cairo Opera Housein 2010 as part of the his flagship project; 30 Days of Running in Place, juxtaposed with his footage shot during the Tahrir Square protests from 25 January to 28 January. The 30 Days Running in Place video installation was designed to capture him running in a transparent astronaut-like suit that collects his sweat, with an open-source programming video measuring the energy he exerts. Basiony decided to re-enact the project in Tahrir Square when protests kicked off. He dressed in a striking blue suit and camera, put on his large shoes and filmed his footsteps amid the masses of protestors. The projects, performed exactly a year apart, were complete opposites in a sense: in one, he was isolated from an audience, in the other, he infiltrated it. But still, El-Noshokaty found a conceptual relationship between them. He remembers a late-night conversation over foul (Egyptian-style beans) that helped put it all together. Exactly a year before his death, Basiony talked to El-Noshokaty, about this "wasted energy" project. "That day he was sick, and he was sad because people had been laughing at him, doubting the project," recalls El-Noshokaty, who wanted to explain why he chose to exhibit 30 Days of Running in Place as a centrepiece in this exhibition. "Basiony wasn't simply trying to transfer physical energy into electronic energy," he adds. 30 days helped to weave all the elements together. From his recollections El-Noshokaty created a conceptual framework for the project. Basiony felt his 30 years of existence had been wasted and he was born with the beginning of Mubarak's draining and lifeless 30-year reign. His art and activism converged in Tahrir Square. He directed all the energy he had left into fighting for freedom. At Darb 1718 Contemporary Art and Culture Centre, a retrospective exhibition of Basiony's sound art, performance and new media installation projects is currently showcased. An archive of documentation from his experimental sound art workshops and other educational endeavours will be showcased at the ASCII Foundation of Contemporary Art Education starting 20 October. The exhibition is heartbreaking for many reasons; it introduces us to the artist's raison d'être and the place where he died. It alerts you to the students who lost their teacher. Adam and Salma lost their father. You become nostalgic, for the experimental artist who experimented with hope on his last days. But at least you find comfort in thinking that; your art outlives you. Programme: Opened on Saturday, 6 October Darb 1718 Contemporary Art & Culture Centre Kasr El-Sham3 Street, Al-Fakhareen, Old Cairo, Cairo, Egypt Opened on Sunday, 14 October AUC Sharjah Art Gallery AUC Centre for the Arts, American University in Cairo, AUC Avenue, New Cairo, Egypt Saturday, 20 October, 7pm ASCII Foundation for Contemporary Art Education 6 Mourad Street, from Eleseery Street, from El-Shohadaa Street Ard El-Lewa, Mohandiseen, Giza, Egypt All exhibitions will run until 20 November 2012 http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/55622.aspx
