After the 25 January Revolution, downtown has been a subject of choice for artists and writers alike. Downtown is the name of a group exhibition currently on show at Misr Gallery in Zamalek, one of those positive shows of the revolutionary spirit sweeping the country on the eve of the second wave of the revolution. The exhibition includes works by 13 young artists, featuring their own visions of downtown, as a place and a dream. According to Mahmoud Hamdi, both the curator and one of the participating artists, downtown was a hub for bookstores and libraries until the 1960s when social changes turned these libraries into clothes shops. While bookshops struggle to survive, the clothes trade has moved from shops to sidewalks. The exhibition is a scream from each participating artist, an attempt to restore the old and unique vision of downtown Cairo. Born in Cairo in 1987, Menna Genedi graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Helwan University in 2010. Genedi participated in the 2012 Youth Salon and a group exhibition at the Karmat Ibn Hani Centre in 2011 as well as another at the Khan Al-Maghrabi Gallery in 2009 and in the graffiti festival in 2007/08. “I was born and grew up there; my home is next to the Ministry of Interior. I know every inch of downtown Cairo. I used to accompany my mother and grandmother every Saturday for a walk downtown,” she recalls. “The visions of old downtown and the voice of my mother pointing at the beautiful architecture in admiration are still engraved in my mind. On the other hand, my father used to talk to me about how it looked in the past and showed me beautiful pictures. I fell in love with Downtown since I was a young girl; it was as if Downtown is a whole country, not just a small part of it.” According to Genedi, the group of artists had no coordination or brainstorming sessions prior to contributing work to the exhibition. Haphazard as this is, it yields a multifarious experience. One 120cm by 80cm piece by Genedi features the noisy, or rather the acrobatic, face of present-day downtown, with people, cars, giraffes and other animals mingled and in motion. At the centre of the huge painting is a sarcastic picture of Egypt's former president Mohamed Morsi in a black coat, as if he wants to isolate himself from the people crammed around him. Genedi's painting is one of the few paintings that have a political dimension, however. The painting is cheerful and rich in detail, which encourages you to gaze at it for a long time, to invent tales and discover relationships between different objects, before you decide to move to the next vision of downtown. Born in Cairo in 1981, Ahmed Talal holds a BA and a painting diploma from the Faculty of Art Education, Helwan University. Talal participated in several national and international exhibitions, including the summer selection group exhibition at Gallery Misr 2012, and the “Nord” 2010 exhibition in Dusseldorf, Germany. Talal opted for documenting different transportation vehicles roaming the streets of downtown: buses, taxis, microbuses and trucks. Painted in watercolors, the vibrant vehicles seem very real, almost human, as if they carry your soul on a tour of the noisy downtown streets. Sharing this vision are Ibrahim Saad's two huge photos, which feature huge buildings under restoration in Tahrir Square, the ugly metal columns and pieces of thin green plastic fixed to the buildings tarnishing the view of the main street. In a brief message, Enas Al-Seddik says, “after the morning aromas of basil and coffee that were fused to the warmth of the sun shining on my face in Groppi in the 1970s, today I pull my feet from the gutter, only to witness our humanity being insulted in our country as we walk through the rubbish on the streets like large insects, our bodies no longer carrying any dignity to uphold our identities due to the unaccustomed filthy phrases and dirty new habits issuing here or there. I appeal to you all to perform funereal prayers for our humanity in the country of the Hanging Church, the Mosque of Ahmed Ibn Tulun and the Saqqara Pyramid, while chanting together Umm Kolthoum's songs over the tombs.” Al-Seddik's work is an assemblage — 40cm by 60cm — featuring the chest of a woman wearing a pink bra; the chest is, however, adorned with a man's black tie. Beside this is a small mirror in which the visitor can watch their own “humiliated” face. Also echoing this vision is Aya Al-Fallah's two paintings in acrylic on canvas — 120cm by 90cm — symbolising the depression and humiliation imposed on women in our society, especially female protesters who participated in demonstrations that took place downtown. Al-Fallah earned a diploma of fine arts in 2009, having graduated from Helwan University a year before, and she has participated in various exhibitions, workshops and cultural events in Germany, Britain and Italy. Her local contributions have included the Art and Freedom exhibition at the Zamalek Art Gallery, the Super Market exhibition at the Gezira Art Centre and Human body exhibition at the Palace of Art, Opera House. Painted in faint blue, the two paintings feature the bust of a female body wearing a blue bra, which looks as if it sprang from a huge chart of downtown streets. The paintings refer to the frequent harassment of women to limit their participation in demonstrations. As the young woman's face looks sad, the paintings are a stark denouncement of patriarchal practices. In his polyester sculpture — 110cm by 50cm by 50cm — Kamal Al-Feki depicts another aspect of downtown: a group of people crammed all together in what looks like a shanty net. The block of crammed people is in faint green, making a funny scene of which the viewer can easily become part. Mohamed Al-Masri, a graduate of the Art Education Faculty at Helwan University, has since 2000 participated in biennales and cultural festivals in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Germany, China, Indonesia, India, Zambia, Ethiopia and Italy. He has won several awards, most importantly the Golden Medal for Arts in the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the Olympic Torch of the Winter Olympics in Toronto in 2006. Al-Masri's pictures feature Talaat Harb's statue in the famous downtown square named after him holding colourful balloons. A stark contradiction is evident between the black and white picture and the colorful balloons. Is this a cheerful gesture in reference to the toppling of the regime? The two photos are in line with most of the works on show in mocking the state and status of downtown today. And I believe it makes sense to look forward to a second episode of downtown, after 30 June. The exhibition runs until 15 August.
