Altar, cactus, meditation temple, a baby's foot, Brazilian saint, femininity, time, growth, arrow and flash are the carvings of the 13th annual Aswan International Sculptures Symposium, Nevine El-Aref reports It seems that the number 13 spell has affected this year's Aswan International Sculptures Symposium (AISS). While the administrative team of the AISS inspects the final touches of the night ceremony to mark the end of the 13th annual event, an unexpected, dusty wind suddenly blew all over Aswan and forced the cancellation of the minister of culture's tour of the new sculptures carved within the bed-rock of the open-air museum, and the location of the ceremony changed from the Nubia Museum amphitheatre to the Basma Hotel's festival hall. Although the hall was too small to host such a great event and did not have enough space or a suitable stage for the performance, it introduced for the first time to Egyptian spectators a talented Sudanese singer, Asia. To the rhythm of Nubian music, Asia's beautiful voice filled the evening air while a dozen dancers wearing vivid costumes in all shades of red and yellow shook to the rhythm of the drums. Asia, with her curly red hair and white silk dress, swayed to the rhythm of the well-known Nubian songs. Enchanted with the atmosphere and pleased with the result of the AISS 13th round, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni told Al-Ahram Weekly he was very proud of the results achieved by the symposium. "It not only re-establishes the practice of stone sculpture in Egypt and contributes to its development worldwide, but also provides opportunities for sculptors to produce large works in granite, instilling in young Egyptian artists the drive to regenerate Aswan as the international arts centre it once was," he said. "I am very happy that the symposium has created a skillful generation of young Egyptian granite sculptors." Hosni said that establishing the AISS was a dream conceived when he was Egypt's cultural attaché in Paris. "Now, after more than two decades, the AISS not only exists on Egypt's cultural calendar but has established itself as an important international event attracting leading sculptors and amateurs from many countries," he said. "Aswan stone," Hosni went on, "which was used to build the Pyramids, huge temples, obelisks, colossi and tombs, is now helping develop the skill and perseverance of not only professional sculptors but their assistants as well, and the local assistants in Aswan are now considered among the best in the world." This year's entries brought the total number of AISS sculptures since the symposium began to 168. These are all now displayed in an open-air museum on top of a hill overlooking the Nile near Shallalat on the outskirts of the Aswan governorate. Ahmed Megahed, the newly-appointed director of the Cultural Development Fund (CDF), told the Weekly that this year the AISS had been very successful as it attracted more well-known sculptors, including Abdel-Hadi El-Weshahi and famous international artist Georges Bahgory, who is working in granite for the first time. It also attracted more foreigners, some of whom came to the AISS at their own expense just to participate in the AISS. Megahed said that now, after years on hold, initial steps had been taken to develop the outdoor area at Shallalat, wrongly called an open-air museum, which houses the AISS sculptures of the last 13 years, and transform it into the first real open-air museum for sculptors in the Middle East and the 10th among the world. Roads leading to the museum are smoother and paved with gravel in an attempt to prevent disturbance to the original desert cap, while sophisticated lamps and spotlights have been installed along the main path to the museum as well as on surrounding rocks. The sculpture museum is set in breathtaking scenery, illustrating the magical marriage of desert and Nile, with the green of the valley standing out like an emerald amid the dusty plains of the desert. In the 13 years since the first AISS the museum has been neglected; the roads leading to it were lined with rugged pieces of art haphazardly installed on the parched desert, except for a few that had been carved in the bed-rock. The absence of a lighting system meant the museum was inaccessible after dark. "All this complexity has now come to an end, and the development project will be implemented in three phases," Hosni says. The first phase is already well under way. This involves studying the geology and topography of the site as well as the various paths taken by flash floods in an attempt to choose the best location for a visitors' centre. This will provide visiting guests with all the information they need about the history of the AISS from 1996 up to now, as well as of the artists who have taken part in the symposium and their exhibited work. A parking zone will be set up, as well as a rest house, restaurant, cafeteria and bookshop which will offer historical, archaeological and art books. To promote the museum and art venue, Hosni continued, street signs would guide visitors to the location and brochures would be handed out at the Nubia Museum. Megahed explained that the pieces of art placed on display would be reorganised and strikingly lit in an attempt to convert the whole site into an open-air "Sculpture Park", where visitors could appreciate and learn more about granite sculpture. "A small indoor museum with Nubian- style architecture will be constructed within the museum's bed rock," Hosni said, adding that it would display the artists' sketches, drawings and models of their sculptures as well as photos featuring artists at work. After proving successful, this AISS round continued its innovation initiated last year to spruce up the public taste for granite art and to promote granite sculpture in an indoor décor by encouraging artists to carve three or four small blocks of granite and enrich them with detail and forms embodying the spirit of exploration. This year, Japanese artist Haruko Yamashita, who took part in the symposium's seventh, eighth and ninth rounds, came to carve three small works of art, which are very different from her usual conception. Yamashita used black, red and white granite to carve an egg coming out from a square in an interwoven design, which can be differently interpreted as male/female or black/ white. This piece was admired by Hosni during his inspection tour. "It is really a master piece reflecting the carving skill and taste of Yamashita," he commented. The theme of her second piece was executed in Japan, and embodied a 3D work where the space comes from two dimensions. Her third piece is two entwined squares. She says she looks on taming granite as "an internal journey to explore ourselves". Egyptian artist Vivian El-Batanoni is the second to carve small sculptures. This year she carved three miniatures that reflect and embody some human characteristics and feelings. She carved a hole-dotted widow curtain reflecting pessimism and optimism, and a cactus showing good and evil. "Despite its thorns, the cactus is full of water that can save a living creature in the desert," Vivian said. Her third piece is the Tanura, embodying perplexity, confusion, doubt and worry while the fourth is a sailing rig symbolising freedom. Vivian said that her style and technique in carving stone had been developed through the different years of the symposium. At the beginning she used to carve sculptures with sharp edges and end, but now she makes them more rounded and fine like those found in nature. She refuses to categorise her work as she believe that this may not give an artist the opportunity to extend his or her innovation in the piece within his or her hand. "Making a few sketches with outlines is the best," she said. Inspired by Islamic art, Egyptian artist Ahmed Qaraali carved his mihrab. Although his piece is in a modern oriental style, Qaraali calls on all architects in Egypt to use their distinguished Arab Islamic heritage in fabricating doors, mihrab in mosques, altar in churches and windows. According to Qaraali, the Arab Islamic Art style must be resurrected in the architectural style of all houses and edifices in Egypt with a little twist in a way to make them more suitable to the modern era. "I don't know how to solve this difficult equation, but all architects must be hand in hand to spruce up the Arab Egyptian taste in architecture," he commented. The piece by Brazilian artist Samuel Panniero, who himself resembles in features the Cuban revolutionary leader Che Guevara, embodies a religious Latin legend of the Arco De Oxossi (Bow of Oxossi) to pay homage to Oxossi, the protective saint of artists. Samuel chose the legend to reflect his personal experience as a turning point in his artistic career. When he came to Aswan to participate in the AISS it was his first time to work on granite, and he did not have any idea in mind. "Inspired by the ancient Egyptian monuments that overwhelm Aswan, the Arco De Oxossi crossed my mind while I was admiring my piece of red granite," he said. For him creativity has no limits. Being a visual artist of contemporary art does not stop him to experience granite, considered as a very ancient style. "Most of the contemporary trends of art start with drawing, which is very ancient and traditional genre of art," Panniero said. This year Akram El-Magdoub continued his environmental art theme as he carved his piece in the bed rock of the open-air museum. He says his piece, "Space of Meditation", gives people a place to meditate. After working out mathematical calculations and watching the day's movement of the sun, he chose a special place within the bed rock of the open-air museum under the full glare of the sun and facing a ravishing scene of the Aswan Nile with greenery at its edge. El-Magdoub's piece is like the open court of an ancient Egyptian temple, where a visitor walks through a corridor interrupted by columns until he reaches a back door to sit on a small sofa where he can meditate. With this piece El-Magdoub calls on everyone to sit and admire God's creations in nature and to purify themselves from bad memories and burdens.
