THEY will receive you as soon as you enter the open area of the Palace of Arts at the Nile-side Cairo Opera House, but soon you will find each of them is busy walking in the street to catch his day. These are just models of the ordinary Egyptian people, that Hany Rashed, a 34-year-old visual artist, has created for the "Why Not" exhibition that was opened on February 7 in the presence of the Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouq Hosni. "The Egyptian Ministry of Culture is proud to sponsor the production of project ‘Why Not?' another continuum that hosts the creative talents of the Egyptian art movement today as well as their projects, diversified and experimental as they are," the Minister said during the inauguration. "We are, as always, confident of the success of the artists and their art," he added. "Why not?" is the initial project conceived before the 2008 successful exhibition, "What's happening now?" This show attained respectable local and regional media success that consequently attracted Casa Arabe, the reputable institution in Madrid, Spain, to invite the project for the Casa's official programme in June 2010. "Why Not?" presents the projects of 43 Egyptian artists, all with daring ideas that are capable of effectively shaking stale waters, and a sarcastic look upon the current Egyptian conditions. Each one of these projects differs from the other; they are a varied collection of different kinds of art, which include paintings, installation art, and video installation. "It took over two years, to launch "Why not?" off the ground from a simple concept, to the realisation of the fully fledged project with its satellite workshops," Mohssen Shaalan, an Egyptian visual artist and the head of Sector of Fine Arts. "We are seeking continuous rejuvenation of the creative practices of the young and the established artists who tend to experiment in the languages of today," Shaalan added in an interview with The Egyptian Gazette. "Why not?" invites artists to bring to a focus their previously un-attempted very personal and experimental dream projects that they may never normally get the opportunity to realise. "We believe that art renounces and rejects all standard patterns, stagnation of thought and existence in performed templates that would hinder progression and innovation. For such givens, we developed the concept for why not?" Shaalan said. Among the projects of "Why Not?" is a very sarcastic project, "I am not for sale", by one young artist, Inas El-Sadiek, in which she mocks the gender situation in the East.
