CAIRO: Egypt needs a national project art developed by the Fine Artists' Syndicate, said Egyptian artist Ezz al-Deen Naguib today. The project ought to put artists at the forefront of the January 25 Revolution, giving them an active role in society, particularly since they suffered marginalization under the former regime, he said. “This marginalization led to a gap between art and society,” he added. Art does not matter to society anymore, Naguib said yesterday during a conference titled “Creators Out of the Spotlight,” held at the Fine Artists' Syndicate. “This situation leads us to ask ourselves: is the problem art, society or both?” he asked. “The answer is the backward society we live in where the artist has no value.” The state's institutions and education must play a larger role in the development of Egyptian artists in order to effectively enhance art's role in society. Many artists were exposed to tragedy and nobody cared for them, he said, adding that artists died from hunger, others simply stayed home while others still were confined to mental institutions. “The Fine Artists' Syndicate must be the main actor in pushing artists into the spotlight,” he said. “It must make an effort to obtain the rights of artists whether they are dead or alive.” “Society is suffering from a huge problem, which is that cultural memory is eroding as artifacts are neglected,” said artist Yasser Mongi.
