Dayra Foundation for Culture and Art
The Mission
In brief, this project is meant to highlight two types of symbolic bridges: first, the underlying bridges between various fields of creativity; and second, the extended cultural links between Europe and Egypt within the scope of creativity and innovation, as embodied by the European awards granted to Egyptian creative endeavours.
The message first targets students and faculty members in the Egyptian schools of architecture, fine arts, literature and cinema, which are estimated to be about 30,000 at present. When students learn about the details and backgrounds of prominent creative works in their fields, as well as their reciprocal interrelations with other disciplines, their future creativity and innovative thinking will inevitably be boosted. Similarly, faculty members may undertake non-traditional approaches to their curricula and pedagogies, towards the promotion of creativity amongst their students.
On the other hand, about 200,000 professionals in the abovementioned disciplines live in Egypt. They will definitely aspire to higher altitudes of creativity in their own professions, following the footsteps of these recognized figures. The links to European institutions, prestigious awards and joint programs open up many ways for students, professionals and faculty members to undertake future collaborative development and extended individual / institutional partnerships.
Not only is the message conveyed to cultural institutions and civil society organizations in Cairo and Alexandria [about 12.5 million residents], but also extended to the public all over Egypt. Being a common interest in Egypt and the EU countries, the message is disseminated online to all interested parties and cultural communities in Egypt, Europe and all over the world.
In brief, a large number have benefited, and more will still benefit, from the holistic approach to improve cultural dialogue between Egypt and the European community, hence set a sound foundation for multi-disciplinary creativity and diverse cross-cultural communications.
The Process
To serve this purpose, four symposia and four exhibitions were held to study the interdependent relationship between literature, cinema, art and architecture. Each of them was primarily meant to shed light upon a European award that is granted to a creative figure in the theme of every event. This is however, documented in this book, a documentary movie and a website that is already launched at www.dayrafoundation.com.
The first symposium was about the reciprocal influences between cinema and architecture, with reference to the works of Shadi Abd El-Salam, a cinema-director who comes from an architectural background. Shadi is known to have accumulated lots of awards; examples of these include the Lion of San Marc Award from Venice Film Festival 1970, the Second Award from Leipzig 1970, the Golden Film Award from Fladolida Festival in Spain 1971, a Lifetime Award from the African Cinema Festival held in Italy 1982, as well as lots of Egyptian and Arab awards.
The symposium took place on April 17, 2010 in the Bibliotheca Alexandria Conference Centre, where the world-figure Dr.Ismail Serageldin – Director delivered an interesting lecture about this reciprocity in a comprehensive broad sense and a thorough holistic vision. Emphases upon Shadi’s particular experience were laid later by Salah Marie, an eminent professor in the Higher Institue of Cinema, a professional setting-designer and a director who worked closely with Shadi, who received numerous local and international awards too.
The participation of First Counsellor, Mr. Antonino Crea – Head of Social and Rural Development Sector in the EU Delegation to Egypt, together with colleague delegates has emphasized the Euro- Egyptian partnership, being at the very heart of the project objectives. Dr. Serageldin was quite happy with the public awareness as embodied in the number of audience that exceeded 1000 and got the Bibliotheca’s Grand Hall full. The audience were similarly impressed by the proper organization and intellectual content. After the lecture, guests were invited to a purpose-planned guided tour to Shadi Abd El-Salam’s permanent exhibition in a nearby Bibliotheca premise.
The Second Symposium
took place in the American University’s historic “Oriental Hall” downtown Cairo- on April 22, 2010. It addressed the mutual influence between architecture and literature in the works of Nobel prize-winner Naguib Mahfouz.
Mohamed Salmawy was the first keynote speaker. He is President of the Writers’ Union in Egypt, Secretary General of the General Union of Arab Writers and Editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram Hebdo. Most importantly, he is Naguib Mahfouz’s personal delegate to the Nobel prize Ceremony in the Swedish Royal Academy-1988. Moreover, Salmawy is known to have been in close contact with Mr. Mahfouz, particularly after the consequent health limitations of the 1994 assault.
Mahfouz only chose to discuss his Ideas with Salmawy, so that he writes them on his behalf according to the pre-approved framework. Due to this unique intellectual relationship, Salmawy was the best to inform the audience about the published and unpublished details regarding the Prize, its procedures and criteria , as well as the way Naguib Mahfouz dealt with it.
This talk was followed by Dr. Mohamed Abd Al-Mottaleb’s lecture, Professor of Arabic Literature and Criticism and Editor-in- Chief of several literary periodicals, who specializes in the works of Naguib Mahfouz. Dr. Abd Al-Mottaleb introduced a profound analysis to the evolution of Mahfouz’s work in relation to the surrounding built-environment. Despite the complexity of the subject, the experienced professor could derive his lecture in a simple and interesting fashion that appealed to the audience despite their diverse backgrounds.
Guests were then invited to the annexed exhibition, which displayed a sample of Naguib Mahfouz’s books, besides paintings and photographs of the environment that inspired his creativity. The aim of the exhibition was mainly to facilitate a feed-back / feed-forward mechanism in relation to the introduced lectures. The provided visual material complemented the explanations introduces in the lectures, while the lectures allowed for further understanding of their messages and meanings.
Additionally, the informal discussions, which developed between the audience and Mr. Alejandro Ramilo Rodriguez, representative of the EU Delegation could further elaborate the details highlighted in his introductory speech.
Due to space limitations, the historic hall could only accommodate around 300 audiences. Guests occupied all seats, corridors and even sat on the accessible spots of the floors. Others who found no place in the full-loaded hall just enjoyed a tour in the annexed exhibition. Every member of the project-team was extremely happy with the accomplished success, and the outreach of their message.
The Third Symposium
was about the Geneva – based Aga Khan Award for Architecture, with reference to Egyptian creative architects. It took place on May 15, 2010 within the premises of an Award winning-project, namely the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Lectures were delivered by Dr. Ismail Serageldin. Director of the Bibliotheca, former member of the Award Steering Committee, and former chairman and Member of the Award Jury. A subsequent lecture was delivered by the prominent Egyptian professor and practitioner of architectural conservation Dr. Salah Lamie, who won the Award in 1989 for the Restoration of the Great Omari Mosque in Sidon, and in 2004 as consultant of Dar Al-Aytam project-Jerusalem. The EU Delegation was represented there by Mr. Alejandro Ramilo Rodriguez, who briefly introduced the audience to the role of the Delegation towards promoting cultural communication with the Egyptian partners.
In the lecture, Dr. Serageldin first informed the 800 audiences about the Award’s history, nomination procedure and selection criteria. He referred to its different elements, explaining how they related to creativity from the perspective of the Award Committees and Jurors. The examples Dr. Serageldin addressed could best-crystallise the complex interdependent dimensions of the Award. Starting at the other end of the process, Dr.Lamie demonstrated his personal experience in the Great Omari Mosque winning-project. He explained in detail the backgrounds of the project, together with the technical difficulties and the logistic complexities. He referred to the architectural aspects, while maintaining emphases upon the social and political challenges.
After the lectures, guests were invited to multiple small group guided-tours in the Bibliotheca premises as an example to Award-winning projects. The brilliant day then concluded to the purpose-prepared exhibition in the lower level of the Conference Centre, which introduced a large spectrum of Award-winning projects. The posters introduced photographs, drawings and technical analyses to demonstrate the distinctive aspects that qualified these projects to win the Award. This was an excellent experience, particularly in the light of preceding lectures which touched on these profound notions. The exhibits provoked inspiring discussions, and allowed for further understanding of the sophisticated notions as perceived by the designers, lectures and participants.
The Fourth Symposium
dealt with the reciprocal influences between fine arts and architecture, with reference to the creative works of contemporary artists and architects who have contributed to this area.
Based on the past experience, this event was organized to take place on May 17. 2010 in the American University’s 1000-audience Ewart Hall. Following the EU Delegation speech about promoting inter-cultural communication, which was delivered by Mr.Alejandro Ramilo Rodriguez, the prominent sculptor and graphic artist Dr. Ahmed Nawar took the word. His lecture highlighted the art / architecture reciprocity as embodied in artistic works inspired by architecture, as well as architectural works which were triggered by artistic inspirations. The impact of fine arts upon the built environment was an integral section of Dr. Nawar’s presentation, where he referred to the impact of his sculpture experience upon the surrounding urban contexts. After this excellent lecture, the distinguished architect and critic Akram Al-Magdoub ascended to the podium. Being the Biennale di Venezia Golden Lion Award winner 1995, Al-Magdoub had a unique experience to demonstrate. One very interesting issue about it was the winning workgroup, which included a musician and two sculptors and painters besides Architect Al-Magdoub. This confirms the multi-disciplinary nature of creativity as suggested by the project.
Modern technology helped to demonstrate a vast collection of the distinguished works developed by both Dr. Nawar and Arch. Al-Magdoub in the parallel art gallery, which exemplified how art and architecture have been entwined.
Ending Statement
The overall findings of the lectures and galleries were rephrased into the forthcoming eight chapters, which constitute this book. The book is already placed in the libraries of many schools of literature, cinema, fine arts and architecture. A supportive documentary film was attached to the book to complement its message and diversify the communication modes, hence extend the findings to a wider scope of viewers. In order to reach-out further numbers of interested communities around the world, a comprehensive documentation of the events and the findings are published in the purpose developed website www.dayrafoundation.com
At last, it is hoped that this project has opened up ways for the exchange of knowledge and the interaction between cultures in Egypt and the EU countries, towards the promotion of a better mutual understanding. It is also hoped to have raised public awareness about the significance of creativity as a holistic multi-disciplinary commonly-appreciated phenomenon, for the personal and social development in Egypt and Europ.