ARTS & CULTURE

saturday, december 31, 2016 AGENDA INTERVIEW MUSIC Reflecting on the Nile’s surrealists ‘Al-Wilada 88’ Metro al-Madina, Hamra Jan. 3, doors open 9 p.m. Sam Bardaouil torial work on Egypt’s modernists contributed to the evolution of the 76-309-363 inspired dozens of hours of conver- form. These findings have recently discusses why we sation with colleagues and descen- borne fruit in “Art and Liberty: Vocalist Sandy Chamoun and ought to look at dants of Art and Liberty’s artists. Rupture, War and Surrealism in her crew – Tarek Khuluki Hours more were devoted to Egypt (1938-1948),” an exhibition (guitar and synths), Khaled surrealism differently combing through private archives now up at Paris’ Centre Pompidou, Omran (bass), Dani Shukri and forgotten boxes in family attics. and in Bardaouil’s monograph “Sur- (skins) and Samah Abi El In Bardaouil’s words, Art and realism in Egypt: Modernism and By Jim Quilty Liberty advocated “a complex the Art and Liberty Group.” Mona (squeeze-box and The Daily Star social project” whose central tenets Bardaouil was back in keys) – promise to make the were “unmistakably artistic, yet recently, where he presented the room explode with EIRUT: For some years, Sam equally political.” keynote address at “The Avant- hits from the ’80s and ’90s. Bardaouil has been uncom- The creation of art didn’t reflect Garde and its Networks,” a scholar- fortable with Egypt’s surre- a position of privilege, but rather a ly workshop on surrealism in Paris, ART Balists – specifically with how sense of responsibility. North Africa and the Middle East, they have been remembered. Rejecting what they saw to be an staged by the Orient-Institut Beirut. The curator and art historian’s imported academicism endorsed by He argued that academics have ‘Beyrouth, Le Monde’ interest in this strain of Nilotic mod- the colonial state, Art and Liberty’s tended to be innocent of the organ- Art Space Hamra, Costa ernism was given more focus in the artists broke from both colonial ic relationship that existed between Cafe Building, 6th floor late 1990s and early 2000s, prompt- Britain and the Egyptian bour- European surrealism and the Art Through Jan. 7 ed by Samir Gharib’s study of poet geoisie’s conservative morality. and Liberty group. Georges Henein and the visual “Art et Liberte rejected the con- “None of the scholarly works In this series, artist Claude artists and writers who’d clustered flation of art and national senti- that I [knew] at the time were even Moufarege depicts the around him in the 1930s and ’40s. ment,” Bardaouil noted in his talk. aware of that fact that there was rooftops and abstract topog- “I felt that Gharib’s book was “They also rejected the notion of such a [connection], until a few raphy of Beirut, a city which very important in the sense that it ‘art for art’s sake,’ whereby pictures anthologies of world surrealisms represents both her sense of was the first to attempt to retrace the had become a platform for the recy- appeared in the 2000s. story of this incredible group, but cling of the same visual allegories “Art and Liberty … were never belonging and exile. Having for me it seemed there must be more and literary metaphors.” into regionalism,” he says. spent much of her early life to this story.” While Art and Liberty’s artists “They were always [part of an in Beirut, leaving and return- To flesh out the tale, Bardaouil were a cosmopolitan mix of Egyp- international surrealist] network. ing multiple times, Mou- and Till Fellrath – who together form tians and non-Egyptians, Bardaouil Yet you find anthologies that place farege renders the city the curatorial team Art Reoriented – credits Kamel el-Telmisany, Ramses them within surrealism in North through a cool architectural devoted over five years to research- Younane and Fouad Kamel with Africa or surrealism in the Arabic- ing the work of Egypt’s surrealists. instilling within Egyptian surrealism speaking world.” lens and a cartographic dis- The movement was embodied in “the rootedness it needed to take Bardaouil argues that scholarship tance that give her urban Cairo’s Art and Liberty group, wing within its local cultural milieu.” must broaden and enrich the surre- scenes a quiet and contem- which thrived in the complex of late Bardaouil’s discovery of unfamil- alist canon. plative aspect. imperialism and nationalism that iar works by artists in these years and “We make the same inferences characterized the period around previously undocumented correspon- and interpretations [about the World War II. dence among group members and fig- canon] because the materials we’re Ramses Younane. “Untitled,” 1939. Oil on canvas. ‘Al-Zohra Was Not Born Egypt’s surrealist moment was ures in European surrealism led him using to provide context – whether in a Day’ brief. Henein had corresponded to question the prevailing narrative of it’s an artwork or a document – have alism] in terms of a tradition that a new movement suggesting that Galerie Tanit, Armenia with Andre Breton since the 1930s how the movement evolved. been in circulation for the past 50- doesn’t recognize that there are oth- these were the exceptions that Street, Mar Mikhael but a decade later Art and Liberty In that narrative, modernism in 70 years.” er points of reference. What we’re proved the rule. Most painters, the Through Jan. 7 and Breton’s surrealists had grown its various forms (surrealism includ- The context of the canon must be trying to do with [our Pompidou] ones leading the show, were work- apart. Henein declared his with- ed) arose in “the West” and was expanded, Bardaouil says, but it’s exhibition, and through the theoret- ing in a realist or neorealist style. A collaboration with Riccar- drawal from the surrealist move- eventually emulated by non-West- too simplistic to graft “things from ical paradigms that I’m construct- “A lot of artists – George Sab- do Clementi and Eric Deni- ment in a sober letter to Breton, ern artists. the so-called periphery [onto the ing, is to suggest that maybe [we bagh, for instance – [formed] a mis- aud, Randa Mirza’s exhibi- penned in 1948. His own findings suggested that existing] canon. should imagine] a completely differ- placed or discarded generation that tion consists of dioramas and Bardaouil recounts how his cura- Art and Liberty’s artists themselves “We try to make sense of [surre- ent canon that doesn’t operate along was seen as [out of sync] with the sculptures, based on tales this ‘center’ and ‘periphery’ binary. avant-garde. “The idea is to allow for the exis- “Our understanding of the avant- from Al-Jahiliyya. tence of different points of reference garde [sanctions our] discarding – in terms of the visual art and doc- mainstream artists’ innovations. ‘Salon d’Automne’ umentation, the personal narratives “There are revisionist approach- Sursock Museum, Rmeil and the development of the move- es today that consider the avant- Through Feb. 27 ment. What we learn from Art et garde not only from the vantage of This 32nd exhibition of Liberte [is that] centers are con- the contemporary moment but from stantly in a state of ebb and flow. its context at the time. emerging and established Paris was a center at one time but “In a sense, the tension we’re artists includes work by 52 the people who made it a center talking about today is something we artists working in all media, were from all over the place.” could be projecting because we have from painting and installa- seen the avant-garde and the tradi- tion to video, all competing ‘We have failed. tionalists as two opposing schools,” he said, adding that “perhaps that for Emerging Artist and We need to find a tension was less significant for those Audience Choice prizes. new language’ leading the show than for those in the avant-garde, who were trying to ‘Metabolism’ instigate change.” Beirut Art Center, Jisr al-Wati While generational conflict Bardaouil acknowledges that Art played a role in how Art et Liberte and Liberty’s dissident position Through Jan. 15 situated itself vis-a-vis Egypt’s artis- appealed to younger generations. The eighth edition of Expo- tic mainstream – a conflict evident “This was happening in Egypt, in sure – BAC’s annual young in the art in many parts of the world Italy, in France, Germany, Mexico,” and emerging artists’ exhibi- at the time – Bardaouil is more inter- he says. “‘Let’s reject nationalism tion – transposes a notion ested in locating and defining “a but try to find a local language that attributed to the body into new type of avant-garde.” makes use of our own heritage.’ “For us the avant-garde was “Then, this localist position was the realm of art. To think of cubism, surrealism and futurism – adopted by mouthpieces for a later art as metabolization is to art movements that broke off with form of nationalism – as happened think of one’s practice as a all the traditions from the Enlight- under Abdel-Nasser.” series of voluntary transfor- enment and the Renaissance, saying, mations that produces ‘We have failed. We need to find a “Art and Liberty: Rupture, War and Surre- new language.’ alism in Egypt (1938 -1948)” is up at Centre unpredictable results. “We inherited this narrative. We Pompidou through Jan. 16, 2017. “Surrealism

Courtesy Arab Image Foundation, Beirut don’t think of a realist painting from in Egypt: Modernism and the Art and Lib- PHOTOGRAPHY Georges Henein. “Surrealist Portrait of Gulperie Efflatoun,” 1945. Gelatin silver print. the ’30s as avant-garde. Now there’s erty Group” is published by IB Taurus.

‘The Human Scale’ Level 1, Sursock Museum, Rmeil Through Jan. 30 This exhibition from The Houston ‘Cistern’ reborn as public space, art canvas Fouad Debbas Collection explores photographs of ton, D.C.-based National Trust for often you can do something with it The first exhibition is an abstract make a park from a reservoir shut- archaeological sites taken By Juan A. Lozano Historic Preservation. that actually generates value.” video installation called “Rain” by tered in 1940. In October, officials from the air, and the unique Associated Press Probably the best-known project The Cistern was first built in Venezuelan artist Magdalena Fer- in Philadelphia broke ground on a aesthetic these functional is New York City’s High Line – an 1926 and decommissioned in 2007. nandez. The nearly two-minute project to transform an abandoned forms engendered. HOUSTON: The city’s first under- abandoned elevated railroad section In Houston, the Buffalo Bayou video is meant to evoke the atmos- rail line into a public park similar to ground drinking water reservoir – a converted into a park in 2009. Partnership saw its preservation as a phere of a stormy night. the High Line. decades-old collection of more than It’s shown cities that such pieces of way to save a piece of history and Accompanied by a soundtrack of In Buffalo, a collection of con- DESIGN 200 concrete columns inside a cav- infrastructure can be diamonds in the educate visitors about Houston’s snapping fingers and stomping heels crete grain elevators that are rem- ernous space near downtown – had rough, said Robert Steuteville, with relationship with its bayous, which that mimic falling rain, the work nants of the city’s heyday as a ship- ‘Artifacts’ been unused for years. the Congress for the New Urbanism, have provided both drinking water projects a series of white geometric ping hub are being reused as loca- Carwan Gallery, D Beirut It was set for demolition when a a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit and drainage. The group also saw the shapes onto the darkened concrete tions for restaurants, outdoor con- Building – First Floor, Sea- nonprofit group reimagined it as that promotes sustainable communi- Cistern as a good fit for its plans to columns and the shallow pool of certs and as the projection screen for something new: a public space. ties. “That’s why other cities are say- display art throughout the renovated water on the Cistern floor. a nightly light show. side Road, Burj Hammoud Reminiscent of ancient European ing, ‘Aha. We have this thing. What Buffalo Bayou Park – the 65-hectare- In San Francisco, officials and In Washington, D.C, a cultural Through Jan. 15 water reservoirs, and dubbed the can we do with it?’” he said. “Very space the reservoir sits next to. community leaders are working to organization is transforming an 01-368-6089 “Cistern,” the 8,129-square-meter abandoned trolley station under- With “Artifacts,” 200 Grs. space opened its doors to visitors in neath the Dupont Circle neighbor- (aka Rana Haddad and Pas- May. Earlier this month, the struc- hood into a place for exhibitions ture’s darkened pillars and walls and artistic expression. cal Hachem) reinvent Atiba- became the canvas for a piece of Atlanta is in the midst of a proj- ia’s latest vintage with . ect to transform 35 kilometers of a unique wooden creations, “Repurposing it for a contempo- mostly abandoned railroad corridor intimate objects to be shared, rary audience is the perfect solu- that encircles the city into a network treasured and enjoyed. tion,” said Judy Nyquist, a board of trails, parks, affordable homes member with the Buffalo Bayou and rail transit that will connect 45 Partnership, which incorporated the neighborhoods. The project is set to reservoir as part of a $58 million be completed in 2030. park renovation project. “This really is a legacy project It’s the latest example of efforts that goes out 20 years, 30 years, 50 Just a thought by U.S. cities – including Atlanta, years,” said Kevin Burke, senior Philadelphia, San Francisco, Wash- landscape architect for the project. ington, D.C. and Buffalo, New York “We really have to have that long Liberty is a word which, accord- – to repurpose abandoned and view as to what we are doing and the ing as it is used, comprehends dilapidated pieces of infrastructure impact that we will have, not only the most good and the most evil as public spaces. on the current generations of of any in the world. Urban planners see the preserva- Atlanta residents and visitors but tion of historic buildings and other those yet to come for decades.” Oliver Ellsworth structures as essential in creating the (1745-1807) kinds of communities people want “Rain: Magdalena Fernandez at the

American lawyer and politician to live in, said Stephanie Meeks, AP/David J. Phillip Houston Cistern” can be seen through president and CEO of the Washing- The first exhibition is an abstract video installation called “Rain” by Venezuelan artist Magdalena Fernandez. June 2017 via scheduled tours.