CONCENTRIC MODERNITIES: A HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY EGYPTIAN VIDEO ART By DAN JAKUBOWSKI A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2016 © 2016 Dan Jakubowski Dedicated to Noodle, Keşarli, and Norman ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I began thinking about Egyptian video art in 2008 when I first visited the country to conduct field research for my master’s thesis. That project ended up being about something else, but my six months in Cairo between 2008 and 2009 exposed me to a number of fascinating artists who were working in that medium, instilling in me a desire to return to that topic when I had the time and energy to do it justice. I have Ed DeCarbo to thank for pointing me toward Egypt and helping me find my footing there. He introduced me to William Wells, the director of the Townhouse Gallery in downtown Cairo. Wells and his team have provided invaluable support during my time in Egypt, and this project would not exist without their eagerness to provide assistance. Ania Szremski, who was serving as the Townhouse’s project director when I returned to Cairo in 2012, was especially helpful, and I cannot thank her enough. In all, I conducted nearly thirty months of field research in Cairo. Many Egyptian artists contributed to this project, often directly by agreeing to talk with me about their work. I want to acknowledge their openness and generosity. Thanks to Sherif El-Azma, Hassan Khan, Lara Baladi, Shady El Noshokaty, Doa Aly, Rana ElNemr, Wael Shawky, Bassem Yousri, and Maha Maamoun. They have been a blast to write about, and I will always be grateful for their enthusiasm regarding my project. I would also like to thank the American Research Center in Egypt, who provided financial and institutional support during my latest stretch of field research in 2015. I have heard many horror stories concerning graduate school, apathetic advisors, and unhelpful departments from other graduate students over the years. I am happy to say that my experience at University of Florida does not inspire me to contribute to that oral tradition. The university’s Department of Art and Art History was a rewarding and supportive environment for 4 my research since I began studies there in 2009. My dissertation co-chairs, Victoria Rovine and Joyce Tsai, provided and continue to provide the most valuable of advice. They helped shape not only this project, but also how I view art on a foundational level. I would also like to thank Phil Wegner and Amy Ongiri for bringing politics into my life in an exciting and world-expanding way. These four scholars have proven to be a guiding constellation for my work and my life during the past seven years, and I am more than grateful for the time and conversations I have shared with them. Also, I would like to thank Eric. She came to Cairo with me this last time around and helped keep me sane, which is not an easy task, even when I am not in one of the world’s busiest, noisiest, and most densely populated cities. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .………………………………………………………………….. 4 LIST OF FIGURES …………………………………………………………………………... 8 ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………………………….. 20 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………………... 21 Critical Literature and Theoretical Framework…………………………………………… 24 Research Methodology …………………………………………………………………… 28 Dissertation Structure …………………………………………………………………….. 31 2 INSTITUTION …………………………………………………………………………… 57 Institutional Origins ………………………………………………………………………. 63 The Artist and the Institution ……………………………………………………………... 66 Educational Structures ……………………………………………………………………. 80 Festivals …………………………………………………………………………………... 90 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………….. 113 3 TELEVISION ……………………………………………………………………………. 124 Singular/Representative ………………………………………………………………….. 137 Gender Trouble at Cruising Altitude …………………………………………………….. 155 4 HISTORY ………………………………………………………………………………... 184 Tradition, the Fellaheen, and Egyptian Nationalism …………………………………….. 200 Pharaonic Eternal Return ……………………………………………………………….... 221 Shawky’s Upper Egyptian Pharaonism ………………………………………………….. 226 Tradition as Vicious Circle ………………………………………………………………. 227 War, Allegory, and Apocalypse ………………………………………………………..... 229 Estrangement and Cosmic Holocaust …………………………………………………..... 247 5 CITY …………………………………………………………………………………....... 282 Video in the City ………………………………………………………………………..... 288 Rana ElNemr and the Twin Sciences of Site Investigation and Spatial Ghost Hunting …. 290 Hala El Koussy at the Margins …………………………………………………................ 311 Performativity in the Midst of a Quake …………………………………………………... 334 6 6 BODY AND PERFORMATIVITY ……………………………………………………… 360 Doa Aly and the Unbearable Heaviness of Repetitive Being ……………………………. 369 Ovid and Utopian Trembling …………………………………………………………….. 377 Hassan Khan and the Social Order ………………………………………………………. 385 Belonging in the City …………………………………………………………………….. 397 Genre and Oceanic Belonging …………………………………………………………… 402 The Redemptive Power of Laughter ……………………………………………………... 409 7 PERFORMANCE, PARTICIPATION, AND REPRESENTATION …………………… 460 Amal Kenawy and The Silence of the Lambs ……………………………………………. 466 Silence of the Lambs: Performance ………………………………………………………. 470 Silence of the Lambs: Video …………………………………………………………….... 481 Relationality, Delegation, and Exploitation ……………………………………………… 484 Wael Shawky, the 11th Sharjah Biennial, and the Tradition of the Qawwali …………… 493 Curatorial Plots, Censorious Reprisals …………………………………………………... 497 Another Audience, Most Often Unconsidered …………………………………………... 503 Do Video Ghosts Exist? And Do They Remember? …………………………………….. 512 8 NATION(-AL REPRESENTATION) …………………………………………………… 530 Body/Technology: The Art of Ahmed Basiony ………………………………………….. 535 Revolution, Tragedy, and National Representation ……………………………………… 542 Critical Response ………………………………………………………………………… 561 Basiony on “The Brain” ………………………………………………………….………. 570 9 REVOLUTION ………………………………………………………………………….. 598 A Short Political History of Digital Media and Social Networking in Egypt …………… 613 Lara’s Archive …………………………………………………………………………… 627 Into the Crypt of the Old Monster, from Which the New Monster Will Emerge ……….. 658 10 CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………………………… 672 Egyptian Video Art at the End of the (Globalized) World ………………………………. 679 A Returned Modernism amidst the Global ………………………………………………. 687 REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………………………. 719 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ………………………………………………………………… 745 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure page 1-1 Maha Maamoun, Domestic Tourism II, 2009 (1) ..………….….……………………… 53 1-2 Maha Maamoun, Domestic Tourism II, 2009 (2) ..………….….……………………… 54 1-3 Maha Maamoun, Domestic Tourism II, 2009 (3) ..……………..……………………… 55 1-4 Maha Maamoun, Domestic Tourism II, 2009 (4) ..……………..……………………… 56 2-1 Hassan Khan and Amr Hosny, Lungfan, 1995 (1) ..……………..…………………….. 114 2-2 Hassan Khan and Amr Hosny, Lungfan, 1995 (2) ..……………..…………………….. 114 2-3 Hassan Khan and Amr Hosny, Lungfan, 1995 (3) ..…………….…………………….. 115 2-4 Hassan Khan and Amr Hosny, Lungfan, 1995 (4) ..……………………….………….. 115 2-5 Shady El Noshokaty, Self-Annihilation, 2000 ………………………………………... 116 2-6 Shady El Noshokaty, The Tree of My Grandmother’s House, 2001 ………………..... 117 2-7 Wael Shawky, Sidi El Asphalt’s Moulid, 2001 ……………………………………...... 117 2-8 Hassan Khan, Reading the Surface: 100 faces, 6 locations, 25 questions, room 1, 2001 (1) ………………………………………………………………………………... 118 2-9 Hassan Khan, Reading the Surface: 100 faces, 6 locations, 25 questions, room 2, 2001 (2) ………………………………………………………………………………... 119 2-10 Hassan Khan, Reading the Surface: 100 faces, 6 locations, 25 questions, room 3, 2001 (3) ………………………………………………………………………………... 120 2-11 Hassan Khan, Reading the Surface: 100 faces, 6 locations, 25 questions, room 4, 2001 (4) ………………………………………………………………………………... 121 2-12 Sherif El-Azma, Interview with a Housewife, 2001 (1) ……………………………...... 121 2-13 Sherif El-Azma, Interview with a Housewife, 2001 (2) ……………………………….. 122 2-14 Sherif El-Azma, Interview with a Housewife, 2001 (3) ……………………………….. 122 2-15 Sherif El-Azma, Interview with a Housewife, 2001 (4) ……………………………….. 123 8 2-16 Sherif El-Azma, Interview with a Housewife, 2001 (5) ……………………………….. 123 3-1 Sherif El-Azma, Fish Soup, 2001 (1) ………………………………………………….. 167 3-2 Sherif El-Azma, Fish Soup, 2001 (2) ………………………………………………….. 168 3-3 Sherif El-Azma, Fish Soup, 2001 (3) ………………………………………………….. 168 3-4 Sherif El-Azma, Fish Soup, 2001 (4) ………………………………………………….. 169 3-5 Sherif El-Azma, Fish Soup, 2001 (5) ………………………………………………….. 169 3-6 Sherif El-Azma, A Prayer to the Sound of Dogs, 2001 (1) ……………………………. 170 3-7 Sherif El-Azma, A Prayer to the Sound of Dogs, 2001 (2) ……………………………. 170 3-8 Sherif El-Azma, A Prayer to the Sound of Dogs, 2001 (3) ……………………………. 171 3-9 Sherif El-Azma, A Prayer to the Sound of Dogs, 2001 (4) ……………………………. 171 3-10 Sherif El-Azma, A Prayer to the Sound of Dogs, 2001 (5) ……………………………. 172 3-11 Sherif El-Azma, A Prayer to the Sound of Dogs, 2001 (6) ……………………………. 172 3-12 Sherif El-Azma, A Prayer to the Sound of Dogs, 2001 (7) ……………………………. 173 3-13 Sherif El-Azma, A Prayer to the Sound of Dogs, 2001 (8) ……………………………. 173 3-14 Sherif El-Azma, A Prayer to the Sound of Dogs, 2001 (9) ……………………………. 174 3-15 Sherif El-Azma, A Prayer to the Sound of Dogs, 2001 (10) ..…………………………. 174 3-16 Sherif El-Azma, Television Pilot for an Egyptian Hostess Soap Opera, 2003 (1) ……. 175 3-17 Sherif El-Azma, Television Pilot for an Egyptian Hostess Soap Opera, 2003 (2)