Territorial Struggles: Cairo and Contemporary Art

TERRITORIAL STRUGGLES: CAIRO AND CONTEM PORARY ART H a s s a n K h a n , v i d e o st i l l f r o m Reading the Surface: 1 0 0 Faces, 6 Locations a n d 2 5 Questions, 2 0 0 1 . C o u r t e s y o f G a l e r i e C h a n t a l Crousel 3 J o u r n a l o f C o n t e m p o r a r y A f r i c a n A r t L a r a B a l a d i , O u m el D o u n i a , p h o t o c o l l a g e , 2 0 0 0 . C o p y r i g h t Lara B a l a d i Prita S. Meier c airo is called Umm al-Dunia (Mother of the World) in Arabic, an appellation which has regained particular currency in the globalized world, as Cairo has become a key site of international trade and networks of social, and cultural exchange. Cairo, as a historically global city via its role as a key center of transnational trade and imperial expansion in the pre-modern period, is currently grappling with the challenges of yet another remarkable increase in its transnational connection over the past fifty years. Cairene residents have been creating new imaginaries regarding the possibilities and challenges of postcolonial urban centers. Especially Anwar Sadat's controversial "open door policies," starting in 1974, have inaugurated the nation's attempt to become a key player o n an international level. Coupled with policies of economic liberalization, the role of state controlled cultural organizations , which had dominated the parameters of artistic production since the 1952 Revolution, has also been reshaped. The artistic community of Cairo began redefining and questioning the role of Egyptian contemporary art both nationally and internationally . Artists and cultural brokers are actively participating in localizing narratives regarding the significance and impact of globalization on the cultural scape of Egypt. * Attuned to international fluctuations and debates regarding how globally transformative processes and concepts intersect contemporary definitions of cultural production, the Cairene art world is currently attempting to identify itself as key node in our seeming interconnected world. Cairo has entered the contested terrain of "place-making," and its artistic community is in part articulating what constitutes a transnational space that is locally realized. Today discourses regarding the significance and repercussions of "globalization" and "transnationalism" are central to contemporary discussions and framings of artistic practices. While as Crystal Bartolovich has noted, globalization is a "hotly disputed concept," ^ its impact on such cultural spaces as the "art world" has produced new frameworks for conceiving and defining cultural practice. However theoretically constructed our definitions of globalization are, the term does describe a diverse set of phenomena shaping countless aspects of daily life across different locations.-^ It is the vibrant and challenging translocality of urban centers that are the most visible spaces challenging ways of viewing intercultural relations and cultural production that in the past had been defined by discrete physical borders.4 Access to international travel, the flow of diasporic communities, and sophisticated networks of communication technologies connect these urban centers beyond borders and produce a tightly woven web of interconnected cities across the globe.-' These sites are described as "global cities"*' or "transnational cities"^7 because within these spaces opportunities are to be found to supercede physical place. Cairo is the site of serious reformulations regarding the role and responsibilities artists have in relationship to local conceptions of culture and identity. State sponsored art programs, support and venues are being challenged by initiatives from the local private sector and abroad. Until very recently, the Egyptian Ministry of Culture has been the central force for articulating the cultural position of the nation on an international level.^ The International Cairo Biennale, inaugurated in 1988, has been the main platform for showcasing Egypt's role as an international exhibition site. Furthermore, the Biennale has served as an important forum for showcasing artists from the Middle...