Cairo International Biennale and Al Nitaq 2001

BIENNALE AND Al HITAO 2 8 0 1 asmeen M. Sidd at of Dough & One Ear of Clay, 2 0 0 1 , In st allat ion o f w a l l o f 2 0 0 0 d and clay ears and video projection. Photo Hani El Gowely. Particularly powerful was Mohammed Abu Naga's The Bum 451 FH, installed in Dar Masr Al Mahroos Bookshop as part of Al Nitaq. Abu Naga, a specialist in the art of papermaking, used this popular downtown bookshop to concoct a multi-dimensional examination of the process of developing ideas. Abu Naga discussed how ideas are generated and nurtured through persecution. By burning and then installing various books—some of them currently and others historically banned by official authorities—in Lara Baiadi, Sandouk El Dounia, 3 0 0 x 2 4 0 cm, (detail), 10 x 15 c m photographic print used as part of the final collage. ©Lara Baiadi Moham m ed Abu Naga, The Burn 451 FH, Al Nitaq, Cairo (Dar El Mahroos Bookshop), installation, burnt books, stone sculpture. O n a walk through the 8th Cairo International Biennale and the privately orchestrated Al Nitaq Arts Festival this past spring, installations captured the gaze at every turn. The two concurrent shows were quite likely the densest art-viewing moment modern Cairo has ever enjoyed. That a notably large segment of local and international artists opted to display installations while fully aware that they would not see or be able to influence the exhibition space and that curatorial guidance would be minimal, raises questions about the potentials and limitations of installation. Unquestionably, installation has a uniquely compelling quality that engages the viewer, making it an alluring medium in which to work. To what extent the popularity of this art form is symptomatic of a new cultural condition or a fashion is a curious point. Two specific aspects of installation that inform negotiations between form and content kept cropping up throughout both exhibitions-consideration of site, and the use of video-provoking the questions raised here, about installation 's importance as a cultural product and a form of media. Site In a search for works that successfully transcended traditional uses of space to integrate art, architecture and the environment, four installations stood out as distinct and coherent. Most of these works, significantly, were displayed outside the confines of galleries and museums. Lara Baiadi, Sandouk El Dounia, 3 0 0 x 2 4 0 cm, photographic ^ print collage, shot and exhibited at Pension Viennoise, Cairo, 2 0 0 1 . ©Lara Baiadi this working bookshop, Abu Naga juxtaposed currently forbidden volumes with others that are now openly sold, but that at some point in time were treated as illicit. Insistent that ideas and beliefs do not die, and that their suppression only feeds and regenerates them, Abu Naga also metaphorically incorporates agrarian and intellectual activities. When someone burns a book, it is transformed into ashes—ashes that could be used to fertilize soil. The ashes of a book, representing the remnants of ideas that can be reworked, meanwhile, are enhanced and solidified into a greater, more elaborate and concrete cultural product. Abu Naga integrated his burnt books with finesse, and further illuminated his concept by hanging banners with excerpts of censored books from the ceiling. The works integrated in this manner included everything from Andalusian medieval philosopher Ibn Sina, who reentered popular consciousness through Youssef Chahine's 1997 Unquestionably, installation has a uniquely compelling quality that engages the viewer, making it an alluring medium in which to work. To what extent the popularity of this art form is symptomatic of a new cultural condition or a fashion is a curious point. film Al Maseer (Destiny) to controversial Syrian author Haidar Haidar, whose Banquet of Seaweedbecame the victim of a witch hunt in the local press last year. While strong political motivations imbued Abu Naga's work with relevance, his exploitation of an apparatus that circulates knowledge was uniquely poignant. The crisp visual impact of the books and banners was, however, disappointingly weakened at the very center of the installation. In the middle of the room was a table with a stone sculpture resembling a Pharaonic...