[spectre] Open Studio Cairo 2006

[basak senova]

Open Studio Cairo

An international residency programme in Downtown Cairo exploring creative
approaches to sound.
 
Open Studio Project 2006 takes sound - problematic in its very definition,
scope and relationship to a loosely defined field of arts and culture - as
its point of departure. The programme is inspired by Cairo¹s rich aural
environment, one shaped by the city¹s diverse narratives of sound,
sound-making traditions and ongoing explorations of sound in contemporary
music and the arts.
 
Residency Programme participants include seventeen artists, musicians and
curators whose practices reflect a diversity of creative approaches to and
engagements with sound, whether as a visceral or aural material, conceptual
or contextual reference, or as a point of departure. At once intersecting
and diverging, these diverse practices reflect the ability of sound-related
work to complicate neat categories of artistic production and their
conventionally associated frameworks, technologies, tools, and skills. These
dynamics provide a context for the model of international exchange explored
in the Open Studio Project.
 
Rajivan Ayyappan - India
Regine Basha - USA
Carlo Crovato - UK
Murat Ertel - Turkey
Charbel Haber - Lebanon
Adham Hafez - Egypt
Geert-Jan Hobijn  - Holland & Germany
Hassan Khan - Egypt
Myizer Matlhaku - Botswana
Greg Niemeyer - USA & Switzerland
Ceren Oykut  - Turkey
Maryam Rahman - Pakistan
Mahmoud Refat - Egypt
Mohammed Al Riffai  - Egypt
Basak Senova  - Turkey
Paulo Vivacqua - Brazil
Cynthia Zaven -Lebanon
 
An ongoing Public Programme offers a platform for interaction with the
residency participants and their work.
Please join us for a series of Open Studio events including,
 
5 - 8 May (Friday-Monday)
4pm ­ 8 pm
A video game/art piece which ³players² navigate with their voice ­ offered
both as a performance and a interactive piece;

Location: Fustat Youth Center
Old Cairo
Ard el Musalasa 
Next to the new Potter¹s Village

Away From the New is a collaborative art project and video game in which
players navigate a simulated environment using their own voices as game
controls. Based on an earlier version entitled Organum Playtest, Away From
the New was developed especially for presentation in Cairo by Greg Niemeyer,
Richard Shaw and Dan Perkel of the University of California, Berkeley.

Friday May 5
7pm ­ 9pm
A screening of video compilations from Istanbul, curated by Basak Senova of
NOMAD; 

Location: Contemporary Image Center (CiC)
20 Safia Zaghloul St. off Kasr el Aini St.
El Mounira Cairo

SNAPSHOT 1
Turkish Light Arts (2002) ExtraStruggle
I/O Information Overbloated (2005) Erhan Muratoglu
Derdimi Anla (1998) ZeN
Istatistiklal (2004) Erhan Muratoglu - Ertug Uçar - Simge Goksoy
Deniz (2005-2006) Cem Yardimci ­ John Barret
Lost Postcard (2004-2005) Selda Asal - Ceren Oykut
Down-Under (2005) Guven Çatak
Abstraction (2004) Serap Dogan
SeashellSea (2004) Ozlem Sulak

Interval
Four days in Cairo (2005) Selda Asal

SNAPSHOT 2
Strange Intimacy (2005) Hatice Güleryüz
Nigar (2006) Erhan Muratoglu
Unawarded Performances (2005) Gülsün Karamustafa

Saturday, May 6
7pm ­ 8pm
A panel discussion with Regine Basha, Basak Senova and Mohammed Al Riffai on
the problematics of curating sound;
A discussion of the ways in which artists and curators working creatively
with sound articulate and present this work in relation to conventions of
artistic discipline and practice.
 
Location: Library, Townhouse Gallery
10 Nabrawy st., off Champollion st.
Talaat Harb sq., Downtown Cairo

7 ­ 9 May (Sunday ­ Tuesday)
7pm ­ 9pm
the ultrasound of therapy
An interactive installation piece in which visitors are prescribed sound
therapies; 

Location: Goethe Institut
5 El Bustan St.
Downtown Cairo

the ultrasound of therapy is a sound installation inspired by the
eighteenth-century French hospital La Salle des Malades. Visitors are
invited to undergo a personal sound therapy and are ³treated² with sound
therapies selected to provide individualized sonic experiences. These sound
therapies are created by members of Staalplaat Soundsystem, Simon
Wickham-Smith, and Biotechnology Makes Business Consultancy.

Thursday, May 11, 
8 pm ­ 9pm
Organum Playtest 
Performance

Location:Residence of Swiss Cultural Attaché, Heinz Walker
24 Gamal El Din
Abu Mohassen St., Garden City
 
A semi-improvisational performance of Organum Playtest, a collaborative art
project and video game in which players navigate a simulated environment
using their own voices as game controls. Greg Niemeyer, the game¹s creator,
will discuss the work with the audience. Vocalists Ahdam Hafez and Basim
Wadie will perform the piece.

Saturday, May 13
An open source programming workshop with artist Greg Niemeyer
Hosted by OpenCraft

Location:11 Nadi El Seid Street, Suite 1101
Dokki 12311, Giza
Hosted by OpenCraft

May 12 - 13, (Friday ­ Saturday)
7pm ­ 9pm
Open Studio 
Performance­based event

Location: Townhouse Gallery of contemporary art
10 Nabrawy st., off Champollion st.
Talaat Harb sq., Downtown Cairo

On May 12 and 13, resident artists and musicians will ³open their studios²
to the public with presentations and loosely defined performances of their
work. 
 
plus
An online discussion regarding individual practitioners¹ approaches to
authorship and ownership in the fields of art and technology.
visit 
http://www.openstudiocairo.com
 
Open Studio Project 2006 is an initiative of the Townhouse Gallery of
contemporary art in partnership with Triangle Arts Trust.