The Enduring and The Transitory

6 December 2016

The event at the Maq‘ad of Sultan Qaitbey  (MASQ) on the evening of 6 December 2016 celebrated two very different aspects of contemporary art. It marked the completion of the works by artists-in-residence who created them as part of the programme that has been operating at MASQ since January 2016.

The German artist Roy Hiller-Gießing produced a monumental abstract sculpture in stone that became a permanent fixture in the small city square in front of the maq‘ad. The Polish graffiti artists who sign their work as Franek Mysza (Frankie the Mouse) and Ajron (Iron) spray-painted vivid and witty images of cats and mice on the walls and shutters of the neighbourhood.
Diverse as they were, the artists quickly built a rapport with the local community and carried out creativity-developing workshops with the neighbourhood children and youth.

The opening event brought to MASQ a huge crowd of people of very different walks of life, and distinguished guests and speakers included the Minister of Antiquities, the Ambassador of Poland and Chargé d’Affaires of the German embassy as well as high-ranking Egyptian officials.

The exhibition of works by the faculty and students of the German University in Cairo in the Maq‘ad of Sultan Qaitbey was inaugurated that evening. The exhibition was organised in cooperation with the Islamic Art Museum and inspired by its collection. The event was also an opportunity for traditional craftspeople to sell their products. Among these, woodwork items from Upper Egypt were displayed at MASQ for the first time by the Future Egypt foundation.