Art D'Égypte launches YouTube channel, podcast

Ati Metwaly , Friday 29 May 2020

The company’s mission is to promote Egyptian art while linking it with the past

Nadine Abdel Ghaffar
From top left clockwise: Nadine Abdel Ghaffar, founder of Art D'Egypte; Reimagined Narratives; livestreamed discussion with Mohamed Allam; Reimagined Narratives

Art D'Égypte last week launched a YouTube channel as well as a podcast.

Both platforms are extensions of the company's activities to promote Egyptian and Arab art while creating a strong link between the past and present.

The podcast features the "movers and shakers in the local, regional and global art landscape including curators, historians, artists, patrons, gallerists and art writers," according to a press release.

The podcast is accessible via the company’s Instagram account, with new programmes posted every Monday and Wednesday.

The company has already published the podcast schedule for this week.
 

 

In the YouTube channel launched by Art D'Égypte, the company shares the discussions around the art, our past versus modernity through a series of videos.

Most recent video posted on 28 May presents a discussion with Yannick Lintz, Director of Islamic Arts at the Louvre Paris, paralleling the podcast release.

The topics tackled in the video include understanding the necessity of showcasing modern art in historical venues, the ways of presenting today's art in historic buildings and museums, and the interaction created between the modern and the historic.

A shorter video Reimagined Narratives and posted on 24 May, gives us a glimpse at the exhibition organised by Art D'Egypte by the end of 2019. The exhibition presented modern art works across a number of venues located in Historic Cairo.

"The contemporary treasures on display are engaged in a profound dialogue with the glorious Islamic monuments, linking past to present," wrote Nevine El-Aref in an article describing the exhibition.


The videos posted on YouTube are aligned with Art D'Egypte activities set within the company's principal mission.

"Our aim is to promote the Egyptian art while preserving our historical science. We make yearly exhibitions by displaying contemporary art and historical science and by doing so we link our past to our creative presence," reveals Art D'Égypte founder Nadine Abdel Ghaffar in an introductory video titled “Who We Are.”

Art D'Égypte is one of the most active platforms raising creative discussions embedded in Egyptian and Arab art, organising exhibitions, supporting young artists and providing curatorial services.

With the general cultural shutdown put in place at the beginning of March, Art D'Égypte has swiftly moved its activities online.

Over the past two months, it has provided "never-before-seen online content aiming to educate, inspire, and inform the youth of today on the importance of art history and cultural preservation in the sustainable development of our nation," reads a press release.

Prior to the launch of YouTube channel and podcast, Art D'Égypte featured numerous Egyptian artists on its Facebook page. This is done through posts introducing the artist and its creative work or a direct live-streamed interaction with an artist, as in a recent discussion held with media and video artist Mohamed Allam, who is also founder of Medrar collective.

 

 

In April, Art D'Égypte supported the inauguration of the Mahy Khalifa Art Fund and Scholarship, which was created by Dina Shehata and Karim Abou Youssef in memory of Mahy Khalifa, an art lover and collector who passed away in July 2019.

Paralleling the online activities, Art D'Égypte is currently working on a monograph on Modern Egyptian Art pioneers Effat and Mohammed Nagi.

"He was the first Egyptian Dean of the Beaux Arts Academy and created the Atelier D’Alexandrie. This book will be one of the most important pieces of literature on Egyptian art history," reads the press release.

Art D'Égypte can be found on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube


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