Opening 7 October at the Mashrabia Gallery of Contemporary Art in downtown Cairo is “8-bit Portraits” by up-and-coming artist Ahmed El Shaer.
In this solo exhibition El Shawr, who has a particular interest in digital technologies, employs the West-born 8-bit gaming technology to Arab world celebrities, creating a set of portraits that playfully render well-known portraits of Arab sweethearts such as Souad Hosny.
“Being from the Middle East I wanted to share my personal experience of the world around me and my own exposure to Atari employing this 8-bit technology within a region that had not participated in the 8-bit Western phenomenon,” El Shaer writes in his personal statement. “What would have an Atari game been like centered around one of the famous personalities of Arab history? In searching, my experience has led me to translate a set of portraits of such figures into this 8-bit realm.”
Programme:
Sunday, 7 October, 7:00pm
Mashrabia Art Gallery
8 Champollion Street, Downtown Cairo
Opening hours: Daily (except Fridays) from 11am to 8pm
The exhibition will run until 8 November
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