Opening of the 22nd Youth Salon in 2011 (Photo: Hanya El-Azzouni)
On Sunday, 15 December, Minister of Culture Mohamed Saber Arab inaugurated the 24th Youth Salon in the Palace of the Arts on the Cairo Opera House grounds.
The Youth Salon is an annual competition and exhibition in which a number of young artists submit their work and a committee selects the best art to be showcased in the final Salon, giving awards to outstanding pieces. The initiative was launched by the Ministry of Culture in 1989 to support young emerging visual artists.
The Salon helped kick off the careers of many prominent contemporary Egyptian artists, including visual artist Hany Rashed and renowned sculptor Ahmed Askalany. Veteran Egyptian artists like Mohamed Abla also started out as members of the Youth Salon.
This year, 155 artists under the age of 35 will be displaying 171 works of art with the theme of ‘Crossing to the Future,’ and competing for the event’s prizes, which range from LE1,000 to LE20,000.
"Throughout the past 23 years, the Youth Salon has been witness to the evolution of the contemporary arts scene in Egypt, uncovering countless talents and proving itself as the most important art event of the year in terms of discovering valuable artistic experiments and shedding light on them," says Salah El-Meligy, head of the Visual Arts Sector and director of the Youth Salon.
On the margins of this year’s Salon, a separate art criticism competition entitled "Art, Revolution and the Future" will be held.
Applicants to this competition are to submit a theoretical analysis of artistic manifestations in Egypt inclusive of the January 25 Revolution and until 30 June 2013, considering, too, the future of art in the country. Analyses should reflect on changes taking place within the different fields of the visual arts (painting, sculpture, media installations, performance arts, graffiti and murals) in light of the fluctuating cultural, social and political scene in Egypt.
The deadline for the “Art, Revolution and the Future” competition is 25 December. Winners will be announced 5 January. The top prize in the competition is LE3000.
Those wishing to apply are requested to visit the Palace of the Arts in order to register their names and familiarise themselves with the terms and guidelines of the competition.
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