By Mahmoud Fouly
Cairo - Against the backdrop of the three Great Pyramids of Giza and their plateau, an open-air art exhibition featuring a dozen contemporary art installations is held in the southwest of Cairo, Egypt.
The "Forever Is Now" exhibition is meant to combine ancient history and cultural heritage represented in the pyramids with contemporary art, drawing a link between the past, the present and the future.
One of the installations is a six-meter-tall unfinished obelisk by Emirati conceptual artist Zeinab Alhashemi.
Made of stainless steel and camel hides, the obelisk symbolises the well-known ancient Unfinished Obelisk located in Upper Egypt's Aswan.
Another piece is "Secrets of Time" by Tunisian artist eL Seed. The artwork consists of a gate-like string curtain of hanging ropes surrounded by an iron frame, on which there was a quote from the late Egyptian novelist Radwa Ashour in Arabic calligraphy: "Time does not disclose its secrets to humankind."
eL Seed explained that his artwork is meant to celebrate the mystery and greatness of the Pyramids of Giza, whose construction remains a secret till today.
"The piece is meant to offer a new experience, as anyone can open this curtain of ropes and rediscover the pyramids in a new way," el Seed told Xinhua near his artwork.
"The pyramids in the background are more important than the artwork. The background gives value to the piece. My piece of work will perish while the pyramids will remain," the Tunisian artist added.
Not far from el Seed's piece, an artwork by the Spanish artist SpY titled "ORB: Under the Same Sun" features a four-meter-diameter ball, or orb, of chrome steel with mirrors of reinforced safety glass reflecting the pyramids, the sky and the surroundings.
A little further, a three-piece work by Jwan Yosef, a Syrian-born Swedish painter and artist, represents a huge 3D figure of the artist's own face sinking into the sand, with only its nose, the lips and the chin emerging from the sand and facing the sky.
The limestone artwork, "Vital Sands," takes a novel approach to the traditional self-portrait genre by depicting being submerged in the remedial sands of time.
Yosef said he was having a conversation with "one of the most ancient and iconic monuments in the world" through his piece.
"To have that dialogue with your own work is just incredible, and to be able to portray that it's just been an amazing experience," he added.
"Forever Is Now" is organised by Art D'Egypte company, an Egyptian platform dedicated to art and heritage, under the auspices of Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).
The month-long event kicked off on October 27 and will remain open to visitors until the end of November, featuring works of artists from 11 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Italy, Cameroon and France.
Chief organiser Nadine Abdel-Ghaffar, also the founder of Art D'Egypte, said this year's exhibition is different because it comes ahead of Egypt's hosting of the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, noting that a couple of the artworks here also feature environmental sustainability.
"Every year, Art D'Egypte holds a local art exhibition at a different archaeological site. But when it comes to the pyramids, we thought we should invite the whole world to participate, not only Egyptian artists," she said.
"This has given greater influence to the event because every foreign artist acts as an ambassador for Egypt back home," the organiser told Xinhua.
In her artwork named "Pantheon of Deities," Egyptian artist Therese Antoine sculpted five marble columns representing obelisks that refer to significant deities of the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt. On top of each column lies the symbol of the deity, made of either stainless steel or iron.
Meanwhile, British-American artist Natalie Clark displays a piece called "Spirit of Hathor," referring to the goddess of the sky, women, fertility and love in ancient Egypt. The installation shows two pairs of interlocking horns made of Corten steel, with the upper two horns holding the marble sun. The piece represents "the feminine divine and female empowerment" as Clark says.
Visitors were impressed by the open-air exhibition surrounding the Pyramids of Giza.
"I think it's great to combine classical buildings and stuff from ancient past with modern art. And I think it really enriches both pieces," 22-year-old Dutch tourist Fenna Visser told Xinhua, adding that such an event helps visitors learn more about Egyptian culture and history.
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