TWO DIMENSIONS OF POST-SOCIALISM

Site-specific installation (wood, laminated wood, chipboard, varnish) / 2022

For the exhibition “Beyond Promise”, i installed a wall into the existing architecture of the Kunstverein Leipzig that consists of two façade patterns. One side shows a reconstructed brick wall with a window opening. It refers to the recurring informal architecture of Cairo: columns and ceilings made of reinforced concrete as a basic grid, which - depending on the requirements of the residents - is filled in with red brick. On the other side is a replica fragment of the planned Oblisco Capitale Towers, which is part of the New Administrative Capital of Cairo that is currently being built. The façade incorporates the shape of the lotus flower, which was an important design element in the Pharaonic era.

Both facade elements represent two contrasting urban developments after socialism in Egypt. 

Since the economic liberalization of the 1970s, attempts have been made to cope with the rapidly increasing population growth with state-controlled housing construction programmes. These measures are not sufficient, so that today about 60% of Cairo’s population live in self-grown and self-built informal settlements whose functional architecture characterizes the cityscape. A political countermeasure since the liberalization are new planned cities in the desert in Greater Cairo, which, however, are increasingly becoming luxurious prestige projects. This is currently culminating in the mega construction project of the New Administrative Capital of Cairo, which is being built about 40 km east of Cairo’s city center. This desert city, designed for 8.5 million inhabitants, is discussed and courted in public mainly because of its superlatives. Representative of this is the Oblisco Capitale Tower, which will be the tallest building in the world with a height of 1000 m when completed.

"Beyond Promise" exhibition presents the artistic research from artists Sven Bergelt, Yara Mekawei, Mina Nasr, Kai-Hendrik Windeler and Curator Elham Khattab about the architectural heritage of Socialism in Cairo and Leipzig to critically discuss its current relevance in terms of common good oriented action, ecologically sustainable urbanism and the desire for a society that can interact equally.