The Pyramids of Giza have been the site of many things over their 4600 years, and now an art show is set in the sands around them. The first known international art show at the site, “Forever Is Now” is being put on by Art D’Egypte.
Art D’Egypte, founded in 2016, is a team of nine women from Egypt. It stages pop-up exhibitions at heritage sites around the ancient country. A major aim of their stunt-style programs is the juxtaposition of the ancient world and contemporary, even temporary art. Nadine Abdel Ghaffar, the leader of the group, calls this juxtaposition the “space-time continuum.”
The show “Forever Is Now” consists of ten works, most of them abstract and in some way incorporating the view of the massive monuments as a part of their design.
“Eternity Now” by Gisela Colon, for instance, is a gold-plated oblong dome, an organic shape in gleaming cold that echoes the hue of the sand.
“The form itself is like the eye of Ra, an oculus represented in Egyptian cultural artifacts,” said Colon of her work. “I wanted something elliptical in shape that could have a symbiotic relationship with the triangular pyramids, and the sun rising and setting.”
“(Plan of the Path of Light) In the House of the Hidden Places” by Shuster+Moseley is an installation piece of thick planes of glass. Seen from the right angle and the right light, they vanish into the silhouettes of the Pyramids, rather than compete with them.
“Barzakh” by Moataz Nasr draws inspiration from the boats said to carry the souls of pharaohs to the afterlife, in two long rows of oars planted in the sand, their crossing apexes making a straight line aimed directly at the largest Pyramid.
“The paddles are a way of going through time,” said Nasr. “Up to the sky and back into the earth.”
The art installations will be in place until November 17th.
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