Bidayat (Beginnings):Assiut - Upper Egypt .

Bidayat (Beginnings):

The First Glimmer Light in the Realm of Darkness,

Assiut, Upper Egypt

By Emad Abo Grain - Egypt

Founding statement:

In December 2009, the Upper Egyptian city of Assiut saw the first

signs of an emergent independent cultural and artistic movement. It

took the form of Bidayat Al Tashkiliya (Beginnings for the Fine Arts),

which in its founding statement declared that this society marked

the true beginning for a group of young practitioners of the fine arts

and a starting point for injecting a new vision into a listless cultural

environment. In the declaration, the founders said:

“In view of the lack of attention accorded to us as young artists

by the official establishment responsible for the supervision of

arts and culture in the governorate of Assiut in Upper Egypt, as

embodied by the Ministry of Culture and its General Organization

for Cultural Palaces, which monopolizes cultural work throughout

most of Egypt, and given the indifference to the value of the artist

as a cultural innovator with a vital role to play in society, we felt it

our duty to act. In so doing, we were driven by a spirit of optimism

for the future and by a desire to break the moulds of stagnation

and traditionalism that prevail in the arts milieu in the governorate

of Assiut and that have confined the hearts and minds of young

artists, preventing the emergence of new and outstanding talents

and energies, and hampering the generational progression which is

a prime engine for the creative process. These motivations shaped

the impetus and the hope to found an independent artistic society

consisting of a group of young plastic artists from Assiut. The purpose

of this society is to furnish them with aid and assistance in their

creative careers, to promote a good working environment in which

their creative output would receive the appreciation it merits, and

moreover to encourage them to confront the deteriorating state to

which culture and the arts have sunk in Upper Egypt and, indeed, in

all parts of the country and the Arab world, since we firmly believe that art is the cornerstone upon which any cultural revival is built.”

This was our first cry against the stagnation and rigidity that kills

dozens of creative talents by the day.

The birth:

The idea for the society was born several years before this, following

a workshop that had brought together a group of young artists

in Assiut in 2005 with the purpose of helping them to prepare to

compete in an official contest. It was then that the dream first

dawned on us to found an independent artistic entity that would

foster a qualitatively new vision for the plastic arts, one that would

deliver creativity “shocks” that would stimulate cultural dialogue

and debate, after which we, as artists, would come together in

a new spirit that we would draw on as we reached out to other

diverse segments of the public and encourage others to join us.

After issuing its founding statement in 2009, Bidayat El Tashkiliya

initiated the project Wilad Tisaa with children in New Assiut. This

project, inspired by the folk proverb that we are all born in nine

months, which is to say, we are all human, germinated the idea of

offering works of art to the public for free, as gifts, so that people

could display them in their homes. The exhibit from which these

gifts were presented featured both paintings and photographic

art. It was followed by Chants of Form, an exhibit of the work of

six young sculptors from Assiut that was also pioneering in that it

simultaneously incorporated a theatrical performance that attracted

young artistic energies from diverse creative disciplines.

The second signs:

Soon a number of young dramatists, musicians and writers

joined the artists. They sensed that something new and different

was happening and they were enthused by the notion of an

“independent artistic group” because it offered them opportunities

to take off, without complications and with the simplest resources,

and in a spirit of honesty, cooperation and dedication, towards the

successful realization of any artistic project or dream. But when our

numbers grew to over 35 male and female artists, we knew we had

to find a place, however modest, that would be large enough for us to meet, exchange ideas, air artistic and cultural proposals, and

discuss where we were heading. Eventually our thinking extended

to a place large enough for artists to work on their output and for

others to hold rehearsals.

The Marsam:

Within the space of a few months, the Marsam (atelier) became a

Mecca for young artists and intellectuals and a host of artistic talents

whom we had never heard of before and who represented a diverse

range of creative disciplines. It was not long before the idea came

to change the name of our society to Bidayat lil Funun (Beginnings

for the Arts) and to expand its scope to include sections for music,

theater and literature. In fact, we began to create an independent

theater troupe.

Meanwhile, we persisted in our mission to produce something new

every day. We held frequent meetings and roundtables to discuss

the dismal state of culture in Upper Egypt and how to develop our

performance in the arts and culture. At the same time, we sought

to keep abreast with the latest artistic and cultural movements

and schools in the capital and, indeed, around the world, and

we explored opportunities to cooperate artistically and culturally

with other bodies. Of equal importance, we applied ourselves to

becoming more familiar with the nature of the society to which

we had chosen to dedicate our efforts, to elevate its aesthetic

and emotional senses and to raise its intellectual and cognitive

capacities.

The revolution and a dream:

The January 25 Revolution came as a magnificent surprise.

Suddenly we saw new horizons and we had a new surge of hope

and optimism. As we watched the graffiti and street art appear on

the walls in the major squares and streets of Assiut, we were struck

by the magnitude of this moment and the need to make a stance in

the streets with all our might. Around this time we first heard of the

drive to create an Independent Culture Coalition. A few weeks after

the revolution began we signed the coalition’s founding declaration

and joined in our capacity as an artistic society from Upper Egypt.

There followed a call to hold a meeting to air and discuss proposals for artistic activities that would involve various forms of street art

that would work in tandem with the political and social goals of

the revolution. The result was the inauguration of the countrywide

event El Fan Midan. Bidayat offered to coordinate and host the

event in Assiut. As a society of young artists from that governorate

we enjoyed good relations with other artistic and cultural groups

and entities in the area and their member artists and intellectuals of

all age groups. We were handed the responsibility and El Fan Midan

opened in Assiut in April 2011. This magnificent event gave us a

wide platform to express ourselves and introduce new talents, as

well as to meet with all segments of the public in a new way and

with a unique revolutionary spirit.

Bidayat continued to cooperate with the Independent Culture

Coalition and to help support it, and the Marsam continued

to perform its function of bringing together young artists and

intellectuals from Assiut and nearby towns.

Becoming official:

Of course, we encountered obstacles with respect to funding and

our lack of legal status. However, we held on to our dream and

the more it grew, the more we realized how important it was for

us to work in the framework of an organized cultural entity with

a clear administrative structure and effective distribution of roles

and functions. We debated the need to establish ourselves officially

so that we could present our artistic and cultural activities more

professionally, and so that we could have access to material support

and improve the level of cultural management of our society, which

was a pioneering experience in the contemporary cultural history

of Assiut. There was so much we wanted to do. We were a group of

young people who were on a quest to contribute to our society in

original ways, and to produce something new in form and substance

that would leave an impact in the souls of the people and on their

auditory and visual memories, for we knew that this was our key to

realizing change and rectifying the warps and deformations that had

set in over the preceding decades. We therefore set the following

among our highest priorities:

− The creation of an independent cultural entity for the support and

dissemination of cultural activity in the governorate of Assiut, which

would then serve as a platform for extending this effort to the rest

of Upper Egypt and other parts of the country.

− To make the young creative artist the cornerstone of the plans,

aims and activities of Bidayat.

− To profile the identity of Upper Egyptian society as part of the

activities and outlooks of Bidayat.

− To develop effective partnerships and forms of artistic cooperation

between Bidayat and other cultural entities.

The Bidayat spirit:

We are still, up to this moment, operating on a volunteer basis,

independent from any pressures that could influence the integrity

of our choices. While we are continuing our search for new

opportunities, we are planning to take on a larger space to serve

as our artistic center where larger numbers of artists and members

of the public can meet. We also foresee this space to be a cultural

haven in Upper Egypt for the production and experience of serious

and worthy art and culture events that reach out to ordinary people.

In addition, since the January 25 Revolution, there have been a

number of cultural and artistic initiatives that have derived their

energy and spirit from the experience of Bidayat for the Arts. They

include the One Million Artists Creativity Center, founded by a

group of young artists and intellectuals. The aim of his initiative is

to reclaim old derelict buildings and unused neglected spaces and

to put them back to use for artistic and cultural purposes. The first

experience of this sort was the First Creative Forum Tunnel, hosted

in a 170 meter long pedestrian tunnel and in certain areas in its

immediate environment such as public gardens. This event took

place in March 2012. Currently preparations for a second forum

are under way and include plans to transform the tunnel into the

first arts exhibit hall open to the public 24 hours a day. In a second

initiative by the One Million Artists Creativity Center, the ancient

Islamic wikalas, or caravansaries, located in the western part of

Assiut city such as Wikalat Shalabi, are gradually being transformed into cultural centers for the presentation of various forms of creative

output and for hosting cultural and artistic forums, fairs and other

activities. Each of these centers will have its own teams of artists

and intellectuals who will draw up the cultural and artistic plans and

programs most appropriate to these venues.

The beginning of the road:

The road is long, of course. In the rich and edifying process so far

we have become aware of how difficult it is to offer a proper and

genuine cultural service. At the same time, we have come to realize

the importance of working in an organized and institutionalized

manner that, simultaneously, observes the respect for the freedom

of the artist and his/her creative energies and impulses. We have

also realized how important it is to constantly strive to keep our

relations with other cultural entities alive, and to work to develop

new relations in the spirit of promoting a climate conducive to

creativity and to generating support commensurate to the ongoing

artistic and cultural activities and to forthcoming proposals and

projects.

The foregoing has been an attempt to offer a brief account of

the origins of the Bidayat for the Arts Group and its experience

in stimulating a cultural and artistic revival in the Upper Egyptian

governorate of Assiut since 2009, through a range of workshops,

projects and other events and activities. As this group prepares

for future plans and projects, I would also like to stress the extent

to which this artistic and cultural venture has affected all of us,

as artists. It has given us strength, self confidence, and moral and

spiritual support for a value that was one day just a dream but now

has become a reality. This value is manifold: it means giving before

you think to take, striving to add something new to the cultural

reality in Egypt, and finally, being a socially committed artist.

Bidayat is an artistic group from Upper Egypt dedicated to the love

of art and sustained by the love for Egypt.

 

_______________________________

Emad Abo Grain - Egypt

Visual artist and theatrical set and costume designer; Emad Abo

Grain co founded Bidayat Group for the Arts in Assiout in Upper

Egypt in 2009. He launched an initiative to establish the Million

Artists Creativity Center in 2012.

He holds a B.A. degree in art education in the Faculty of Special

Education of Assiout University. After graduating, he worked

as an art education teacher, but in 2004 he resigned so that he

could devote himself entirely to art. He took part in a number of

group exhibitions featuring painting, photography, installations

and physical performance. At the same time, he created set and

costume designs for several theatrical performances.

In 2009 he started a series of artistic ventures, with children and

ordinary people in the street as their intended recipients. Most of

these took place in Assiout city or nearby towns and villages.

 

_________________________________

 

This Is What Happened

Personal testimonies on the state of independent culture

in the Arab region

This book was compiled and prepared for the conference

Independent Culture for Democracy

Cairo, 15 – 17 December 2012

 

 

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