Art D’Égypte’s “Forever is Now” is once again turning heads at one of the world’s most breathtaking landmarks, the Great Pyramids in Giza, Egypt. Now in its fourth year, the epic art exhibition—which runs through November 15—features 12 artists from around the world presenting installations that range from abstraction (Chris Levine’s “Quadrivium”), to practical (Marie Khouri’s benches, “I Love”), with themes stretching from the ancient past to the present day.
“The first year was a simple dialogue between the artists and the historical ties,” says curator and organizer Nadine Abdel Ghaffar whose company, Culturvator, has been presenting the show since its inception. “We changed the curatorial direction so it became a conversation between the visitor, the artist and the site.” A multi-disciplinary platform working to promote art, film, design and music, Culturvator collaborates with private and public entities to create Art D’Égypte from scratch every year. Selections for 2024 include artists from India, the UK, Canada, Belgium, South Korea, South Africa, Greece, Italy, Egypt, France and Spain. Here’s a look at some of the show’s stunning highlights:
‘Four Temples’ – Ik-Joong Kang
Kang’s series of cube-shaped installations has walls made of thousands of square tiles decorated with drawings and messages, including the Korean folk song “Arirang” written in Korean, English, Arabic and hieroglyphs. The inner walls are composed of drawings by people from around the world, particularly children and those facing political and social strife. “I kind of reversed the idea,” Kang tells Maxim about “Four Temples,” which embodies common themes in his work—harmony, connectivity, empathy and peace. “It’s not going toward the past. We have to look to the future.”
‘The Race’ – Khaled Zaki
Reminiscent of ancient Egyptian chariots, a pair of stainless steel horses races through the desert with semicircular wheels emerging from the sand beneath. In the artist’s hands it’s an expression of human invention that led to navigation and discovery of unknown lands and the mapping of the skies. “They are step by step in the sand cause it reflects the old technology and civilizations not able to reach the kind of high tech which is squeezing everybody,” says Zaki, who did the original series in marble. “I wanted to magnify it and use reflective stainless steel so it looks like something very technological and modern or a spaceship or satellite.”
‘Padma/Lotus’ – Shilo Shiv Suleman
Suleman’s garden of ten giant blue lotuses made of brass, with petals made of silk and holographic film, uses pulse sensors to visualize visitors’ heartbeats. Based on her 2014 installation, “Pulse & Bloom” at Burning Man, “Padma/Lotus” is rooted in the ancient text of the Vishnu Purana in which a lotus emerged from the navel of a god and marked the creation of the universe. It’s matched in Egyptian lore in which a blue lotus arose out of primeval waters at the beginning of time, connecting the heavens to the Earth. Prophecies declare that when the blue lotus blooms in Egypt there will be a rebirth of consciousness rooted in the purity of the heart.
‘Quadrivium’ – Chris Levine
Levine’s installation is derived from the ancient study of mass, astronomy, geometry and sound. “All those subjects play into the design of the pyramids,” he tells Maxim. Two dichroic glass discs vibrate near the top of a central pole held in place by a triangle of cables, emitting a frequency of 5 to 8 hertz on the lower disc, and 4 to 2 hertz on the top. “Both are significant numbers to the Great Pyramid (of Khufu), so all angles, ratios, geometry, distances, every specification of this object is extrapolated from the Great Pyramid.”
‘I See, I See’ – Federica Di Carlo
Federica Di Carlo’s installation takes its cues from Egyptian mythology wherein the Sun God Ra shed tears from which humankind sprung forth. A large eye composed of thousands of graduated optical lenses through which the world appears upside down surrounds an opening that frames the pyramids.
‘Exodus’ – Xavier Mascaró
A fleet of miniature ships made of bronze and iron with cloth sails floats gently on the desert floor, reflecting the migration of individuals and masses throughout history. “Migration is something which is always present,” says Mascaró whose work is often inspired by archaeology and art history. “I understand that people will relate it to Gaza, and others will think about migrations that have relationships with their country, like Mexican migration into the US. It’s about presence and absence, what remains and what goes, it’s about the human condition.”
‘Vessel of Time’ – Jean-Marie Appriou
Made from Nile ochre clay, this traditional river boat with a solitary bronze figure was inspired by the solar barque of Khufu unearthed on the Giza Plateau, emblematic of boats buried near royal tombs that served as ritual vessels ferrying the resurrected across the skies. “The boat is a metaphor of life and death and East and West and looking from the West to the promise of the new,” explains Appriou who, as a child, dreamed of being an Egyptologist and often refers to Egyptian sculpture in his body of work. “The boat of Khufu is an iconic relic that has survived all these years. I wanted to do a special piece, very powerful, and it will disappear like the ephemeral quality of life.”
‘Monochrome RGB’ – Luca Boffi
Three panes of reflective cladding in yellow, blue and red filter the view of the Giza Plateau. Boffi’s minimalist installation matches the minimalism of the pyramids which seem to bookend art history, expressing both ancient and modern sensibilities. “My artistic practice develops from the scientific study of the grid as an optical device through which to measure, order and reinvent the environment,” says Boffi. “It finds form in construction in nature, with installations and performative actions born from sensitive listening to the site.”
‘We Will Meet Again in the Sky’ – Jake Michael Singer
With his avian-like installation Singer nods at symbolism rooted in Egyptian cosmology, where birds symbolize transcendence, freedom and divine communication. Constructed from thousands of steel rods, Singer’s piece evokes the spirit of the deity Bennu, associated with rebirth and the sun. “We’re connected to ancient civilization, the people who came here before us,” the artist explains. “This body of work is called ‘Murmurations’, when birds flock together in the sky. It’s about how one becomes many, how an individual relates to society.”
‘Desert Waves’ – Jean Boghossian
Boghossian’s oeuvre straddles the cross-section of creation and destruction. In his practice, fire often transforms materials, commenting on the ephemeral nature of existence, just as the rust in “Desert Waves,” with its curvy steel slats emerging from the sand, illustrates the impermanence of a material that epitomizes permanence. “In Egypt you have sand waves and you have waves of the ocean, but those are busy. We avoid violence,” says the artist, who splits his time between Belgium and his home country of Lebanon, now the target of Israeli bombs. “We are sick of violence we need to have peaceful means. I call them the waves of calligraphy, music and the waves of literature, of poetry. Art is the answer. With art you can disagree, but you don’t need to kill. You can have a glass of wine and talk about it.”
‘Liquid Solid’ – Nassia Inglessis
Inglessis’ sculpture comments on the Ancient Egyptians’ use of elements provided by their surroundings, fluidly shifting millions of tons of stone over water and sand into perfect geometry of monumental scale. In doing so she treats the desert sand as a liquid solid counterintuitively commenting on the liquid essence of the pyramids. With her installation Inglessis combines native elements with materials used in NASA’s Voyagers, such as aluminum honeycomb, forming a nexus where past, present and future meet.
‘I Love’ – Marie Khouri
Khouri presents a flowing installation composed of Arabic letters made from polystyrene that form the words “I Love.” Not only does it bridge the artist’s Egyptian heritage with her global journey that has led her to Vancouver, but the finished piece makes for stylish settees on which to rest and take in the Giza plateau.