OPEN STUDIO

Open Studio Project 2006 is an international residency programme in Downtown Cairo exploring creative approaches to sound.

Residency Programme participants include seventeen artists, musicians and curators whose practices reflect a diversity of creative approaches to and engagements with sound, whether as a visceral or aural material, conceptual or contextual reference, or as a point of departure.

Rajivan Ayyappan (India), Regine Basha (USA), Carlo Crovato (UK), Murat Ertel (Turkey), Charbel Haber (Lebanon), Adham Hafez (Egypt), Geert-Jan Hobijn (Holland & Germany), Hassan Khan (Egypt), Myizer Matlhaku (Botswana), Greg Niemeyer (USA & Switzerland), Ceren Oykut  (Turkey), Maryam Rahman (Pakistan), Mahmoud Refat (Egypt), Mohammed Al Riffai (Egypt & Canada), Basak Senova  (Turkey), Paulo Vivacqua (Brazil), Cynthia Zaven (Lebanon).

5 – 8 May (Friday-Monday)
4pm – 8 pm
A video game/art piece which “players” navigate with their voice – offered both as a performance and a interactive piece.
Fustat Youth Center

Based on an earlier version entitled Organum Playtest, Away From the New was developed especially for presentation in Cairo by Greg Niemeyer, Richard Shaw and Dan Perkel of the University of California, Berkeley.

Friday May 5
7pm – 9pm
A screening of video compilations from Istanbul, curated by Basak Senova of NOMAD.
Contemporary Image Center (CiC)

Saturday, May 6
7pm – 8pm
A panel discussion with Regine Basha, Basak Senova and Mohammed Al Riffai on the problematics of curating sound;
A discussion of the ways in which artists and curators working creatively with sound articulate and present this work in relation to conventions of artistic discipline and practice.
Library, Townhouse Gallery

7 – 9 May (Sunday – Tuesday)
7pm – 9pm
the ultrasound of therapy
An interactive installation piece in which visitors are prescribed sound therapies.
Goethe Institut

The ultrasound of therapyis a sound installation inspired by the eighteenth-century French hospital La Salle des Malades. Visitors are invited to undergo a personal sound therapy and are “treated” with sound therapies selected to provide individualized sonic experiences. These sound therapies are created by members of Staalplaat Soundsystem, Simon Wickham-Smith, and Biotechnology Makes Business Consultancy.

Thursday, May 11,
8 pm – 9pm
Organum Playtest
Performance
Residence of Swiss Cultural Attaché, Heinz Walker

A semi-improvisational performance of Organum Playtest, a collaborative art project and video game in which players navigate a simulated environment using their own voices as game controls. Greg Niemeyer, the game’s creator, discusses the work with the audience. Vocalists Ahdam Hafez and Basim Wadie will perform the piece.

Saturday, May 13
An open source programming workshop with artist Greg Niemeyer
Hosted by OpenCraft

May 12 – 13, (Friday – Saturday)
7pm – 9pm
Open Studio
Performance–based event
Townhouse Gallery of contemporary art

On May 12 and 13, resident artists and musicians opens their studios to the public with presentations and loosely defined performances of their work.

Open Studio Project 2006 is an initiative of the Townhouse Gallery of contemporary art in partnership with Triangle Arts Trust.