Alexandria Newsletter 0

Alexandria (re)activating common urban imaginaries launching Newsletter

Published 15/11/2021

Implemented with the support of the European Union’s Creative Europe programme, the project ‘Alexandria: (Re)activating Common Urban Imaginaries’ aims to take a fresh look at the relation between arts, heritage and urban life in the Mediterranean and in Europe, through the prism of the antic and modern cities of Alexandria, their creativity and cosmopolitanism.

More about the project

Tirage photographique, Alexandrie, 1997, Alain Leloup © Collection Mucem.

Alexandria’s residencies on track

School for Sonic Memory

Having received more than 250 applications, the School of Sonic Memory residency programme will be co-shaped by 6 selected participants in collaboration with a group of local artists in three Mediterranean cities: Athens, Alexandria & Marseille.

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Caravan: Thinking with Alexandria

The Caravan residency programme aims to survey the European cities of Athens, Brussels, Marseille and Nicosia, through the lens of Alexandria and its contested urban imaginaries.

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Discover the upcoming exhibition ‘Past Futures’

Alexandrie [Alexandria]. Vue du Port Neuf, prise cimetière, qui le sépare du Port Vieux. Description Egypte Etat moderne II. © The Royal Museum of Mariemont.

‘Past Futures’ revisits the former megapolis of Alexandria at the height of its history, highlighting its urban, political and religious organisation and some of the numerous scientific innovations and philosophical expressions that shaped it into one of the ancient world’s civilisational centres.

More about the exhibition

Interview about the exhibition “Past Futures” – with Arnaud Quertinmont and Edwin Nasr

Discover one artwork from the exhibition: Hrair Sarkissian’s photographic series, Background

Background, Hrair Sarkissian, 2015, C-print, courtesy of the artist.

In Background, Hrair Sarkissian photographed hundreds of examples of empty, staged backdrops in photographic studios across six Middle Eastern cities-Alexandria, Amman, Beirut, Byblos, Cairo and Istanbul. These backdrops, absent of their sitters, become symbols of lost traditions, cultural identity and time…

More here

Calendar

The School for Sonic Memory in Athens

7 – 14. 11. 2021

The SSM residency will start in November with an initial stay in Athens.

Workshop in Leiden University, faculty of archeology

20 – 21. 01. 2022

The four topics of the workshop are:

“Alexandria in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt: the basics”; “Alexandria in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt: context and dispersal”; “Alexandria after Antiquity”; and “Alexandria: Global heritage, art and development”.

The event will be live-streamed, more info in our upcoming newsletter.

Around the project

Fact about Alexandria

The French Institute’s history

The palace that currently hosts the French Institute of Egypt in Alexandria, located on 30 Nabi Daniel Street, was built between 1872 and 1875. Overlooked by both the Cafarelli Fort and the Hill of Kom el-Dik, the majestic neo-classical villa was acquired by the French State in 1886, purchased from its owners David and Jacques Aghion, two notables from an influential Alexandrian family.