The Wonder Box

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Aug 14, 2014
[All ten artists involved in building The Wonder Box share an interest in creating art for public spaces. Video still courtesy of Medrar TV.] [All ten artists involved in building The Wonder Box share an interest in creating art for public spaces. Video still courtesy of Medrar TV.]

The Wonder Box

By : Medrar TV مدرار تي في

The Wonder Box

Traveling Peep show 

April - May 2014

Cairo


Mahatat, a Cairo-based initiative for “community art” and art in public spaces, brought together a group of artists, technologists, architects, musicians, and storytellers to revive the bygone traveling peep show genre in Egypt. “The Wonder Box,” which toured Cairo’s streets this summer and will travel to the Delta region next year, presents the stories of local cab and microbus drivers who are fictionalized to become contemporary fairytale heroes.

The mastermind behind reproducing the wonder boxes was filmmaker Aida El Kashef. In addition to working with Mahatat, she partnered with musicians Abdallah Abozekry and Shadi El Hosseiny, artists Maya Gewily and Youssef Faltas, storytellers Laila Samy and Ahmed Mostafa, and architects Manar Moursi and Mohamed Hassan. The group also collaborated with creative technologist Yasmin El Ayat, who outfitted two unique boxes with mobile video screens.

The first looks like a futuristic spaceship; the second is a makeshift ice cream cart. Peeping through the holes, passersby can view eight stories unfolding with imaginative characters such as dragons and mermaids.

Medrar.TV met with Ayat, Hosseiny, and Gewily at Mahatat’s office to learn about how the collaboration unfolded and the techniques they used to create peep shows that are suitable for today’s streets. Mahatat will publish detailed documentation of the techniques that were used in the creation of the two boxes in a forthcoming manual. 

Editor`s note: The Cairo Observer recently highlighted the project with a detailed account by contributing architect Manar Moursi, found here.

                        [This video was produced by Medrar TV and is featured in partnership with Jadaliyya Culture.]            
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Oct 1, 2013 Lebanon
Medrar TV مدرار تي في By :
Medrar TV مدرار تي في

A Scenography Workshop by Hussein Baydoun

A Scenography workshop by Hussein Baydoun

8-16 September 2013

Falaki Theater, Cairo, Egypt

 

Hussein Baydoun is a Lebanese artist, architect, and scenographer who is known for his unique approach to set design. Baydoun frequently participates in the creation and development of performances from their early stages with the view that scenography is an essential component to the creation of theatrical work, one no less important than the script. His designs are often inspired by the performance spaces in which he works, where he creates fascinating sets from whatever is available as he challenges conventional notions about theater production, such as in his most recent performance "Alice," which was produced in collaboration with Lebanese playwright and director Sawsan Bou Khaled. In September, Baydoun returned to Cairo to lead a scenography workshop following the same vision. At the American University in Cairo`s Falaki Theater, he worked with six upcoming set designers, in addition to amateurs, on creating imaginative environments from the remnants of old sets and other discarded objects. This video highlights the vision and development of the workshop as Baydoun describes the aim of his teaching methods.  


 

      

     [This video is produced by Medrar TV and is featured as part of a new partnership with Jadaliyya Culture.]