Ahmed Basiony.
Copyright the Ahmed Basiony Family
“30 Days of Running in the Place” is the multimedia installation of Ahmed Basiouny, a multimedia artist Egyptian that has represented the Egypt at 54. International Art Exhibition in Venice, at Biennale Gardens. I was impressed by 30 Days of Running in the Place for the power of the social and political message that was transmitted.
Before we get to the work’s meaning, it is best to take a step back to remember Ahmed Basiouny.
Ahmed Basiouny was an artist and university lecturer, he has been one of the most significant figures in the new generation of contemporary Egyptians artists. He was been a great pioneer of the New Media Art in Egypt and a symbol of the new “digital generation”, who taking advantage of media spread (social networks, blogs, etc..), he has tried to abolish the authoritarian regime opening the way to democracy.
Ahmed Basiouny is killed in Tahrir Square by snipers and then crushed with a police car during the third day of protests and he became a symbol of the sacrifices endured by the revolutionaries. Basiouny is killed while filming the protests in Tahrir Square with his video camera that is confiscated then by the police near his body. “30 Days of Running in the Place” has been possible to realize it because the artist had documented all things also with a phone and therefore his work is an exceptional document that exceeds the concept of art.
Ahmed Basiony: 30 Days of Running in the Space. Egypt Pavilion at the 54th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2011. Giardini della Biennale, Venice / Italy. Photos by Magdi Mostafa; Copyright the Ahmed Basiony Family
” 30 Days of Running in the Place” is an installation that involves with a great narration creating a strong bond with the historical events of the Egyptian revolution.
The five giant screens in the Egyptian Pavilion have shown raw footage of the revolts on the streets of Cairo: men, women and children that fight for freedom against the regime.
In parallel with the images of the revolution ran on screens even the pictures of a performance which refers to a project that Ahmed Basiouny had exhibited outside the Palace of Arts in Cairo, near to Tahrir Square. For 30 days, the artist was jogging everyday for an hour in a square structure enclosed in transparent plastic sheets. Ahmed Basiouny wore a suit that measured the artist’s number of steps and levels of sweat produced. This data was wirelessly transferred to a large screen, thus altering the displayed grid of colors.
” 30 Days of Running in the Place” is an installation that shakes the foundations of all our smaller residual certainties bringing us back to a central and critical role in the story through the powerful narration returned by the artist.
Copyright the Ahmed Basiony Family
I think that the media, like television, continually remind us of human tragedies and revolutions talking about those ones as statistical data, creating a sort of barrier between our certainties and the rest of the world. This is the other cynical aspect that emerges in our consumer society: the violent and tragic breaking news arrive continually and they’ll be forgotten every day. Andy Warhol gave an idea of the death as denial implemented by our society. Since it has become taboo fetish, Warhol has rehabilitated the advertising image, impoverished of any emotion.
The Ahmed Basiouny’s multimedia art, through the technology, it can be read as a caustic attack on the indifference of the regime and television that reduce the people to simple statistical data, not giving voice to the needs of individual freedom .
In this case, the open source technology has been chosen to denounce an imposed power while the mobile technology, such as the phones, to push as far as possible his desperate cry for freedom and justice, creating a moment of intense reflection and collective narration.
The Times of April 27, 1937 has written with heartless tones and without comments about the Guernica’s tragedy while Picasso with Guernica called for all the intellectuals and the people to stand in defense of the democracy and freedom.
Guernica, 1937 by Pablo Picasso.
Copyright Pablo Picasso Org.
“What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who only has eyes if he’s a painter, ears if he’s a musician, or a lyre in every chamber of his heart if he’s a poet – or even, if he’s a boxer, only some muscles? Quite the contrary, he is at the same time a political being constantly alert to the horrifying, passionate or pleasing events in the world, shaping himself completely in their image. How is it possible to be uninterested in other men and by virtue of what cold nonchalance can you detach yourself from the life that they supply so copiously? No, painting is not made to decorate apartments. It’s an offensive and defensive weapon against the enemy.” Pablo Picasso
The Picasso’s Guernica, developed a system full of symbolic references to art history and cinema using the filter of artistic transfiguration, which has the same strength of the Greek tragedies .
The Ahmed Basiouny’s body, performance and video images are the message of the revolution, it’s an art so radical that connects art and life. The Ahmed Basiouny’s Swan song which rises to universal loud cry of pain against oppression and abuse. And the death of the artist becomes an event that echoes in his art, which is part of “30 Days of Running in the Place”.
The art becomes so a device supported by reasons civilians in order to avoid subjectivism and individualism, a best practice to demonstrate precise stances on the reality.
This is an utopia: if we think that the art can renounce to the ethical and political meaning.
Link:
http://d13.documenta.de/#/participants/participants/ahmed-basiony/
30 DAYS OF RUNNING IN THE PLACE: EGYPTIAN PAVILION AT THE VENICE BIENNALE
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/04/27/egypt.pavilion.venice.protester/index.html
Gabry Parisi Blog 
Ciao Gabry! What an amazing study you’ve done! I truly respect this great person and artist Ahmed Basiouny. I am so saddened by his death, documented by his own cameras. To see all his work juxtaposed and projected at the Biennale is an awesome sight. When I began teaching Media Studies to college students in the States, I would always cite the “Arab Spring” as “mediated democracy” and the power that media has in fostering the democratic ideals of “freedom” in a new way around the world. Now I will also cite Ahmed and his art. Mille grazie per fammi conoscerlo. Favoloso progetto, Gabry! L’arte e il lavoro di Ahmed Basiouny e’ molto speciale., veramente.
Carissima Carolyn! Ciao! Thanks a lot for your wonderful words! I’m really thrilled to read all your observations!
E sono felicissima che farai conoscere l’arte di questo grande artista, Ahmed Basiouny, ai tuoi allievi universitari! Un abbraccio grande!
L’ha ribloggato su MoMA: Catalysts.
Gabry – In writing about Ahmed Basiony, you’ve hit upon what I believe to be the cutting edge of art in the digital/multimedia age. Artists now have the power to interrupt and insert themselves into the closed political dialogues with unprecedented immediacy and heroism, exposing the cynicism of the mainstream, entrenched media. It is unspeakably sad that this cost Ahmed his life, but what a brave vision he had. So glad that you presented this.
Hi Daria and thank you a lot for your very helpful observation! It’s true, now we’ve much more to say than before with technology. This can be the salvation of our society, that we’ve the most extraordinary sword to have our say and to overturn power of mainstream media.
Thanks for the detailed introduction to an artist who I have not heard of before. You have given me useful background information and access to the necessary supporting video clips. You have not just completed an assignment, you have educated me in an important way.
Hi Bill! I’m very happy you appreciate my research. The Ahmed Basiouny’s art will never die, it’s a beacon and warning at the same time.
L’ha ribloggato su btaft2.