To the sound of calm classical music, the Farouk Hosni Foundation for Culture and Arts celebrated, on Sunday evening, the creativity of young people participating in the fifth session of its annual competition, which includes 5 branches; Includes: painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, and art criticism.
The garden of the Gezira Arts Center in the Zamalek district (central Cairo) was crowded with a number of young artists participating in the competition, who were keen to be present next to their artworks displayed in the center’s halls.
For this session, 1,959 artistic and architectural works and critical research were presented by a thousand artists, architects, and researchers from all governorates of Egypt. Farouk Hosni, the former Egyptian Minister of Culture and Chairman of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, described them as “a battalion of talent and an army of dreams, proving that Egypt, which established its existence with science and created its civilization.” In art, it is still present and strong.”
Despite his absence from the awards ceremony for the first time since the opening of his organization in 2019, Hosni was keen to address the audience via an audio recording, in which he said that “he was eagerly waiting to attend the ceremony, but he was forced to absent from it because he is in a period of recovery after suffering from an illness.” Pointing out that he “refused to postpone the concert so as not to steal the joy of the youth,” he added, addressing the participating artists: “You are the ones performing the concert and you are its shining stars.” He promised to visit the art exhibition of the works soon.
For his part, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Farouk Hosni Foundation for Culture and Arts, Egyptian businessman Engineer Naguib Sawiris, said that he “asked Farouk Hosni to postpone the ceremony until the end of the recovery period, but the former minister refused.”
The Egyptian Minister of Culture, Dr. Nevin Al-Kilani, and Engineer Naguib Sawiris, opened a group exhibition for young people participating in the competition, which was held at the Gezira Arts Center and will continue until next March 7.
The works participating in the competition, especially those that won prizes, mostly highlighted the role of women and heritage values. Engineer Muhammad Abu Saada, head of the Urban Coordination Authority and member of the architecture competition jury, told Asharq Al-Awsat, “This year’s award was held under the title (A Second Life for Architecture and Urbanism… Reviving Valuable Buildings and Areas).” He pointed out that “the award sought to consolidate heritage values alongside urban values and concepts.”
The painting that won first place in the official competition (Farouk Hosni Foundation for Culture and Arts)
While the works that won the photography awards were characterized by the combination of different artistic techniques in a contemporary plastic form, where the use of digital technologies in modifying photographic images and adding plastic dimensions was prominent.
This matter sparked controversy among some of the critics and artists attending the ceremony, on the grounds that “photographs must be unedited in order to know the photographer’s skills in choosing the idea of the image, composing it, and adjusting the lighting.” Some of them considered the winning works to be “digital images, not photographs.”
Dr. Ashraf Reda, professor of fine arts, head of the Academy of Arts and Culture, and member of the photography competition jury, explained that “the works participating in the competition this year are distinguished from previous years by their high level of creativity and thinking outside the box, in light of the technological development in photography techniques.”
He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The committee sets conditions on the use of technology that it should not be used to modify work, and it also completely prohibits the use of artificial intelligence.”
In turn, Dr. Hani Abu Al-Hassan, a professor at the College of Arts and a member of the Art Criticism Competition jury, pointed out to Asharq Al-Awsat that “the competition has witnessed a steady increase in the number of applicants and a diversity in artistic trends, which indicates the consolidation of the award year after year.” Emphasizing the intense competition this year between highly specific critical studies.
Abu Al-Hassan added, “The competition has become an annual event for which everyone qualifies, as it is the most established artistic brand in recent years, not only in Egypt, but in the entire region.”
The Egyptian Minister of Culture hands Sanaa El-Beisi the Grand Merit Award (Farouk Hosni Foundation for Culture and Arts)
The “Farouk Hosni Foundation” was opened on September 29, 2019, and at that time it launched a drawing award worth 50 thousand pounds, before expanding in the following years financially and artistically, increasing the number of branches of the award to 5 branches, and doubling the value of the awards.
The value of the prizes this year amounts to half a million Egyptian pounds (the dollar is equivalent to 30.9 pounds officially), in addition to the “Grand Merit” award, which was won by the Egyptian writer Sanaa Al-Baisi, and is worth 200 thousand pounds.
Al-Bisi expressed her happiness with the award, and said in her speech during the ceremony, “Receiving an award in the name of Farouk Hosni is a tribute to her cultural and journalistic career.”
In turn, the writer Mohamed Salmawi, Secretary General of the Grand Merit Award, indicated in his speech that “the award is given to an artist for his entire work.” He said, “Al-Bisi combines multiple artistic fields. She is a journalist, drama writer, and painter.”
The Fine Art Criticism Awards were won by Sarah Ahmed Hassan Odeh, in first place, Shaima Samir Abdel Moneim Abbas, in second place, and Shaima Mahmoud Ahmed Abdel Rahim, in third place. As for the Architecture Awards, first place went to Loujaina Ahmed Muhammad Ali, while second place went to the collective participation of Muhammad Nasser Mahmoud Hassan, Nidaa Hani Mahboub Ahmed, and Abdul Rahman Imad al-Din Rashad Ismail, while third place went to Muhammad Badawi Shehata. Badawi also won a certificate of thanks and appreciation with the collective participation of Youssef Muhammad Mahmoud Othman, Muhammad Ahmed Zaki Sayed, and Hussam Jamal Al-Yamani Hamed.
The photography awards were won by Hanan Muhammad Mamoun Al-Saeed, Ibrahim Muhammad Ibrahim Mustafa Kamel, and Tasneem Ahmed Muhammad Ali, in first to third places, respectively.
In sculpture, first place was won by Hossam Mustafa Ramadan Muhammad, second place was won by Ibrahim Awad Muhammad Ibrahim, while third place was shared equally between Marwa Magdy Eid Abdel Ghani and Muhammad Saeed Muhammad Muhammad al-Mansi. In the field of drawing, first place went to Ahmed Salah Arif Al-Jundi, second place went to Khaled Al-Agizi Fathallah Ahmed, and third place went to Shadi Muhammad Hamed Ibrahim.
