TOWNHOUSE 15 YEARS
December 1, 2013- January 8, 2014
First Floor Gallery: “Social Security”
Factory Space: Huda Lutfi, “Cut and Paste”
Rawabet Annex: Lara Baladi, “Freedom is Coming”
Opening reception
Sunday, December 1, 7 pm

In December 1998, Townhouse held its first exhibition in four rooms on the first floor of a residential building in downtown Cairo.

Since then, Townhouse has grown to occupy three floors in our main building (housing our main gallery space, the city’s first open-stacks contemporary art library, and studios for international resident artists); converted a neglected paper factory into one of the city’s largest cultural spaces; turned an unused industrial space into one of the country’s most important platforms for performative art; and built the Rooftop Studios to provide working space for dozens of Cairo-based artists—all while running outreach programs serving thousands of individuals.

Fifteen years and over 100 exhibitions later, this December Townhouse marks this landmark anniversary with three exhibitions that celebrate our history while looking towards the future.

These include two solo shows: Huda Lutfi’s “Cut and Paste” in the Factory Space, and Lara Baladi’s “Freedom is Coming” in the Rawabet Annex. Lutfi and Baladi first showed together in Townhouse’s fourth exhibition, “Four Egyptian Women”(March, 1999), and since then both have gone on to establish acclaimed international careers. These works are being shown for the first time in Egypt on the occasion of Townhouse’s 15-year anniversary.

In the First Floor Gallery, “Social Security” is a very different type of exhibition that reaffirms our commitment to supporting emerging artists, cultural practitioners and initiatives. The First Floor has been converted into studio spaces for visual artists, graphic designers and a filmmaker for a month-long residency throughout December, during which they will use the space as a platform for collaboratively developing alternative forms of fundraising and new tactics for sustainability.

These three exhibitions celebrate the artists that are integral to Townhouse’s history and who will continue to shape our identity in the years to come.

For more information please contact Townhouse at +202-2576 80 86. For press material please contact Marwa Morgan, Public relations manager at marwa@thetownhousegallery.com

Special thanks to Alchemy, Cairo Kitchen and Ahmed Aiyad.