Welcome to Shadows of the Imperceptible, the five-week-long public articulations of the sixth edition of PhotoCairo. It consists of two exhibitions at Contemporary Image Collective (CiC) and Saad Zaghloul Cultural Center -sector of fine arts as well as performances, screenings, talks, discussions and studio visits in different locations across the city.

The opening will take place on Wednesday, 15 February 2017 at Contemporary Image Collective (CiC) and Saad Zaghloul Cultural Center -sector of fine arts, 7.00 pm. A reception will follow at 9.00 pm at CiC.

A sustained engagement with the context in which artists exchange knowledge, work and exhibit in Egypt has shaped much of the thinking around PhotoCairo’s sixth edition. Rather than working within the limited time frame of festivals, Shadows of the Imperceptible is an ongoing gathering largely consisting of workshops and working and reading groups that started in May 2016. Many of the ideas and questions brought up in this edition have grown out of these education and knowledge exchange settings. Next to works from the workshops and working groups, Shadows of the Imperceptible also contains a number of newly commissioned artworks by local artists whose practices engage with related concerns. 

Thematically, Shadows of the Imperceptible explores the tension between the visible and the invisible, what is seen and what is withheld from sight. PhotoCairo6 brings together works, arguments, artists, and thinkers that experiment with and reflect upon claims to reveal, investigate or bring to light through art. These claims are often associated with ideologically loaded histories. They give rise to questions around the agency of the subject-body, the embedded position of the artist and present networks of image circulation. Faced with these questions, Shadows of the Imperceptible looks into the refusal to represent, the moments of silence, the withheld and the opaque in contemporary image practices.

ِِA series of texts is published in parallel with the sixth edition of PhotoCairo. Shadows of the Imperceptible - Booklets extends the discussion to include cultural and social institutions and brings more critical voices to reflect upon the prevailing economies of visibility.

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Exhibitions run from February 15th till March 23rd 2017

///Exhibiting Artists///

From Playing with Light: Experimental Darkroom Research Group for Alternative Image-making Techniques: 
Abeer Fawzy, Asmaa Ibrahim, Donia Shohdy, Hend Moaaz, Hend Samir, Mireille El Magrissy, Mona El Husseini, Mariam Abd-el Rahman, Nourhan Ebrahim, Omnia Sabry, Rania Fouad, Rawia Sadek, Sara Yahia, Sara Younes, Sherif El Azma, Soha Elsirgany, Sandra Frauhbing, Paul Geday and others
Some members of the group exhibit works and others might add examples of the experiments throughout the duration of PhotoCairo6. 


From An Open Space Between the Text and the Image, a photography and writing workshop with Heba and Ghada Khalifa: 
Aya El Sayed, Aya Ezzat, Nada Nagy, Lamiaa Younes, Omneia Naguib, Radwa Tarek, Zainab Magdy


From Invisibility, a photography workshop with George Awde: 
Amr Dabees, Assem Hendawi, Eslam Abd El Salam, Hend Samir, Nourhan Maayouf, Omnia Sabry, Salma Hassaan

From Strategies of Conveyance, a film workshop with Kerstin Schroedinger: 
Asmaa Barakat, Assem Hendawi, Mai Al Shazly, Maryam Ahmed Mohammed, Nadia Mounier, Omnia Sabry, Ronnie Close, Weaam Said
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/// Shadows of the Imperceptible also includes a number of newly commissioned artworks by///

Amanda KM
Filtered Conversations, remixed, Sound and video loops, 2016/2017

Basem Taha, Dia Hamed, Youssef Faltas 
Artificial Art Critic, Computer Vision, 2017

Heba Khalifa
4 Atfet Elgetany Street, Photography, 2006 - 2017

Nadia Mounir 
Was that really you?, Photography, 2017

Mohamed Abdelkarim
Oh, I am sorry! I didn’t mean to scratch your face, Performance, 2017 

Raphaël Cuomo / Maria Iorio 
For the love of the thing. unfolding strip (Fragments of a research into the memories of «amateur» film practices and the histories of «minor» cinema), Mixed media, 2017 
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///Venues/// 

The Contemporary Image Collective (CiC)
22 Abdel Khalek Tharwat St, 4th Floor, Downtown Cairo

Saad Zaghloul Cultural Center -sector of fine arts
2 Saad Zaghloul St, beside Saad Zaghloul Shrine

Studio Nasibian Theater
15 Al Mahrahi Street, El Faggala, Ramses Cairo

Passage 35
Inside Mahmoud Khalil Museum, 1 Kafour Street, next to Magles El Dawla 

Cimatheque- Alternative Film Centre
19A Adly Street, 5th Floor, Apt 28/29, Downtown Cairo

Zigzag
6 Kasr El Nil St, Downtown Cairo
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/// Programme ///

Thursday, 2 March 2017, 7:30pm
An exhibition Walkthrough with Amanda KM and Rania Fouad and "Invisibility" group
Contemporary Image Collective (CiC)

Sunday, 5 March 2017, 6pm 
A Performance + debate, A game inspired by Il Gioco del Loco
Garden of Saad Zaghloul Cultural Center 

Wednesday, 8 March 2017, 7pm
Attempts at an Unambitious Practice: A conversation. An interview style between Mohamed Abdelkarim and Hateem Hassan 
Contemporary Image Collective (CiC)

Thursday, 9 March 2017, 7:30pm
An exhibition walkthrough with Heba Khalifa and “An Open Space Between the Text and the Image” group 
Contemporary Image Collective (CiC)

Thursday, 16 March 2017, 7:30pm
An exhibition walkthrough with the Curators
Saad Zaghloul Cultural Center

Thursday, 23 March 2017, 7:30pm
An exhibition walkthrough with the Curators and the closing
Contemporary Image Collective (CiC)

Additional performances, discussions and screenings to be announced on social media
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ٍShadows of the imperceptible is realized in collaboration with: Saad Zaghloul Cultural Center -sector of fine arts, Faculty of Applied Arts Helwan University, The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), Goethe-Institut Kairo, Pro Helvetia Cairo, Samuel Streiff, Institut Francais Egypte

CiC would also like to thank everybody who helped make Shadows of the Imperceptible possible.

Graphic Design for PhotoCairo6 (including design for Shadows of the Imperceptible - Booklets) Ahmed Ellabbad
Poster Images by Donia Shohdy and Rania Fouad.