House of Dialogue دار الحوار
Dar al-Hiwar
March 2005
In 2002, the Goethe Institute Cairo/Alexandria started the project series “Dar al-Hiwar – The House of Encounter.” Since then its results are presented every year in conjunction with the “German Festival”. Artists from Egypt and Germany come together within a work and communication process meant to serve the mutual understanding of similarities and differences, individual positions in the arts and daily life, as well as the mechanisms, boundaries and chances for the dialogue between people from different cultural circles. Exhibitions, site specific installations, performances, artists’ talks, and other events, welcome the participation of the art-interested public. For three years already, the Goethe Institute Cairo on Bustan Street – naturally a “house of encounter” all along – becomes a kind of universal artwork for several weeks at a time.
As posted on the project’s website, the Dar al-Hiwar is a “conscious answer to the numerous conferences, seminars, and discussions that try to promote the so-called ‘dialogue between the Islamic countries and the west’. The Dar al-Hiwar relies upon a dialogue of emotions in the field of art. It confidently inspires an intensive and deep awareness of the other, and makes ideas, concepts and feelings evident.” Hopefully the official website will soon convey more of the diversity and exciting nature of the art projects from the previous three editions of the “Dar al-Hiwar” and the great public response they attracted.
>> Projects – selected examples
We thank the Goethe Institute Cairo/Alexandria and all the artists who made the photographs and information available to us.
Participating artists 2002 – 2004 :
Sameh Al Tawil, Mohamed Shoukry, Bruno Wank, Florian Thalhofer, Mahmoud Hamdy, Chris Nägele, Iman Issa, Sylvia Winkler, Stephan Köperl, Marwa Zakaria, Mahmoud Khaled, Oliver Doerell, Mahmoud Refat, Haytham Nawar, Isabel Haase, Ahmed Abdel Kereem, Khaled Sirag Eldeen, Mahmoud Hanafy, Nessreen Youssef and Martin Wöhrl.