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‘Ecrire et Conter’: French Institute Celebrates Writing and Printing in Egypt

To commemorate the 200th anniversary of Jean-François Champollion’s deciphering of the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone, the Institut Français d’Égypte recently mounted a group exhibition of artists who incorporate calligraphy, writing and graphic design into their works.

The exhibition, called “Écrire et Conter” (“Writing and Storytelling”), celebrated various forms of writing and printing and included artworks from Egypt, France, Italy, the United States, the Netherlands, Romania, and China.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale (IFAO) in Cairo collaborated in the exhibition, which ran from October 9 to November 15 at the headquarters of the two French institutes in Cairo’s Mounira district.

Calligraphy and Its Art Research

The idea behind the exhibition was that artists use letters and symbols to draw connections between languages and forms that humans have used throughout the ages, then turn those threads of connection into an artistic narration.

Jamal Hosni, director of the Department of Exhibitions and Artifacts at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, said that the bicentenary of the Rosetta Stone’s deciphering was an occasion for many cultural organizations and institutions to celebrate. The library’s Visual Arts Work Team participated in developing the artistic vision for the exhibition, he said in a statement to Al-Fanar Media. In addition, objects from the library’s art collections were selected to be shown in this artistic event.

The idea behind the exhibition was that artists use letters and symbols to draw connections between languages and forms that humans have used throughout the ages, then turn those threads of connection into an artistic narration.

The items displayed celebrated the spirit of writing and its symbols. He noted that the Bibliotheca Alexandrina has a special interest in calligraphy and has a center devoted to calligraphy studies.

Contributions to Egyptology

Founded in 1880, the Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale specializes in the study of successive civilizations in Egypt from prehistory to contemporary times. The archaeology institute’s researchers, whether French, Egyptian or foreign, are traditionally divided into two categories. One specializes in Egyptology and papyrology studies, and the other focuses on Coptic, Arabic and Islamic studies.

This institute participates in training young scholars and offers scholarships to doctoral or post-doctoral students who live outside Egypt and need to spend a study period in Egypt.

Champollion’s deciphering of the hieroglyphs marked the beginning of the IFAO’s golden age, as the process of printing hieroglyphs that look like drawings took place at its press, which printed the first hieroglyphs on paper in 120 years. Recently, the institute issued grants to artists wishing to produce works of art using this historical printing press to display them in the “Ecrire et Conter” exhibition.

The Egyptian visual and ceramic artist Heba Helmi was one recipient of this grant. She told Al-Fanar Media: “The grant gave me a unique experience working inside the historic building of the Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, where I encountered printing machines dating back to the beginning of the 20th century and traditional lead slugs that were used to print hundreds of reference books. It was a journey in time and in the layers of Egyptian civilization.”

  • في ذكرى فك رموز حجر رشيد.. معرض فرنسي في مصر للاحتفاء بالكتابة والطباعة
  • في ذكرى فك رموز حجر رشيد.. معرض فرنسي في مصر للاحتفاء بالكتابة والطباعةفي ذكرى فك رموز حجر رشيد.. معرض فرنسي في مصر للاحتفاء بالكتابة والطباعة
  • في ذكرى فك رموز حجر رشيد.. معرض فرنسي في مصر للاحتفاء بالكتابة والطباعة
  • في ذكرى فك رموز حجر رشيد.. معرض فرنسي في مصر للاحتفاء بالكتابة والطباعة
  • في ذكرى فك رموز حجر رشيد.. معرض فرنسي في مصر للاحتفاء بالكتابة والطباعة
  • في ذكرى فك رموز حجر رشيد.. معرض فرنسي في مصر للاحتفاء بالكتابة والطباعة
  • في ذكرى فك رموز حجر رشيد.. معرض فرنسي في مصر للاحتفاء بالكتابة والطباعة

In the exhibition, Helmi presented a variety of artworks using multimedia and featuring printed letters from hieroglyphics and Arabic characters, as well as imagined letters. Her works create an aesthetic connection between traditional and fictional languages that are accentuated on ceramic dishes and textiles inspired by Coptic art.

Working with the institute’s printing press was a transformative experience, Helmi said. “My concern was to present works that blend the layers of Egyptian civilization that existed and still are,” she said.

Art Variations

Other artists in the exhibition explored the variations of hieroglyphic fonts that resemble symbolic drawings, as well as the diverse schools of Arabic calligraphy, including Kufic, Ottoman, and experimental styles.

In one experimental work, the artist Khudair Al-Borsaidi mixed Arabic letters and Chinese characters in the phrase “Praise be to Allah always.” In his work, based on a painting from the collections of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Al-Borsaidi used ink and colors in a style similar to Kufic calligraphy to evoke Chinese characters and give a new dimension to contemplating letters as drawings related to humans and not geographical borders.

Other works sought to create a visual structure between ancient characters and modern technology. Through three panels of cardboard on wood, the artist Mohamed Al-Sayyad used protruding pieces of an old computer keyboard to highlight the overlap between language and its uses in the past and the present.

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