Egyptian street artist

...Ganzeer has been commissioned to make a new mural in public space on occasion of the exhibition 'Newtopia: The State Of Human Rights'. Newtopia happens on various venues through the city of Mechelen and in Brussels (BE) from 1 September to 10 December 2012. The exhibition is a project in partnership with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Newtopia explores the development of human rights since 100 years. The representations of civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights in art will give an overview over the generations.

"The exhibition will trace the artistic responses to the development of human rights in the last 100 years or so, and especially since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, paying particular attention to the significant rise of human rights since the 1970s and
their current state." introduces curator Katerina Gregos into the concept of the exhibition Newtopia. In 2011, Katerina Gregos (GR/BE) curated the exhibition 'Speech Matters' about the freedom of speech at the Danish Pavilion during the 54th Biennale in Venezia.

fig.: 'The Mask of Freedom' by Ganzeer, 2011. The fly-posting of the original Arabic sticker around Cairo led to a short-lived detention of Ganzeer by the Egyptian military police. (C) The artist.

Ganzeer is one of more than 70 artists at Newtopia where works like US artist Andy Warhol's 'Electric Chair' (1971) or 'Degenerate Art Lives' (2010) by Yael Bartana (born 1970 in Israel) will be on view.

Ganzeer (aka Mohammed Fahmy, born 1982 in Cairo) uses techniques from street art, graphic design, illustration, questionnaires, video for his social critical works, especially concerning Egyptian politics. Ganzeer is one of the key figures of the Egyptian art scene. During the Egyptian Revolution he became an important visual critic and activist. For Newtopia, Ganzeer will make a new mural in public space.

fig.: 'Big Mask Scheme' by Ganzeer, 2011. Illustration for webseries Manazer featured on webmagazine Rolling Bulb. (C) The artist.




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