Hold the Line #2

This project is part of a series of dialogue-based art practices

In collaboration with Ahmed M. Mansour

at AiR-Studio, Rote Fabrik, Trakt A, first floor.

Inspired by their previous collaboration on the last year, Yara Mekawei, and Ahmed M.Mansour continue to present the artistic-dialogue based on the performance to the public. Their collaboration was in the first part in Zurich 2018 on a conceptual discussion, for different artistic angles about the passage of time in daily life.

This second part of the project presents a conceptual vision of the circulation of human memory through the five senses; Sight, Hearing, Taste, Smell, and Touch. We recognize the descriptions and physical functions of the senses. But there are other levels of evidence-based on philosophical beliefs of the five senses. Although the senses have a key role in the process of communication between human beings and the recognition of needs, but also carry in their functions a large part associated with memories, you can remember the image through the smell of a certain smell, or hear the voice of the past through the taste of a particular drink.

We present the philosophy of sensory memory, based on conceptual methodology in the history of the Sufi method in Islam, which are similar to many human beliefs in many ethnic and religious groups in history, who believe in the unity of the universe, nature, second life, the meditation of reaching for perception and rationality of thinking.

This part is a performance aims at presenting five different zones for five senses, display elements that are meaningful and related to configurations in the memory, and it is interesting to note that the same elements may have other connotations for each individual in the audience, they share their senses and memories with integrated into conceptual definitions of human memory.

YARA MEKAWEI is a Cairo-based electronic music composer and sound artist. A prolific artist and scholar, Mekawei‘s sonic bricolages draw inspiration from the flow of urban centers and the infrastructure of cities. Interested in the philosophy of architecture, history and literature. Mekawei used the optical transfer from the musical conversation and transferring the sound waves to a visual forms. Her work is based on sound as a tool of vision, the philosophy of composition is shaped by sophisticated practices that convey messages of conceptual dimension to the public.

Mekawei using the research literature specializing in the social ideologies in her concepts. She follows her projects through a research point of unite between work and the other, whose work shows an intangible aspect of her personality, and being feminine in an East African society.

AHMED MOHSEN MANSOUR is an Egyptian Artist based in Cairo. Mansour has participated in several exhibitions and workshops within the fields of video, photography and animation in Egypt, USA, UK, Italy, Germany, France, Slovakia, Spain, Emirates, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia. Mansour’s work is based on memories of events he has been involved in Fascinated by the endless oscillation of the human condition, he looks at what can start as a triumph and turns into a manifesto of defeat, leaving a sense of what could have been. He distorts those phenomenons through diligent personal practice, leaving the viewer with a testament from the edges of his wor