Malak Helmy's 'Lost Referents of Some Attraction' at Sharjah Art Gallery
Between March 31 and April 26, 2014, Malak Helmy held her solo exhibition, 'Lost Referents of Some Attraction,' at the Sharjah Art Gallery on the AUC campus. Curated by Beirut, an art space in Cairo, the exhibition explored leisure, desert living, and the relationship between humans and their surroundings. Helmy creatively adapted to the gallery's unique octagonal shape through diffusion and imitation. Key works included 'Placeholders' and 'Statements from the Compound,' both from 2014, which employed text in place of visuals. Additionally, there was 'Music For Drifting' (2013), a 42-minute audio capturing soundscapes from Egypt's North Coast and Western Desert, and 'Records from the Excited State – Chapter 3' (2012), filmed in beach resorts and chemical plants. Helmy, who was raised in Qatar, critiques the dullness of gated communities, drawing on Shumon Basar's observations about Dubai to broaden the narrative around these spaces.
Key facts
- Exhibition dates: 31 March – 26 April 2014
- Venue: Sharjah Art Gallery, AUC New Cairo campus
- Curated by independent Cairo-based art space Beirut
- Sound work 'Music For Drifting' is 42 minutes long
- Recording locations include a nuclear plant, El Alamein battlefield, and a desert of glass nodules from a meteor shower
- Publication 'Some Parks That Rhyme and Don’t' consists of 20 stacks of paper held by rock salt
- Video features non-actors from Egypt's North Coast
- Helmy is Egyptian, raised in Qatar
Entities
Artists
- Malak Helmy
- Haytham El-Wardany
- Shumon Basar
- Mia Jankowicz
Institutions
- Sharjah Art Gallery
- American University in Cairo (AUC)
- Beirut (art space)
- Afterall
- Bidoun
- Kayfa Ta
- The National
- Independent
Locations
- Cairo
- Egypt
- New Cairo
- Qatar
- North Coast (Egypt)
- Western Desert (Egypt)
- El Alamein
- Doha
- Alexandria
- Las Vegas
- Dubai
Sources
- Afterall —