Manar Moursi, Stairway to Heaven, 2019, 30min, Video (still), Directed by Manar Moursi. Installation image, College Art Galleries, 2020. Photographed by Carey Shaw.
Manar Moursi, The Parrot, 2019, 4:37min, Video (still). Concept and directing by Manar Moursi. Choreography and performance by Shady Abdelrahman. Mime actress: Ataouta. Installation image, College Art Galleries, 2020. Photographed by Carey Shaw.
Manar Moursi, The Tower, 2019, sculpture. Conceived and designed by Manar Moursi. Produced by Josh Hall at Macwood Studio. Installation image, College Art Galleries, 2020. Photographed by Carey Shaw.
Manar Moursi, The Parrot, 2019, 4:37min, Video (still). Concept and directing by Manar Moursi. Choreography and performance by Shady Abdelrahman. Mime actress: Ataouta.
Seeing Life and Land through the Loudspeaker and the Tower
Exhibition Essay by Nadia Kurd
The exhibition essay, Seeing Life and Land through the Loudspeaker and the Tower, was written by Nadia Kurd to accompany Manar Moursi’s solo exhibition the loudspeaker and the tower, currently on view in College Art Gallery 2 at the University of Saskatchewan, from September 18 - December 19, 2020.
The exhibition is co-presented with Trinity Square Video and South Asian Visual Arts Centre, Toronto, and co-curated by Emily Fitzpatrick and Toleen Touq.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
“Through an immersive environment constructed of coloured lights, megaphones, masks, videos and sculptures, Toronto-and Boston-based artist, designer, and architect Manar Moursi presents a multitude of considerations to the viewer: What if singular patriarchal voices of religious sermons were interpreted through mime and dance? How would neon lights adorning mosque minarets look as sculptural objects? How do residents of Cairo challenge authoritative architectures and urban master plans, whilst creating new meanings for public space and land use? By that token,what shapes can we abstract from these biographical networks of the megalopolis? Using the mosque as its starting point, The Loudspeaker and the Tower examines the apparatus of the minaret as a vertical symbol of power and as a horizontal multiplier of official and unsanctioned narratives. Moursi’s installation revolves around a set of associated characters — residents of once agricultural lands, mosque custodians, imams, architects, artists, and a parrot — to further understand the radical complexities of these structures.”
- Emily Fitzpatrick and Toleen Touq
Manar Moursi is an architect, artist and researcher based in Montreal. Manar is currently a PhD candidate at MIT in Art & Architecture, History, Theory and Criticism. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Manar also holds a dual Masters degree in Architecture and Urban Policy from Princeton University. In 2011 she founded Studio Meem, an interdisciplinary research studio. Her design work has been widely published and received multiple awards. She has taught at several institutions in Cairo and at the University of Waterloo.
Nadia Kurd, PhD, is a curator and art historian currently living in Amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton, AB).