Beyond Borders
Art exhibition by artist Menna El Shazly, accompanied by a series of related events
About the exhibition
The exhibition is inspired by the Crystalline School, whose 1976 manifesto states: "The crystal is nothing but the negation of the reification of things, it is eternal transparency." The project adopts a crystalline intention to dissolve the contradictions between appearance and essence, studying the value of the image's dissolution. The microscopic and macroscopic nature is revealed through gestures such as scrolling, zooming, tapping, and swiping, exposing cyclical patterns and infinite extensions.
Mena El-Shazly
A visual artist who works with analogue video, embroidery, and performance. Her practice speculates on concepts of presence and transcendence, how these are informed by internet culture and ancient rituals, and how we might cultivate decay to arrive at alternative forms of transformation and regeneration. She obtained an MFA from the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver (2023) and a BA from the American University in Cairo (2013). El Shazly is the Artistic Director of the Cairo Video Festival by Medrar and a programmer at the Small File Video Festival.
