Curator Daniel Soliman (Egyptian and Nubian collections) will chair a conversation with three Egyptian guests. What does ancient Egypt mean to Egyptians today? What significance does ancient culture have in contemporary Egyptian art and society?

What does ancient Egypt mean to Egyptians today? What significance does ancient culture have in contemporary Egyptian art and society? And how is the imagery from ancient Egypt put to strategic use, both by those in power and their opponents? Curator Daniel Soliman (Egyptian and Nubian collections) will chair a conversation with three Egyptian guests, each of whom approaches these questions from a different field.

• date: Fiday 11 November 2022 (registration)
• time: 19.30 – 21.00 (doors open from 19.00)
• location: Temple Hall
• admission: free (donations are welcome)
• language: English

After the conversation, members of the audience will be invited to ask questions and share ideas.

Imperial powers

The conversation is an intervention in the museum’s regular activities and focuses on the relationship between modern-day Egypt and its heritage. It also consider the role that Western Egyptology played in this: for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, imperial powers ensured that the study of ancient Egypt remained beyond the reach of most Egyptians. Partly as a result, museum galleries such as those of the National Museum of Antiquities rarely reflect on modern Egypt.

Contemporary Egyptian identities

As the speakers argue, ancient Egyptian heritage is integral to contemporary Egyptian identities in various ways: from everyday life to local festivities, and the close connection with ancient Egyptian art. In the 1920s and 1930s, the anti-colonial Egyptian nationalist movement used ancient Egypt to unite all Egyptians. The current Egyptian government frequently draws on the ancient past as a symbol of national unity, too. Viewed in this light, ancient Egyptian heritage is tightly bound to the Egyptian present.

Speakers

• Basma Hamdy: assistant professor of Graphic Design at Virginia Commonwealth University in Doha, Qatar, and guest curator of the photo exhibition Tutankhamun on Tahrir Square
• Heba Abd el Gawad: Egyptologist and researcher on the project Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage: Views from Egypt, UCL Institute of Archaeology, London
• Sara Sallam: artist, designer, writer, visual researcher, book maker and education specialist

Moderator

• Daniel Soliman: curator of the Egyptian and Nubian collections at the National Museum of Antiquities