Alexandria: (re)activating common urban imaginaries
The project "Alexandria: (re)activating common urban imaginaries" (ALEX) aims to
take a fresh look at the many challenges faced by the arts and heritage sectors, through the
symbolic and historical prism of the city of Alexandria and its influences on urban
development in the Mediterranean and beyond.
To do so, it relies on several tools: the setting up of nomadic artistic residencies
between Egypt and Europe, the production of exhibitions in the cities of Marseille
and Brussels, as well as the organisation of professional seminars and public forums.
The ALEX project aims to shed light, through the development of new cultural and
artistic perspectives, on the heritage of the Mediterranean city, which remains
insufficiently explored and understood. By facilitating the mobility of artists
interested in comparatively interpreting the current urban fabric in European cities
and Alexandria, while questioning existing perception through a scientific and
historical awareness-raising approach, the project intends to give a voice to
innovative reflections on the relationships established between creation, culture,
heritage, and the development of the modern Mediterranean and European
metropolis.
Thus, the ALEX project will take visitors, contemporary artists, scientists and
activists on a journey between heritage and creation, between the north and south
of the Mediterranean, in a quest for what today constitutes our imaginaries of the
city, its origin and its future.
Conceived as an enabler for European and Mediterranean cooperation, ALEX will run
from 1 November 2020 to 31 December 2023.
The project, supported by the European Union's Creative Europe programme, draws
on the resources of eight main partners: the Royal Museum of Mariemont
(Morlanwelz), the Palais des Beaux-Arts "BOZAR" (Brussels), the Cittadellarte –
Fondazione Pistoletto (Biella, Italy), the Museum of the Civilisations of Europe and
the Mediterranean "MUCEM" (Marseille), the Onassis Stegi (Athens), the University of
Leiden (the Netherlands), the Kunsthall of Aarhus (Denmark) and the Undo Point
Contemporary Art Centre (Nicosia, Cyprus).
In addition, the project benefits from the support of associated partners
contributing to its success elsewhere in Europe and in Egypt: the French Institute of
Alexandria (Egypt) and Theatrum Mundi (United Kingdom).
Among other actions, ALEX includes two residency cycles which will evolve
independently but which will encounter each other at various moments during the
project cycle:
The Caravan Residency Program: Thinking with Alexandria conceived and
realized by UNIDEE residency programs at Cittadellarte - Fondazione
Pistoletto in Italy and is curated together with Edwin Nasr and in conversation
with Sarah Rifky.
The Politics of Heritage – School for Sonic Memory Residency, organised by
Onassis Stegi in collaboration with Theatrum Mundi.
Prospective residents can apply for both residencies but will only be accepted to
one. For more information on the specific residency calls, please click on the images
below.
