FORTEPIANO | Soundtrack under Tahrir Square

Fortepiano | Soundtrack under Tahrir Square is an installation composed of a concertina-postcards with 30 shots of myself every day from my terrace in Cairo. Each self-portrait was realized from the same point of view. The camera was positioned to have a complete overview of my terrace and my body turn against it. In so doing, the viewer would have focused on what my eyes were turning towards on the terrace. These pictures were taken during the demonstrations that were occurring below my building, followed by a recording of the noise that surrounded my flat, in 2012*.
For instance, the ritual of taking daily pictures of myself on the terrace of my apartment in Cairo was a way to exorcise my fear of exiting and alking in the streets of Cairo, being pointed at, and followed by Egyptian men. In fact, at that time, I was experiencing the life of a Western woman constrained to a private space and with limited space in public. On my terrace, I was often encircled by the crowd’s chorus and cries, which were arriving from the street. Additionally, my apartment was a few meters from Tahrir Square, just in front of Mubarak’s burnt government building. These two features have found an outcome into the artwork Fortepiano, the concertina postcards installation. The shape of this artwork is directly inspired by the digital skyline produced by the audio recordings of demonstrations realised on that terrace.
I realised this work after 4 years (in 2016), the distance from the specificity of that place and time allowed me to reflect on how we live a common event personally, tackling the border between personal and collective experience from a comprehensive perspective.

*The shooting was realised during the residency at the Townhouse Gallery (2012), thanks to the RESÒ program – International Network for Artist residency and Educational Programmes / Fondazione per l’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea-Crt