one other Bassiouny article

HERE.

Includes a rather heartbreaking photo of Ahmed with his wife and son.

more on the Ahmed Bassiouny exhibit in Venice

HERE.

The more I learn about the guy, the more tragic the loss. Seeing him on film was really an experience: a magnetic, absolutely unique personality, with the Helwan students completely spellbound by his classroom presence.

Some thug is still out there free on the streets, having ended his life with sniper fire on Friday, January 28.

My past posts on Bassiouny can all be found HERE.

blog entry on the Bassiouny show in Venice

HERE.

Ahmed Bassiouny exhibit at the Venice Biennale

You may remember the death of the remarkable Egyptian artist/musician Ahmed Bassiouny. (Click HERE to see my previous posts about him.)

At the Research Conference here in early May, his good friend Shady El Noshokaty (who teaches at AUC) showed an extremely moving film about Bassiouny’s life and career, including scenes showing what an electrifying and imaginative teacher he was in the Art Department at Helwan University south of Cairo. Clearly, his students adored him, as any of us would have.

On the first day of the Revolution, Ahmed was severely beaten by police, but insisted on returning to the protests anyway. On the fourth day of the Revolution, he was gunned down by a sniper and his body run over and crushed by a government vehicle. It took his friends and family a number of days to find his body in a morgue elsewhere in the city.

Now, the Egyptian government is helping to fund an Ahmed Bassiouny exhibit at the Egyptian pavilion at the VENICE BIENNALE. Additional funding for the show came from my office, and still further funds from Lisa Anderson, President of AUC.

If you plan to attend the Venice Biennale, please stop by the Egyptian pavilion and learn about the remarkable man who was Ahmed Bassiouny.

ceremony for Ahmed Bassiouny

Here’s A SHORT PIECE on a ceremony for the artist and musician killed by a sniper on January 28.

“He died tragically on 28 January, killed by a sniper’s bullet, and then his body was crushed under a police car.”

His last Facebook post:

“I have a lot of hope if we stay like this. Riot police beat me a lot. Nevertheless I will go down again tomorrow. If they want war, we want peace. I am just trying to regain some of my nation’s dignity.”

more on Ahmed Bassiouny, slain artist/musician

A tribute from AFRICANEWS.COM.

Ahmed Bassiouny, & spreadsheet list of the dead

This comes from Egyptian friends: a Google Spreadsheet where they are trying to compile THE NAMES OF THE DEAD. It’s early and they only have 27 so far, but they have information about cause of death.

Be prepared for sad reading.

One that especially bothers many of my friends is the death of artist and musician Ahmed Bassiouny, a 31-year-old father of two. Last I heard it was through sniper fire.

radio station reminder

A place to sometimes hear Bassiouny’s music is THIS ONLINE STATION, which features Arab electronica. It’s my most frequent office music, eerily enough.

Often the music on the station sounds Muslimgauze-influenced, but today it’s more like Burial with Arabic rather than English sound samples.

Venice Biennale

I decided spontaneously this morning that I have to go. Already have my tickets. I want to see the whole thing, but am especially interested to see the Egyptian pavilion that my office helped fund. (The Ahmed Bassiouny tribute.)

It will be a disappointment if the volcanic ash spreads that far.

conference, day two

A nice, brisk day today with just three panels, all of them good. An especially moving moment was a biographical film on artist and electronic musician AHMED BASSIOUNY, presented by his friend.

I never met Ahmed, but many people at the American University in Cairo knew him personally; he lectured at Helwan University, one of the state universities in the Cairo suburbs.

He was apparently shot by a sniper and then run over by a law enforcement vehicle, presumably in Friday, January 28, though his body was not located until about 4 days later.

[ADDENDUM: If anyone is planning to go to the Venice Biennale, the Egyptian section will have a special exhibit on Bassiouny’s work. Today I was also delighted to learn that that portion will be curated by my former student Aida El-Torie.]