Culture

CAIRO: OPEN CITY

Omnipresent eye

The exhibition examines images from a range of time-based media, including photography, video and the omnipresent eye of digital devices such as cell phones, which facilitate new possibilities for image distribution and alternative reporting. Pictured here is a still from Chris Michalski and Sebastian Stumpf's video "We didn't see it ourselves, but we heard about it" (2012).

CAIRO: OPEN CITY

Hypothetical society

Born in Cairo in 1981, Ahmed Kamel uses photography, video and drawing to explore how society constructs and idealizes identity through means of virtual representation. Pictured here is a drawing from his series "Images from a Hypothetical Society" (2009). The images are based on social network profile pictures, Kamel's "hypothetical society" is reduced to a mere gathering of pictorial icons.

CAIRO: OPEN CITY

Image dialogue

Divided into different chapters, each section of the exhibition aims to generate dialogue between the images. Images from newspapers are shown alongside photographs from private blogs and long-term documentary projects. Aly Hazaa's photograph, pictured, shows women marching to the Press Syndicate in Cairo on December 20, 2011.

CAIRO: OPEN CITY

Midnight excursions

Born in Berlin in 1978, Kaya Behkalam's work often centers around the phenomenon of migration and its consequences. His film "Excursions in the Dark" (2011) is a visual study of the streets of Cairo after midnight. "It is an attempt to trace the subconscious connections between the city's architecture, collective dreamscapes and political agency," Behkalam wrote.

CAIRO: OPEN CITY

Ocean of images

Special attention is paid in the exhibition to the genesis of images, their intentions and who or what is speaking in them. With the proliferation of digital recording devices, new challenges and opportunities for the testimonial aspect of images have emerged. Pictured here is Mosa'ab Elshami's photograph of protestors during a speech in Tahrir Square on April 8, 2011.

CAIRO: OPEN CITY

Unfinished process

Capturing the volatility of current political events, each chapter of the experimental exhibition is curated by prominent figures from Cairo, including the activists, journalists and curators Jasmina Metwaly and Philip Rizk, as well as the bloggers Ahmad Gharbeia and Alex Nunns. Pictured here is Jonathan Rashad's "The Dragged Woman, Protest March to Defense Ministry, Cairo, April 27, 2012."

CAIRO: OPEN CITY

State surveillance

Jonathan Rashad is a freelance photojournalist based in Cairo who has dedicated his recent work to documenting the revolution. This image shows a soldier of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) recording protestors in front of the defense ministry who were calling for the abdication of the then ruling SCAF, Egypt's military junta, on April 28, 2012.

CAIRO: OPEN CITY

Turbulent times

On March 13, 2012, Egyptian photographer Fady Ezzat was assaulted by the Islamist MP Mohamed El-Kurshi of the Social Democratic Party while photographing a workers protest outside parliament. El-Kurshi later apologized. Pictured here, Ezzat's photograph of a student demonstration on March 20, 2011. "Cairo. Open City" runs through December 23 at the Museum for Photography in Braunschweig.

Author: Helen Whittle | Editor : Kate Bowen

Teutonic tales of terror

A Faustian tale

"The Student from Prague" was made in 1913. After falling in love with a beautiful countess, penniless student Balduin, played by Paul Wegener, makes a deal with the devil who takes Balduin's reflection from a mirror in exchange for love and gold. Baldiun's evil doppelganger then proceeds to wreak havoc, until the desperate student decides to retaliate - with disastrous consequences.

Teutonic tales of terror

Looking for Lulu

G.W. Pabst's silent classic "Pandora's Box" (1929) stars Louise Brooks as the seductive, uninhibited and impulsive Lulu, the mistress of a respected newspaper publisher, Dr. Schön. A melodramatic series of events culminate in Schön's murder, of which Lulu is accused. As a fugitive, Lulu ends up working as a prostitute on the streets of London - before a fateful encounter with Jack the Ripper.

Teutonic tales of terror

Running riot in Prague

Set in medieval Prague, Carl Boese and Paul Wegener's silent horror masterpiece "The Golem" (1920) tells the story of clay statue, Golem, brought to life by a rabbi to protect the local Jewish population. But, as is customary with homemade creatures, the unpredictable Golem turns out to have a penchant for going on a rampage.

Teutonic tales of terror

Classic whodunit

"The Haunted Castle" was directed by the German Expressionist master F.W. Murnau. The film follows a hunting brigade forced by a storm to stay at Castle Vogelöd. The party is ruffled by the arrival of Count Oetsch who is reputed to have murdered his brother. Cut with flashbacks, events take a sinister turn as accusations as to the true identity of the murderer begin to fly.

Teutonic tales of terror

Creepy Count Orlok

F.W. Murnau is perhaps best known for another Expressionist horror classic "Nosferatu - A Symphony of Horror" (1922), set in the Carpathian Mountains. Loosely based on Bram Stoker's "Dracula," Mex Schreck stars as the iconic castle-dwelling, blood-sucking Count Orlok. After a number of deaths in the township, locals believe it's the plague - until the long-fingered count's true identity revealed.

Teutonic tales of terror

Sleepwalking killer

Robert Wiene's silent classic "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1920) centers on a series of mysterious murders in the mountain village of Holstenwall. Werner Krauss stars as the eponymous Dr. Caligari, who controls the sleepwalking Cesare and compels him to kill. The abstract, Expressionist sets, flashbacks and dramatic twist at the end made the film an icon of the horror genre.

Teutonic tales of terror

Process of elimination

Starring Peter Lorre as the wild-eyed, whistling serial killer Hans Beckett, Fritz Lang's first sound film "M" (1931) masters the art of suspense and social critique. Less horror then crime thriller, Lang's modernist, anti-Fascist tour de force sees Berlin society thrown into disarray as the hunt for the mysterious child murderer casts each and every citizen as a potential murderer.

Author: Helen Whittle | Editor : Sean Sinico