سلسلة الورشات الإبداعية

Creative Workshop Series

A good photographer works not only with technical skills, but also with original thinking. One of the best ways to stimulate your creativity is to directly experience the practices of contemporary artists who work with photography.

CIC PhotoSchool’s creative workshops are free classes, normally led by an established Egypt-based artist. Through assignments, discussions in a group environment and reviews, participants get a direct experience of key practices and concepts that artists work on today.

The Creative Workshops Series are made possible thanks to the generous support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Cairo, and British Council..

New Workshop: In Your Hands - From Viewing to Making
By: Ronnie Close
Workshop schedule: May 27, 30 – June 3, 6, 7, 2012
Deadline for applications: May 17 2012

The accessibility of photography, whether on a mobile phone or on a high-end camera, implies that the line between 'creator' and 'audience' has been so far blurred that we need new ways of handling it. In a world where pictures spread instantly and are constantly reappropriated, what possibilities can this present for the artist or photographer? In this workshop, artist Ronnie Close will lead a group exploration of the 'emancipated spectator', in reference to Jacques Rancière's key text. By considering this book, participants can (rethink)the idea of the passive spectator and reconsider image-making as part of everyday social and political relations.

Over five sessions of three hours each, the group will discuss and develop photographic based works to explore these ideas through their experience of daily life and how it is mediated in newspapers, internet trends, and popular social media. Though the outcomes are open, the group will be given regular tasks and will be supported in creating a project.

The workshop is free and will be conducted in English. Dates:

Participants must:
- have an existing interest and practice in art, photography or visual culture
- be confident in English discussion
- be available for all 5 sessions

How to apply:
To apply please send ten samples of your artistic work (low resolution 425X624 pixels) and a motivation letter with the reasons why you would like to join the workshop to courses.

Ronnie Close is a photographer and filmmaker based in Cairo. His work has been widely exhibited and published throughout Ireland, UK, Europe, North America and the Middle East. He has exhibited widely including at Kassel Documentary Film & Video Festival; ArtSway, UK; Picture This, UK; Elizabeth Foundation Gallery, New York; and the 4th Cairo Video Festival, Goethe Institute, Cairo. He is a member of ‘PH: Photographic Research Network’ based in the Photographer’s Gallery in London and is collaborating on a research project entitled ‘Use/ReUse’ looking at the role of appropriation in photography. He was awarded a PhD in Photographic Research in 2011 by the University of Wales Newport, UK.

Creative Workshop #9: The Image of Movement
Led by: Doa Aly
Dates: 17th, 22nd, 29th Jan. 2012

In this workshop Doa Aly introduces the three levels at work in the moving image: Framing, movement, and Montage, as discussed in Gilles Deleuze’s Cinema 1-The Movement Image.

Creative Workshop #8: Photography and Collage
Led by: Lara Baladi
Dates: 9th, 13th & 16th Oct. 2011

The workshop will focus on making collages using photographs and images. It will explore notions of collecting, archiving / interpreting images, while looking at several artists works using the collage technique throughout history of art. The three sessions will connect these ideas to contemporary photography and will be divided between theory and practice.
The practice will range from using low tech tools to computer software such as photoshop.
The student is asked to bring to the first session, a minimum of 15 photographs related to one of the following subjects: Egyptian Revolution – Utopia – Privacy

Egyptian-Lebanese artist Lara Baladi’s creations – published and exhibited worldwide – range from photography, video, prints, digital visual montages, installations, architectural constructions, tapestries and even perfume. Baladi has been a member of the Arab Image Foundation since 1997, directing magazine editorials and curating exhibitions and artist residencies. Since 2011, she works as cultural/Artistic curator and outreach director for Radio Ta7rir. She was awarded with the first prize (Grand Nile Award) at the Cairo Biennale 2008/09.

Creative Photography Workshop #7: Enhancing Reality
Led by: Tarek Hefny
Dates: 19th, 24th, 26th Jul. 2011

In our minds, photography represents reality. Deciding to modify a photograph should not be an easy choice. How do we embrace and justify this choice in the process of a photo-project production? The workshop will address these questions, also exploring the techniques we have to creatively work on a photograph and amplify its power of expression.

During the session, participants will be asked to bring their own pictures to work on and modify during the workshop together with the tutor. Tarek Hefny will show examples of his work as well as of other established artists who modify images as a part of their work.

Tarek Hefny is an Egyptian photographer based in Cairo. He got his bachelor degree in painting from the faculty of fine arts Helwan University 2005. He participated to several group exhibitions showing his paint and photographic work. In his current work, he tries to develop a new technique to understand the city through analyzing the urban textures

Creative Photography Workshop #6: Conversations with Photographs
Led by: Mohamed Abdelkarim
Dates: 12th, 17th &20th Jul. 2011

How are images part of interpersonal relations? How do images ask questions, and how do they provide answers? Selected participants will use photography as a way of asking and answering questions, providing and responding to information through taking pictures. They will be given assignments, and asked to read their images as the product of a human relation, taking into consideration the point of view of the photographer who shot them.

During the sessions, Abdelkarim will present his work as well as other artists’ practice relevant to the topic.

Cairo-based Egyptian artist, Mohamed Abdelkarim completed his undergraduate degree in Art Education in Cairo in 2005. He received a prize in the 2007 Youth Salon for one of his first animations. His first international exhibition was at the BJCM Biennale in Bari, Italy in 2008. In 2008 he participated in the Salzburg Summer Academy. He is interested in producing future works in the form of printed publications because of his interest in the durability and mobility of print. He currently seeks to promote and develop this theme by supporting a network of artists who are also interested in this mode of production.

Creative Photography Workshop #5: The Wrong Picture?
Led by: Osama Dawod
Dates: 3rd, 10th & 12th Apr. 2011

Recently a lot of us practice taking pictures, many do it as an instinctive reaction, a few do consciously. That has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the picture, or whether it is a good picture or not. What this workshop is really about is to answer this simple question: Is what we actually like to photograph reflects what we really are good at photographing? The workshop is designed to exercise the exploration of our watching and observing abilities. It pushes further all limitation one might have on the pass of creativity, stressing that “watching” is more important in photography than “clicking”. The participants will learn how to identify the “normal” and go beyond to discover other possibilities of what might be more interesting. There is no “Wrong Picture”.

1st Session: Participants are required to bring portfolio (max 12 photographs) representative of their practice and interest. There will be a presentation contextualizing relevant photographer's works. An assignment will be given.

2nd Session: Critique session on participants work and a second assignment will be given, to be presented and discussed in the last session.

3rd Session: Participants' work will be presented and critiqued. A discussion will take place. The last session will hopefully be the beginning.

Osama Dawod received his masters from the San Francisco Art Institute in California and he was the recipient of the Photography Department Fellowship, BFA in design and printmaking received from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo. He worked as an assistant with photographers and filmmakers in Egypt and the United States as well as conducted photography workshops in Denmark and in Egypt. In addition to participating in various exhibitions in Egypt, Europe and Asia, including two solo shows at the Townhouse Gallery in 2005 and Artellewa 2008, Dawod participated in a number of workshops and residencies in Egypt, Nepal, Denmark, Ethiopia, and the United States. Dawod lives and works in Cairo.

Creative Photography Workshop #4: Light
Led by: Xenia Nikolskaya
Dates: 13th, 15th & 17 Sep. 2010

Photography means 'writing with light'. This workshop aimed to better the participants’ understanding of light as both the key element but also a subject matter in itself. The workshop started from basic lighting technique, to using the idea of light as a conceptual aspect of the photograph.

Xenia Nikolskaya professional photographer since
1995, her photos have been exhibited in several solo shows and are held in prestigious collections (like Sveriges Allmänna Konstförening,
UBS bank, Bibliotheca Alexandrina Arts Centre). Her work has been commissioned by Newsweek, GEO, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Hermitage State Museum. Nikolskaya taught
photography at the Russian Academy of Fine Arts and St. Petersburg State University, at Rutgers University (New York) as visiting professor and at AUC. At CIC, she teaches: Architecture and Interior Space Photography.

Creative Photography Workshop #3: Photographing the City
Led by: Rana ElNemr

The City has long attracted the photographer's attention to reflect and analyze it, and occasionally embody, discover, or document its vocabulary. Life in the city offers the photographer a great deal, from looking at the activities and variety of city-dwellers, to the city's empty spaces, landscapes, and architectural details.

With the interchanging multiplicity of a photographer’s time and space, and The City’s time and space, the photographic work’s mechanisms and methods of handling that city’s vocabulary. This in turn alters the viewer’s perception of those vocabularies, their significance, and the notion of a ‘city’ in general. Some of the most important approaches in photography towards the city will be shown and discussed, as well as giving an idea of their historical context. From these sessions, the participants will aim to demonstrate their individual perspectives on The City, through a short project assigned during the workshop.

Rana ElNemr is a Cairo based freelance photographer with a background in journalism. She freelances for international news agencies, magazines and advertising agencies. She participated in several photography and art exhibitions in Cairo, Tokyo and New York. In 2003 she received the bronze award in the Canon Digital Creators Contest in Tokyo, and in 2005 the grand prize from Bamako Photo Festival in Mali.

Creative Photography Workshop #2: Working in Series
Led by: Ahmed Kamel
Dates: 22nd, 25th & 28th Nov. 2010

This workshop gave a theoretical and practical introduction to how a photographer can work in series. This could be through returning to a single subject or theme, or through creating a narrative. Ahmed Kamel introduced how this is a key approach made by contemporary artists and other people working creatively with photography.

Creative Photography Workshop #1: Light
Led by: Xenia Nikolskaya
Dates: 28th April, 5th & 8th May 2011

Photography means 'writing with light'. This workshop aimed to better the participants’ understanding of light as both the key element but also a subject matter in itself. The workshop started from basic lighting technique, to using the idea of light as a conceptual aspect of the photograph.

Xenia Nikolskaya professional photographer since
1995, her photos have been exhibited in several solo shows and are held in prestigious collections (like Sveriges Allmänna Konstförening,
UBS bank, Bibliotheca Alexandrina Arts Centre). Her work has been commissioned by Newsweek, GEO, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Hermitage State Museum. Nikolskaya taught
photography at the Russian Academy of Fine Arts and St. Petersburg State University, at Rutgers University (New York) as visiting professor and at AUC. At CIC, she teaches: Architecture and Interior Space Photography.