Echoes of Contemporary Surrealism in the Institut Français d’Egypte à Alexandrie

The certainty about our origin is in the bones. 21st-century Surrealism seeks universality while understanding the mind. We aspire to explore inner space together. From caves, dream temples, and pyramids of antiquity to the temporal lobes in our brain, our movement is a collage that devotes serious effort to be sympathetically aware of connections between ourselves and the collective unconscious.

Mitchell Pluto

𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟮𝟲 𝘁𝗼 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝟮𝟬, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮
Over the past forty years, in the Middle East and various places in the world, Surrealism was considered as a past artistic movement and confined to limited artistic icons. And yet, in the meantime, Surrealism was constantly evolving and developing its tools and philosophy to free human imagination, where the mental play of imagination through art and literature remains the most fundamental activity.

In the continuation of the contemporary surrealist wave in Egypt and the Middle East, and after the International Exhibition of Surrealism held in Cairo from 15 to 19 February 2022 as the start of a round trip / Cairo – Saint Cirq Lapopie. Based on the wonderful energy achieved with its success, the idea of ​​continuing the adventure in Alexandria was born from the collective work of surrealists from Egypt, France and all over the world.

Echoes of Contemporary Surrealism – Maze of Dreams and Games which includes displaying a wide range of artworks, music, surrealist films, visual arts, and practicing surrealist collective games during the exhibition with workshops on collective surrealist creative techniques and games created from 1924 until today. In conjunction with the Echoes of Contemporary Surrealism Exhibition in Alexandria, on June 15, the same events of the exhibition and workshops will be organized, as well as other events that will be hosted by art space and square simple garden In Budapest, the opening will coincide with the opening of the exhibition in Alexandria on June 8.

Mohsen L Belasy

“Drink wine and look at the moon
and think of all the civilizations
the moon has seen passing by.”

― Omar Khayyám

The essential for a Zen painter means a manner of being in the deepest sense and not, as for us, a manner of doing. For them it means fusion in the life of the cosmos…

Andre Masson

The 3 Echoes: Ghadah Kamal Ahed, Fairouz Eltaweela and Mohsen L Belasy

“I believe in the future resolution of these two states, dream and reality, which are seemingly so contradictory, into a kind of absolute reality, a surreality, if one may so speak.”
― André Breton, Manifestoes of Surrealism

“I was interested in other spaces to do with forms drawn from non-Euclidean geometry and the idea of entering these spaces. These structures do not rely on the sense of space, as we know it. It is a space without limits and which transforms itself in time – a mutant space.”

– Roberto Matta, in conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist, April 2001

“the principle which controls magic, and the technique of the animistic method of thought, is “Omnipotence of Thought.”
― Sigmund Freud, Totem and Taboo

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

― Albert Einstein

A brief sample of visual artist participants of Echoes of Contemporary Surrealism Alexandria /Exhibition

Daniel O’Reilly Soundtrack Echoes of Contemporary Surrealism /Alexandria 2022


‘Masks of the City’ La Sirena‘s contribution to the 15 minute smartphone film challenge for Echoes of Contemporary Surrealism Exhibition. Shown in Budapest and Alexandria. Darren Thomas, Doug Campbell Tara King, Elliott H. King, Janice Hathaway, Irene Plazewska, Patrick Hourihan, LaDonna Smith, Christine Haller, Clém Gslr, Daina Almario-Kopp

Echoes of Contemporary Surrealism
Freudian Slip: Interpretation of Dreams and a Labyrinth of Surrealist Expression
videographer by Maria Gyarmati
music by / LaDonna Smith and Daniel O’Reilly
editing by / Mohsen L Belasy
Echoes of Contemporary Surrealism—Freudian Slip: Interpretation of Dreams & Labyrinth of Surrealism
Budapest Surrealist Society
Echos du surréalisme contemporains افتتاح معرض جماعى عن الاعمال السريالية وعروض افلام

Echoes of Contemporary Surrealism Posters by Ghadah Kamal Ahmed

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