CAIRO: The founder of ancient Egypt; the son of the Sun god and the greatest warrior king are all slogans that have been attributed to Ramses II, who at one point, although he was not of royal descent, was considered the symbol of power in Egypt as he took over the 18th Dynasty.
The granite statue of Ramses II has stood in front of the Ramses railway station since 1955, when then president Gamal Abdel Nasser removed it from its original home guarding the Memphis temple and placed it in the area now known as Midan Ramses (Ramses Square). The uncanny resemblance between Nasser and Ramses was the main reason behind moving the statue.
Nasser, however, was not the last person to show interest in Ramses’ statue. When German conceptual artist Susanne Kriemann was invited to join an exhibition in Egypt, she did not hesitate and after doing some research on the country she found herself drawn to the story of Ramses’ statue as she found almost 30 English articles online discussing it.
Since 1997 there has been talk of moving the statue away from Cairo’s polluted streets, as the granite cannot stand the continuous strain, and there have been numerous articles stating that it will happen soon, although the process is extremely complicated and costly. The statue, however, has yet to be moved.
The title of this exhibition is “Downloads from the Future, and involves many different shows by various international artists. Kriemann chose to create a newspaper printed in 2007 that brings together articles on the subject of moving the statue as well as pictures and some extra contributions.
“A newspaper is printed a day before it appears but everything you read of a daily newspaper is of today, so the journalists write yesterday with the perception of today so there is a little notion of future in the newspaper itself as a medium, explains Kriemann.
Kriemann began by collecting articles about the subject in both English and Arabic and then started to collect pictures dating as far back as the 50’s. Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass guided her to the people that would be useful. She compiled pictures from the Al Ahram archive, Lehnet & Landrock Cairo and the archive of Mohammed Wishani.
“Then I took pictures myself, she explains, “I mapped out the space with my camera and took shots of all the buildings and the bridges that have been build around it.
In the exhibition at the Townhouse Gallery, Kriemann has a picture of two elegant women wearing dresses and high heels walking in front of the statue in 1961. The picture shows how beautiful the area was at the time, with the gorgeous fountain that once shined in the center of the square along with the statue.
“It is so astonishing that it looked like this … It is futuristic from the perspective that something that was can come again . and to blow it up to that scale is something reflecting digital technology, she says.
But Kriemann is not critical of Egypt today; on the contrary, she feels that the country offers much more than a European country, as there is much less control over the system as a whole.
Also on exhibit is a large instillation of Ramses’ foot. When Ramses’ statue was found at the Memphis temple, it had no feet, so a sculptor at the time had to redesign his feet. Kriemann wanted to reflect the fabrication so she had the foot copied again.
Visit this exhibition until April 30 at the Townhouse Gallery.
