From Facebook to Nassbook

As part of the Mayor of London’s ‘Shubbak: A Window on Contemporary Arab Culture’ festival, the stylish Mica Gallery in London is showcasing a range of contemporary Egyptian art.

Titled ‘From Facebook to Nassbook’, the exhibition draws on the popular revolution in Egypt earlier this year and explores the presence and role of twenty-first century technology in helping to shape the struggle.

Whilst the role of social media was instrumental, the protesters were soon forced to find another avenue of communication after the Egyptian authorities clamped down and disabled internet access across the country. Hence ‘Facebook’ was supplanted by ‘Nassbook’ – ‘nass’ being the Arabic word for people, representing how word of mouth became the primary source of communication.

The exhibition is co-curated by Sara Raza (co-editor of Ibraaz) and Reedah El-Saie (Mica Gallery).

As well as the main exhibition, there are several other events at the Mica Gallery, ranging from a Mica Iftar gathering August 6th to a Mica Edit Reception on September 7th. The full programme can be found here: http://www.micagallery.com/calendar.html

The exhibition runs until September 8 2011.