Aida Eltorie

Managing Director of Finding Projects Association

Aida Eltorie at 6 Contemporary Arts Gallery, Cairo – Egypt (May 2013) - International Curator, Writer, Cultural Researcher on Global Visual Culture Aida Eltorie

Aida Eltorie, is an independent curator and director to Finding Projects Association (Florence). Since 2012, Eltorie launched the new branding for 6 Contemporary Arts gallery (Cairo) and had been handling its exhibition programs until 2013. From her most recent projects are The Maldives Pavilion first national participation at the 55th International Venice Biennale (2013), and "The Changing Room Project" at the 2012 London Festival. She co-curated the late Ahmed Basiony at the 2011 Egyptian Pavilion of the 54th International Venice Biennale, and her past work includes curating "The Changing Room" project at Spazio Qubi in Turin, Italy, the film program at Manifesta 8, under the curatorial auspices of The Chamber of Public Secrets, and the video collective Contemporary Arab Video Encounter (CAVE) at Maraya Art Centre (Sharjah, UAE) leading to the launching of the Maraya Video Archive (aka. MAVA) on video art from the MENASA regions.

Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Practices Journal (Dubai) for two years; Volumes 4, 5, and 6, Eltorie has worked with The Townhouse Gallery of contemporary art (Cairo) for a period of 5-7 years from when the Gallery first opened in Cairo, during which she was also involved with The International Museum of Women (San Francisco) when they first launched in March 2003. By 2007, Eltorie moved to New York whereby she was accepted as a curatorial intern at The Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth Sackler Feminist Art Center, and continued her time there working with Bidoun Magazine for a year and then Christie's auction house with the Indian and Southeast Asian Department.

She independently produced a number of international projects with artists and cultural practitioners from the Middle East and Europe, with various support granted from institutions like ProHelvetia Swiss Arts Council, The Ford Foundation, Mawred Cultural Resource, The British Council, Allianz Stiftung amongst other.

Eltorie has been part of seminars and lectures at Art Basel (2009), The American University in Cairo (2011), the House of World Cultures (Berlin, 2011), The Kunst Akademie (Copenhagen, 2011 & 2012), AICA Conference (Zurich, 2012), Latvia Contemporary Art Centre (Riga, 2013) amongst other. Her published works can be read in catalogues for shows such as the Maldives Pavilion Catalogue: Portable Nation (55th International Venice Biennale 2013), Egyptian Pavilion Catalogue / Ahmed Basiony: 30 Days of Running in the Place (54th International Venice Biennale 2011), The Changing Room: Arab Reflections on Praxis and Times (Turin, Italy 2011), on Jane Jin-Kaisen "Revolution is not a Bird's Eye View, but a Rose is a Rose is a Rose" Monograph (Copenhagen, 2014), Julienne Johnson "Ashes for Beauty" (Los Angeles, 2012), Sama Alshaibi's Vs. Him (Lawrie Shabibi Gallery, Dubai 2011); Patrizio Travagli’s Monograph, MMX (Florence, Italy 2010); Breaking News (2008) and Golden Gates (2009) curated by Daniela da Prato on art from the Arab World and Iran in Paris. Further articles can be found in Contemporary Practices Journal and Rawi Magazine (2008-2011).

Aida-Eltorie-Projects-logo_Web - Aida Eltorie Projects is a website dedicated to cultural and curatorial research published by Aida Eltorie. From international exhibitions, and world art forums, this collective will expose and archive ongoing productions that contribute to the better understanding of global visual culture. Aida Eltorie

Finding Projects Association logo - Design by Engy Aly - Finding Projects Association is a non profit international network designed to realize new and unconventional projects across the Middle East and Mediterranean regions exposing a regional culture on an international platform. The Association has been quietly founded since 2006, with the realization of exhibitions starting from Cairo and San Francisco, and grew across the Middle East and Europe in 2010 with exhibitions at the 8th Manifesta Biennale (Murcia, Spain), Maraya Art Centre (Sharjah Aida Eltorie

Video Project: Aspirations / Photo by Osama Dawod - Aspirations: The Fable, the Dream, and the One Thousandth and One Night. Curated by Aida Eltorie, under the auspices of Contemporary Practices Journal and Albareh Gallery (Bahrain). Dubai Art Fair, March 2009 States of social authority and aspirations to the fable are moments reserved to our imagination. Searching for the superhero, the villain and the last night of 1001 tales, come projects from regional and international perspectives on the fictionalization of facts and their encounters with… Aida Eltorie

Manifesta 8 / Film Program: Under the curatorial direction of the Chamber of Public Secrets (Khaled Ramadan and Alfredo Camerotti), designed by Aida Eltorie. - Image is a partial range of details from Arab Film Posters Department at The Yale University Library, Near East Collection and reconfigured for the purpose of the CPS Film Programme ( www.library.yale.edu/neareast/poster.html ). Aida Eltorie

Manifesta 8 / Film Program: Under the curatorial direction of the Chamber of Public Secrets (Khaled Ramadan and Alfredo Cramerotti), designed by Aida Eltorie. - Image detailing an iconographic painting of 'King Kong' partially extracted from a Polish film poster for the 1968 movie King Kong Escapes! Originating from a 1933 stop-motion animation, remade in 1976 in the United States of America by Italian Producer Agostino De Laurentiis, and again in 2005 by New Zealand film director Sir Peter Jackson. With several other film sequels, this global character has lived throughout the century in other visual formats such as cartoons, comics and books. Aida Eltorie

CAVE - Contemporary Arab Video Encounter | The first International Video Biennial from the Arab World. Maraya Art Center, Sharjah / November 2010. Curated by Aida Eltorie Aida Eltorie

BULK Project, Patrizio Travagli / To be seen at the 12th International Cairo Biennial, December 2010 - Aida Eltorie

Patrizio Travagli: MMX / Book realized by Gallery GOMO (Korea), Relco Group, Accademia D'Arte - AD'A, Firenze, Studio Calcografico Urbino, Segni e Segni. - credits: (testi) Aida Eltorie, Marina Giordani, David Bianco (traduzioni) Veronica Soldani (fotografie) Gildardo Gallo (www.zona-x.org), Gino di Paolo, Robeya Williams Walt (www.robeya.com) (grafica) Gualtiero Gualtieri (www.gualtiero.com) ringraziamenti: Cecilia, Marina Giordani, Carlo e Rosella Nesi, Angelo Giuliano Pisati, Roberta Pecci e Marco Moretti, Massimiliano Madonna e Gabriela Fust, Massimo Guarducci, Brunetto e Miguel, Antonio S·nchez-Ramos, Andrea Ferrara, Alessio Spadaro, Massimo… Aida Eltorie

Cover to Volume 4: SUSAN HEFUNA, Creating the Dream Space - Aida Eltorie

Cover to Volume 5: REZA ARAMESH, A Replay on the Tragedy of Art vs. War - Aida Eltorie

Cover to Volume 6: STEVE SABELLA, The Journey of Artistic Interrogation and Introspection - Aida Eltorie

Years-of-Residency_Cover - Years of Residency is a publication launched by Pro Helvetia's Swiss Arts Council, Cairo Liaison Office in August 2010. Reflecting on their support for the past decade on artists residency programs between the MENA region and Switzerland, Years of Residency tells the stories of 10 artists and their projects across four disciplines; visuals arts, literature, music and theatre. Paraphrased Introduction from the Director of Pro Helvetia (Cairo): Pro Helvetia gives priority to the artist and his… Aida Eltorie

Ahmed Basiony / 30 Days of Running in the Place / 54th International Art Biennale (Venice), Egyptian Pavilion (June - November 2011) - Ahmed Basiony (1978 – 2011) was a crucial component as an artist and professor to the use of new media technology in his artistic and socio-cultural research. He designed projects, each working in its own altering direction out of a diversity of domains in order to expose a personal account experienced through the function of audio and visual material. Motioning through his artistic projects, with an accurate eye of constant visibility, and invisibility, while listening to audio material that… Aida Eltorie

#day1 - Playing around with ideas, trying to find my voice. Aida Eltorie

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