Perfect Fit
<p>I cannot remember what time of day it was that I was standing outside of Bétonsalon, a center for art and research in Paris. As I write this my memory is straining, trying to reconcile the two cities, Cairo and Paris, that I moved between that summer four years ago. What I do remember was being pensive, standing outside the art space. I was there at the invitation of Kadist Art Foundation to participate in the seminar ‘The Place from Where We Look’, to talk about art and institutions, and the places from where we practice.</p> <p>A few months later I would be moving to the United States, and, caught between these three places, somewhere in my mind I found myself residing in a fantasy of my own creation. I imagined myself a civil servant, designated with overseeing the task of ceremonial practices of the Egyptian Ministry of Finance (this was after the political coup, an army takeover and much violence; my colleagues and I each had our own way of coping). I stylized myself as an ethnographer, treating the ritualistic paperwork as some insight into political mourning. One need not say more…</p>
Authors: Sarah Rifky
Artists: Kapwani Kiwanga
Part of: TextWork
ISSN: 27269949