some workshops and a wedding
Category Archives: Work
about my work in cairo
a bit of this and that…
Revolution
…or at least something similar.
5 students are on hunger strike now and many others are camping in front of the main entrance of the university. Each day since the 27.02.2012 we have demonstrations now on campus.
The front between the GUC administration and the students is tougher than ever before. How this situation could happen is quite obvious. If there was any other option is a different question. So the GUC administration adressed the parents of the students and not the students themselves. The GUC admin suspended all students for one week from teaching because of security issues. (There was a video on youtube showing a person throwing a fuel can against the gates of the GUC). And the overall impression for me is, that the admin sees the students more as an enemy than as an equal partner for discussion.
On the other hand… most of the students do not join the protests but do proceed with their normal activity. Some of the them are afraid but most of them do only want to learn and are not interested in politics and some of them support the admin as well.
It is difficult as a german university, with german values, in a changing country like Egypt. There are fears, that too open discussions about everything may lead to an outcome, that nobody wants, that the students are separated in different groups of interest with no possibility to find an agreement.
But it happens everythere in Egypt. And why should it stop at the universitys? Normally the universitys are the first, now they switch the light off.
in between…
while the elections are in progress and some of the muslim parties accuse each other of using the wrong strategies and the military announced that the result of the election is not what people wanted, live goes on. It remains exciting, how the FJP, the so-far-winner of the elections, will react on the militarys announcement. Anyway, a new chapter has begun now.
Attached some pictures of what else is important in Egypt. The kind people, the history, the smile and the will to come along.
back in Cairo…and everything is different…
…and back in a completely different world. The students are suspended from university due to accusations that a few would act in an offensice way against figures in relation to the university or its establishment itself. The teaching is suspended for one week since Saturday. Each party accuses the other one of false accusations without going into details. A Video on Youtube showing a masked man throwing a gas canister towards the gates of the GUC has been removed today upon accusations, that the Video does not show the truth but was staged. The University buildings are almost empty and only the staff is there, wondering, what an university without students is about.
Most probably the open questions are just postponed and not solved. So we have to wait for next week, to see, what will happen. Some german professors who are affiliated with the GUC were quoted saying that special situation need special treatment. The question is, if they would use the same words in relation to their german students at an university in Germany. Once again it is difficult to decide, how to deal with the situation.
and now the news…
Time is running… the first semester is gone and my students told me not to stay in germany… and I promised to come back. Next semester will be even more exciting than the first one. Many things are going to happen. On Tuesday there will be a big demonstration against the police and the Emergency Law. Last week 9 persons tried to burn themselves as a protest against their treatment by authorities. But the most dangerous thingy here in Egypt is still the traffic, especially if you are in a GUC-bus. No, not really, this was a joke dear GUC. It could be even worse. The grades are given and the sun is shining again. Although it is still cold at night, the temperatures rise during daytime. Everything will be fine.
panic…
It is the end. Of the semester. As usual there is a lot of stuff to do. Especially for the students. My current students have an interesting strategy to solve this problem… they just do not appear. Not only one… all of them. Presentation is something that may happen or not… and if it happens it is more something like…ah…an event, coming and going, shouting and discussing…. say goodbye to the german way of presentation and pronounce a warm welcome to the interesting, chaotic but also exiting GUC-design-students way of showing their work… we will start an hour later. Or two. Inch’allah.
campus live
Weihnachtsfeier GUC
collection of excuses…
“I thought we should hand in the documentation yesterday, so I left it at home today…” Yes. “Someone stole my model!” For sure. it was really beautiful. “Someone crashed in my car and destroyed my model.” T:”and where are the parts?” Someone crashed in my car and destroyed my model.” “I could not finish my work because of… holidays, closed shops, headache, the dead of the hamster, strange feelings, emptiness in my brain, the upcoming holiday…” “I have a sketchbook, but I do not carry it with me because it is too heavy.” “I did not know that I have to carry a pencil with me!” No Designer carries stuff like this with him! Really! “You wanted to change my grade, said that I would have a better grade, told me that I don’t have to finish my work!” Sure. These are the things I tell everyone… just to have fun…