ROOM: Creating a Space for Art

Opening Friday, August 15, this ambitious new café in Garden City hopes to connect artists and give Cairo residents a space to create

by Kaylan Geiger

From crowded cafés to even more crowded streets, finding room for space is not an easy task in Cairo. A new location in Garden City, appropriately titled ROOM, hopes to offer a new space for artists, art connoisseurs and café goers. Coming from the sand-colored palate of Cairo’s streets, ROOM’s midnight blue walls and wooden tables and shelves feels more like a café you would find tucked away in Paris, not Egypt. This space, however, is more ambitious than a café. ROOM’s creator Ahmed Zeidan, whose day job is as a filmmaker and freelance cameraman, came up with the idea to provide artists with a space to create, communicate and connect. Zeidan’s space is ambitious, with plans to hold dance classes, film screenings, yoga classes, workshops, art exhibitions and music and theater performances. Egypt Today sat down with Zeidan to talk about his ideas behind ROOM ahead of its grand opening on Friday, August 15 at 7 p.m. The event features a performance by the musical duo Ahmed Saleh and Abdullah Miniawy. Edited excerpts:   How did you come up with idea for ROOM? Before creating ROOM, I was hosting contemporary dance classes in my living room. I had to move all the furniture around, and it was a horrible space. I also held a workshop for actors and directors in my living room, and had 14 people attending the workshop there. I thought, we need space and maybe a bigger room to work in. But not just for us, for other people, too. We need a room that isn’t far away from Downtown and with all the proper tools and equipment for different types of artists. This is what inspired this idea.   How did you come up with the name? When I first saw the space it was divided up by small rooms. I decided to take down the walls and have just one room that can be used for everything and have different functions. It can switch to a film screening room, to a room with music, to a dance studio, to a conference room, and can take on different shapes. It is a room for expression. [caption id="attachment_17665" align="alignnone" width="300"] The versatile space can accommodate events from dance classes to film screenings.[/caption] What kind of audience are you targeting? We hope to attract as big and wide-ranging group of people as possible. How we started thinking about it was originally for the artist themselves, and to give artists a space to connect and a space where they can talk and develop ideas. It can be a link between the artist and the audience. Who the audience is depends on the artist. As we are located in Garden City, we are not far away from Downtown and it is quite central. We are connected to all different kinds of neighborhoods, including Mounira, Sayed Zeinab, Manial and so on. There are some spaces for artists, but they don’t always have the necessary equipment they need…it also depends on what kind of purpose it serves. Sometimes the rooms are not big enough. It doesn’t link artists together. We hope that this space will help link artists together, and also you can work and occupy the space at the time. There is definitely a need for more space or else we wouldn’t need to be holding rehearsals in my apartment.   You have a lot of ideas for Room. How do you plan for all of the ideas to fill this space? Everything will rotate on the hour. Our plan is to have 15-minute gaps between sessions and to switch the room from a dance studio to the cinema, etc. We have a large wall of mirrors for dance classes and thick, heavy curtains will block the sound and prevent light from affecting the cinema. We also have two corners that can be set up as dressing rooms for the dance classes. We have a projection screen that will go up and down for film screenings. We can host up to 60 people for film screenings and panels, and we have a stage that can be stored away.   How are you funding this project? We created this place on a budget. I put all of my life’s savings into this place. I spent more than I originally thought it would need because ideas kept evolving. I wanted to make a place that can fund itself without relying on funds. I believe it is doable that you can build a business model that offers services and free space to artists and at the same time you can cover expenses and make a profit.   What are some challenges new places face when opening in Cairo? We get power cuts almost four times a day now. It is a problem if you want to start any kind of business, and it is a big issue. Food can spoil quickly, you can’t make coffee for four hours a day. For opening night we will have generators, but for regular days it is an ongoing issue. We are a little worried about the neighbors, but they all seem nice. We had one neighbor come by who said, “Why dancing? Isn’t it inappropriate? Why don’t you consider teaching painting?” We have to go through this and prove that dance and all art is fine and not indecent.   This building has quite a history, and its halls have seen the likes of Charles de Gaulle, Oliver Lyttleton, Chaim Weizmann and Anthony Eden. Can you tell us a bit more about its history? This is one of the richest, most historical buildings in Garden City. We are happy to bring it to light because if people didn’t know about it hopefully they can learn about it now. It was used by the British army in WWII. Our doorman has lots of stories that we cannot completely confirm, but he says it is 150 years old. The independence of Syria and Lebanon was negotiated here. It also has a cool name, which is “Grey Pillars.” That is how it was referred to in letters and secret correspondence. [caption id="attachment_17666" align="alignnone" width="300"] ROOM is yet another interesting occupant in Grey Pillars storied history.[/caption]

ROOM • 10 Etehad El Mohameen Al Arab Street, Garden City, Cairo • Hours: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roomartspace