Quarterly

Spring 2010 | ArteZine

Olympic Garden

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The “Olympic Garden” is a 7 minute long 3-channel loop of still photographs, text & sound.

Script: Channel B

Located behind ‘The Egyptian Olympic Centre’, on the amorphous line separating the upper middle class neighborhood of New Maadi and the Arab Al-Basateen informal area, ‘The Olympic Centre Garden’ has come to replace ’Al-Ahram Coop Complex’, which burned down completely in May 2007. The circumstances surrounding the fire were described then in Al-Gomhureya newspaper as ‘mysterious’. Less mysterious accounts of the story still circulate amongst the residents of the surrounding area who are fathoming the nature of the new space in transience… a front-yard, a backyard, grass to grow, image to conserve…

“The Olympic Center Mission: … was opened since 1990 for serving the Egyptian, Arabian and Foreigners Sports teams. And also for serving the neighborhood community.”

The Olympic Center Garden is designed & maintained by:
*  The Egyptian Authority for Highways and Bridges
*  Cairo Governorate – Albasateen and Dar Alsalam Region
*  Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity and Energy: (Electric Box: ARAP – Alahram Market 3284)

Cairo Cleaning and Beautification Agency:
* the total amount of green areas in Cairo is around 300.000 feddans; this amount increases by 100.000 feddans of gardens yearly
* the number of trees in Cairo’s public streets and gardens is 2 Million. 400.000 new trees are planted yearly
* the number of palm-trees is 8350 “fructuous palm trees” in Cairo’s streets and gardens
* the number of lampposts in Cairo is 2.5Million lampposts of different heights, connected by 65.000 km of cable length

Please turn on FULL SCREEN mode. 

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Channel A, B & C scripts are based on & quoted from texts/ conversations with: 
Algomhureya Newspaper, Almasry Alyoum newspaper, The Egyptian Gazette Newspaper, the Olympic Center official website http://www.olympic-center.com, Cairo Cleaning and Beautification Agency, youtube, conversations with the garden frequentersconversations with the surrounding area residents and employersthe Olympic Center employers and  the municipality employers
The Olympic Garden © 2009 Rana ElNemr 

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