EGYPTIAN CHEMISTRY | 2012
MULTICHANNEL VIDEO INSTALLATION
Egyptian Chemistry is based on videographic field documents and actual water samples taken in numerous sites along the Nile. The project examines water engineering and desert development projects, and generally inquires about the hydraulic, social and chemical conditions of soil and water in Egypt. Water engages in pluralistic practices when bonding with land use politics, export crops, nitrate industries, farmer’s collectives or hydropower, it is the connecting undercurrent to political and nonpolitical practices forming Egyptian life.
Drawing on the theory and practice of chemistry as a system of internal relations, this aquatic narrative tells the multiple plots involving organic, social and technological actors in contemporary Nile ecologies. Considering minute but consistent material transformations a decisive force that drives the reconfiguration of our terrestrial reality, including the political one, Egyptian Chemistry places scientific attention, fieldwork and videography as reality-producing practices in this process.
Egyptian Chemistry is a 5-channel video installation comprising
Water samplings, 23 min. (projection)
Chemistry lab, 14 min. (projection)
Three videos on flat screen monitors :
Part 1 : Agro-Sciences, 13 min.
Part 2 : Land Reforms, 13 min.
Part 3 : Ecology and Metachemistry, 20 min.
Egyptian Chemistry is part of the collective project World of Matter
Video excerpt, Part 1, 13 min.