Forever Is Now II brings together a group of twelve international and regional artists to respond to the monumental Pyramids

By Ahmed Fawzy

November 2022, Forever Is Now II will showcase ambitious works by Therèse Antoine (Egypt), Natalie Clark (USA, Spain), Mohammed Al Faraj (Saudi Arabia), Emilio Ferro (Italy), Zeinab Al Hashemi (UAE), JR (France), Ahmed Karaly (Egypt), Liter of Light (Globally), eL Seed (Tunisian), SpY (Spanish), Pascale Marthine Tayou (Cameroon) and Jwan Yosef (Syria, Sweden).
Following on the success of Forever Is Now, last year’s first international art exhibition at the Pyramids of Giza, which was received with overwhelming acclaim, Art D’Égypte once again turns to artists to translate the wonders of history in the language of the present by launching a second edition.
Nadine Abdel Ghaffar, Art D’Égypte’s founder, stated: “Our global success last year, motivated us to develop new plans that will amaze the world once more. We have worked hard over the years to establish Art D’Égypte as one of the region’s premier art institutions and we are proud to bring you this latest endeavor.”
Forever is Now II’s large-scale site-specific artworks are in dialogue with Giza’s 4500-year-old iconic monuments of natural stone, embodying the theme of timelessness and the mysteries of an ancient civilization. The artists also express concerns about sustainability in an age of environmental crisis. In ancient Egypt, nature was seen as a divine force; there were gods of the sun and vegetation, and animals were sacred manifestations.
Anchored in a deep knowledge of the past, Forever is Now II is not simply a revival of this history, for the past can never be complete in the present. Rather, it indicates that there is no conception of the future without history, and that there is no time without the present. The artworks, made from a combination of natural and industrial materials, point to our past and present conditions and the connections between man and technology, nature and inheritance.
The first edition demonstrated the transformative power of art in heritage sites. Forever is Now II builds on this impact through the launch of Culturvator, a global cultural platform that will activate such spaces worldwide, a major milestone in Art D’Égypte’s purview. Also new to this edition is a groundbreaking partnership with Metaverse, which is partnering with Art D’Égypte to amplify a digital form of storytelling. Through 10 AR filters as augmented visual guides for the artworks, the backstory of each piece will be illustrated and navigated in a way that expands the immersive experience of Forever is Now II.
The exhibition is held under the auspices of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism, the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board, the patronage of UNESCO