Bassam el Baroni
Bassam El Baroni is a curator and writer based in Alexandria, Egypt. He is the co-founder and artistic manager of Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF), a non-profit art space operating since December 2005. Most recently he curated Cleotronica: Festival for Art, Media, and Socio-Culture, Alexandria (2008). He is currently co-curating Trapped in Amber, Angst for a Reenacted Decade at Unge Kunstneres Samfund (UKS), Oslo (2009).
Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF)
Alexandria, Egypt
Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF) is a non-profit multidisciplinary arts initiative founded in December 2005. Located inside a flat near Alexandria's downtown district, ACAF was proactively initiated and is run by a small group of artists/practitioners. With a focus on contemporary art, (new) media, and discursive practice ACAF's frame of reference is the wider social context it exists within locally and globally, thus it is interested in developing projects that explore the boundaries of this context. ACAF works to cultivate a deeper awareness of art in relation to all aspects of contemporary life and culture. Central to its mission is an ongoing engagement with projects that bring together established and emerging artists, university students, and diverse practitioners in contexts that recognize the value of an informal, non-hierarchal, open-ended circulation of information and experience. The forum is in a constant state of flux and incorporates new fields of interest and activity guided by its socio-cultural compass. ACAF enhances its projects by programming lectures, symposia, screenings and other events that are all admission free, in addition to housing a small library which features a growing collection of contemporary art publications for the benefit of the local arts community.