Lecture #5 | Mercedes VOLAIT | Egyptian modern, from within
Egypt and its capital pertain to a geography, that of the Global South, in which modern architecture is commonly associated with Empire, while contemporary built environments are primarily linked to mud brick construction and informal housing. However, neither of these perceptions fully encapsulates the diverse forms of modernity that indigenous and cosmopolitan aspirations have embodied in Egypt, both historically and in the present.
The talk will endeavor to illustrate the point by discussing a few case studies, including the development of suburban Heliopolis, the Egypto-Belgian venture launched in 1905. Drawing upon a wide range of global and local sources, it will highlight the multiple agencies and competing systems that contributed to the shaping of modern Cairo, at a pivotal time in its history, marked by Egypt's transition from Ottoman dependence to nationhood. The architectural outcome was an amalgamation of old and new, vernacular and international, fitting local lifestyles and capacities. Instead of viewing Egypt’s experience with modernity as derivative, the talk ultimately calls for understanding its journey forward on its own terms, as a creative process driven by rooted agency.
Educated in architecture, Middle Eastern studies and Art history, Mercedes Volait is CNRS emeritus Research professor at INHA (Institut national d’histoire de l’art) in Paris. Her research focuses on nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century architecture in Cairo, with particular interest in materiality, expertise, patronage and cross-cultural interactions. She has published extensively on professionalisation, planning, housing, photography and the commodification of heritage. Over the past twenty years, she launched and chaired several collaborative projects and networks bringing together scholars of architecture, heritage and planning in the Global South, from Europe and the Middle East. She was awarded CNRS Silver medal in 2022 for life-time achievement and outreach in her field of research.
Organised and funded by Brussels Centre for Urban Studies, Brussels Academy and weKONEKT.Brussels.