Manar Moursi: the loudspeaker and the tower

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Manar Moursi

Manar Moursi, "The Loudspeaker and the Tower," 2019

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Co-curated by Emily Fitzpatrick and Toleen Touq

Exhibition Essay by Nadia Kurd

Co-presented with Trinity Square Video and South Asian Visual Arts Centre, Toronto  

Through an immersive environment constructed of coloured lights, megaphones, masks, videos and sculptures, Toronto-and Boston-based artist, designer, and architect Manar Moursi presents a multitude of considerations to the viewer: What if singular patriarchal voices of religious sermons were interpreted through mime and dance? How would neon lights adorning mosque minarets look as sculptural objects? How do residents of Cairo challenge authoritative architectures and urban master plans, whilst creating new meanings for public space and land use? By that token, what shapes can we abstract from these biographical networks of the megalopolis?

Using the mosque as its starting point, The Loudspeaker and the Tower examines the apparatus of the minaret as a vertical symbol of power and as a horizontal multiplier of official and unsanctioned narratives. Moursi’s installation revolves around a set of associated characters — residents of once agricultural lands, mosque custodians, imams, architects, artists, and a parrot — to further understand the radical complexities of these structures. 

Manar Moursi is an architect and artist. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Manar also holds a dual Masters degree in Architecture and Urban Policy from Princeton University. In 2011 she founded Studio Meem, an interdisciplinary research studio. Her design work has been widely published and received multiple awards. In 2016, she participated in curating and writing for Egypt’s participation at the Venice Architectural Biennale. Her writings on urban issues have appeared in Domus, Thresholds, Lunch, Mada, Cairobserver, the Funambulist and Egypt Independent. Her book, Sidewalk Salon: 1001 Street Chairs of Cairo co-authored with David Puig was published by Onomatopee in 2015. She has taught at several institutions in Cairo and at the University of Waterloo.