Breaking Boredom - Engy Aly, George Azmy, Hani Mahfouz, Ibrahim Eslam, Mahmoud Hamdy, Mofa. Curated by: Ahmed Foula :: August 7 - 21, 2008 :: Opening: August 7, 2008; 8:00 pm :: Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF), 10 Hussein Hassab Street, Flat 6, Azarita, Alexandria, Egypt.

Far from the consumptive aspect, which is closely connected to the nature of the field of graphic design as one of the applied arts, this project is based on exploring new design approaches that depends on the coincidence in its construction; 6 Graphic designers participated in this project to create 12 designs according to particular rules that differs from the traditional thought patterns. Breaking Boredom is a project that relies on the idea of Exquisite Corpse game, which was invented in 1925. The rules of the game were used to generate a succession of designs, as each participant will use the endpoint created by the previous designer to start his contribution. Each design consists of four consecutive contributions.

Ibrahim Eslam: Born in Cairo, in January 1977. In 2000, he was graduated from Faculty of Fine Arts.

Engy Aly: Born in 1982. Studied Graphic Design and graduated in 2005. Exhibited artworks in different locations in Egypt and other countries. Currently a member of the FC Studio team, besides being a freelance graphic designer.

George Azmy: He was born in Cairo in1983, graduated from fine arts faculty, Helwan University in 2005. Worked as a graphic designer, story border, illustrator, and compositing as a free lancer during college, then he worked in FC studio after graduation, after that he worked for a major advertising agency in Cairo, later he moved to Dubai, then back to Cairo to be a freelancer there. In 2007 he held his first solo exhibition, entitled “planet Cairo” at the Townhouse Gallery in Cairo.

Mofa: Mofa has had one solo exhibition at the Townhouse Onsite titled “Everyday Heroes,” and participated in a group workshop video screening at Rawabet Theatre, as well as a group workshop exhibition at the Goethe Institute in Cairo. He has also created designs for companies, retail, and publications through his studio Ganzeer.

Mahmoud Hamdy: Born in 1977, Mahmoud Hamdy studied animation at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo. He has participated in a number of workshops & exhibitions. Through its Artists-in-Residence program, Pro Helvetia Cairo invited him at the F+F School for Media Art & Design, Zurich, Switzerland 2005-2006. His work participated, nominated & awarded in a number of International festivals & exhibitions. Since 2000, he collaborated with artists from Germany, Switzerland, as well as Egypt. He is one of the founding partners of FC Studio, a Cairo-based progressive boutique design studio. Hamdy works with Video, Image, graphics & site-specific installation. He lives & works in Cairo.

Hani Mahfouz: Graduated from faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria in 1988. In 1997, he founded h|m|d studio. Hani lives and works in Cairo.

Ahmed Foula: Graduated from the Architecture department of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Alexandria University in 2001. He started his career as a graphic designer with the publicity campaign of “Roaming Inner Landscapes” event, which was held in Alexandria in February 2003. Since then; he designed several campaigns for many artistic events in Egypt and in the Arab region, as well as visual identities for a number of culture and art spaces. Foula currently lives and works in Cairo as a freelance graphic designer.