Forever Is Now contemporary art exhibition to return to Giza Plateau

Following the success of the first event, the Egyptian government is keen to showcase the country's modern artworks and its ancient relics once more

Forever is Now was an exhibition at the Pyramids of Giza that featured works by 10 contemporary artists. Pictured is Alexander Ponomarev's 'Ouroboros'. All photos: Mahmoud Nasr / The National

Gisela Colon's 'Eternity Now' at Forever is Now. The exhibition received half a million visitors in only three weeks – an unprecedented outcome, according to its organiser.

Moataz Nasr's 'Barzakh'. Nasr received thousands of messages from Egyptians who had gone to see the pyramids. After years of visiting the site with their families, they were overjoyed to experience it in a new way.

Stephen Cox's 'Khafre' at the Giza Pyramids.

Lorenzo Quinn's 'Together'. Art d’Egypte, which creates exhibitions and community programmes throughout the country, aims to rejuvenate historical spaces in Egypt.

Sultan bin Fahad's 'R III'. Forever is Now received half a million visitors in only three weeks.

Sherin Guirguis's 'Here I Have Returned'.

JR's 'Greetings from Giza'.

Alexander Ponomarev's 'Ouroboros' was part of the massive installations and monumental artworks by local and international artists.

Joao Trevisan's 'Body That Rises'.

Artists Shuster + Moseley at in the exhibition at the Pyramids of Giza. Photo supplied

The Forever Is Now exhibition is returning to the Giza Plateau in Egypt for a second time.

The modern art show will run from October 27 to November 30, with works by Tunisian-French artist eL Seed, French artist JR, Egyptian artist Ahmed Karaly and British-American sculptor Natalie Clark.

For the first exhibition, held last October, the Giza Plateau was filled with large-scale installations and other kinds of artworks by a number of local, regional and international artists.

It was visited by 500,000 people during its three-week run and was streamed live by more than one billion people on social media. Organiser Art D’Egypte is keen to rekindle its co-operation with Egypt's ministries of foreign affairs and tourism, and antiquities for the second show.

'Greetings From Giza' by French artist and photographer JR at the first Forever Is Now exhibition. AFP

Officials from both ministries lauded Forever Is Now as an effective means of increasing Egypt’s presence on the global stage and highlighting its pharaonic relics in a press conference on Tuesday. They promised the second exhibition would receive the government's full support.

The artworks presented the first time around were created with various forms of media and most incorporated the landscape of Giza into the viewer’s experience.

French artist JR is returning this year; his contribution to the 2021 event included a piece featuring a hand holding a postcard, which, when viewed from a certain angle, gave the illusion that the top of the Great Pyramid was levitating.

US singer Pharrell Williams and French artist and photographer JR attend the Forever Is Now exhibition in October, 2021. AFP

The first Forever Is Now show was visited by a host of A-list names, including US singer Pharrell Williams and French actress Isabelle Adjani.

Art D'Egypte is a privately owned Egyptian company, founded by curator Nadine Abdel Ghaffar. It has made a name for itself hosting contemporary art shows in historical spaces in Cairo, with previous locations including The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square and Al Moez Street in Old Cairo.