Creative Commissions for Climate Action

'Reading Water. A Contemplative Ecology of the Rivers Nile (Egypt) and the Thames (UK)' is an interactive project that encourages young people from Egypt and the UK to respond to water issues by connecting and sharing their local experiences of the Rivers Nile (Egypt) and River Thames (UK),  transforming their experiences into collective answers with digital media. 

It aims to mobilise action by raising awareness on the preservation of water, water cleanliness, sacred water and cultural flow through a contemplative ecology of empathy,  collaboration, imagination and technological innovation.  It is a project that will bring scientists, thinkers, technologists and young people together to work collaboratively on locative media, digital walks and interactive maps that are concerned with impactful activities, river sustainability and climate action.

The focus will be on using locative  media technologies and other collaborative tools to codesign ecological restoration and art projects along the rivers Nile and Thames. 'Reading Water ' will encourage participants and the audience to contemplate the health, heritage and needs of the Nile and the Thames with a deeper scientific and spiritual understanding, offering a sustainable and contemplative way of engaging with all rivers, in all places, at all times.

In a near future world, a family is torn apart as they escape their homeland in the South, ravaged by the impact of climate change and extreme weather. Enter climate refugees Isis and Danu whose lineage stretches back to their namesakes, the Egyptian and Celtic Goddesses Isis and Danu–the Mothers of Earth. The magical dance of displacement, uncertainty and migration which follows, speaks to our intrinsic need to belong and bond with others. The importance of connecting with and respecting our natural world is at its heart. Featuring an original score and visuals, four international dancers reimagine the mythological world inhabited by Isis and Danu in a beautifully compelling and vital piece of storytelling and movement for the screen.

A new Traditional Dance Forum of Scotland screen dance commission to be premiered during COP27 Egypt 7-18 November 2022. Funded by the British Council’s Creative Commissions Egypt for COP27, which are designed as part of the Climate Connections programme

Our Broken Planet is a programme developed by the Natural History Museum in London. The programme connects youth audiences directly to Museum scientists and young changemakers as they explore the pioneering solutions to the planetary emergency through a physical gallery, digital content, and an online events programme. To coincide with COP27 in Egypt, Cairo Child Museum and the Natural History Museum are collaborating on a new Our Broken Planet display, incorporating brand new stories from Egyptian scientists to provide a more localised programme, in both Arabic and English. It will be complimented by a series of events that inform, inspire, and empower audiences to act on the planetary emergency.

 The programme will launch at the Cairo Child Museum in November 2022.

Fertile Crescent is a kaleidoscopic audio-visual work mapping a landscape where the birth and death of human civilisation ripple across the computer screen. Through contemporary Egyptian dance music and glitch visuals the work takes the River Nile delta in Egypt as its source, questioning a movement from the fertile  ‘cradle of civilisation’ to a future of forthcoming climate change and rising water levels. Produced by LONO and Mutant Promise.

‘Listening to the sea’ is an interdisciplinary project between art, science, and technology. The project aims at raising awareness about climate change’s effect on our world.Conceived by Scottish-Portuguese sound artist Su Shaw and Egypt’s music producer Ahmed Saleh, the project is inspired by the various effects of climate change that are manifesting globally as well as locally in both artists' countries, with particular focus on the alarming rise of sea levels in Alexandria, Egypt and Dundee, Scotland.Each of the two artists had the chance to start developing a concept for their works during their British Council Musicians in Residence programme in Spring 2022, where artist Su Shaw was virtually hosted by B’sarya for Arts and Ahmed Saleh was virtually hosted by Cryptic.The project is produced by B’sarya for Arts with the support of the British Council’s Creative Commissions.

The Earth Turns is a climate-inspired bilingual (Arabic and English) performance developed by the American University in Cairo for the lead up to the COP27 Climate Conference. Adapted from We Still Have a Chance- 12 Stories for 12 Days of COP27, an anthology of micro-stories created by Climate Activists, Scientists, Health Professionals, Students, and Artists from the University of Exeter, Met Office, the American University in Cairo, Ain Shams University, Banlastic and other organisations in Egypt. These stories and this performance were created with the express purpose of humanizing this global problem. The performance is developed in rehearsal with a team of theatre makers (director, writers, designers, actors, and musicians) with every aspect created by the ensemble made to be sustainable (reusable, recyclable, portable, and rechargeable). 

The Earth Turns aims to draw attention to the human stories behind climate change and the health of our planet and to connect an emotional response to an intellectual understanding of the looming environmental crisis.  The Earth Turns acts as a centralizing event to a larger conversation, a conversation not only about Climate Change, but also about Climate Action. The Earth Turns not only provides an emotional response to the problem but also provides the call to arms toward solutions concluding with a Q&A talkback and audience engagement lead by Climate Scientists, Activists, and Artists 

The Earth Turns premieres on Wednesday, November 2nd, at 7:30 pm and again on Thursday November 3rd at 7:30 pm at The Falaki Theatre in Tahrir Square for a live in person audience, with live streaming internationally on Thursday November 3rd.

Motanafas in Arabic means a space to breathe, a space of respite, a space to connect. 

Finding ways to connect to the natural environment is a fundamental part of the necessary active movement in re-connection, re-capturing and re-narrating the stories we need to form for the future generations of the planet. 

Through the art of visual storytelling and citizen science Motanafas compiles a young contemporary experience with the natural world, explored through a series of guided research, nature walks, artist + ecologist led workshops for gathering plant images, samples and stories to form part of an interactive comparative digital ethnobotanical collection of similar plant species found in the Al'tarfa, St Catherine, and Colchester,

The digital collection and archive is a space that encourages conversations about environmental and cultural exploration, protection and resilience, as well as the cultural diversity that accompanies the ecosystems to which they/we belong. The project empowers young people to connect with Nature, in experiential and creative ways, allowing new relationships to form through documentation & observation, as well as opening new pathways for problem solving working by the philosophy of biomimicry, ethnobotany and citizen science. 

Motanafas is partnered with Dayma an Eco-Education company based in Egypt that provides alternative educational immersive programs to learners of all ages with the objective of reconnecting with self, nature and community and working alongside award winning documentary photographer, visual storyteller Rehab Eldilal, co-creator of the Sinai Flora Field Guide. In the UK the project is partnered with Firstsite, UK Museum of the year, working with Young Arts Kommunity a young-people peer-led group which meets weekly to organise events and activities within the gallery and the wider community.

Motanafas is creatively directed by artist, author and wildcrafter Lora Aziz, co-founder of Wyrd Flora which builds ways of connecting, thinking and learning that promote, develop and protect traditional plant knowledge and environmental equality in creative ways. Herbal art, explorative foraging, food sovereignty and plant medicine are ways in which Wyrd Flora works to re-kindle a sense of wonder for this beautiful planet we call home. 

The project is a part of a British Council COP27 Creative Commission bringing together art, science and digital technology and offers innovative, interdisciplinary and inclusive responses to climate change. The Creative Commissions are collaborative between the UK and Egypt, taking place in the lead up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27).