Of All The People In All The World: Cairo

A view of Of All The People In All The World seen through a hole in a wall. A performer in a brown warehouse coat is talking to audience members as they lookk at piles of rice


D-CAF Festival, Downtown Cairo, Egypt
6 – 10 November 2024

Cairo

This trip was an incredible experience for us – a first visit for the show to the continent of Africa and an Arab World premiere. The D-Caf Festival has been going since 2012 and brings international and local artists to Cairo to present work and to share ideas, skills and experiences. The programme includes performance, new media, film, visual art, street performance and discussions. It also prides itself on presenting work in the heart of vibrant downtown Cairo and in using and repurposing unusual spaces and venues – from abandoned cinemas to vacant shop units. We were in an old warehouse – a reminder of presenting our first ‘whole world’ version of the show in the Wagenhalle in Stuttgart in 2005. This gave us a few challenges – controlling dust, visits from pigeons and street dogs – but it was also very atmospheric – as night fell, the lights made the rice piles glow in the darkness, drawing visitors in from the bustling street outside.

Very intense. My wife is from Abu Simbel and her people were greatly affected by the Aswan High Dam. (audience member)

Part of the aim of D-Caf is also to give international artists the chance to work with local artists, so that both are able to learn from each other. We were lucky to have a great team working with us – they quickly understood the show – they gave us ideas for content, grappled with the subtleties of label translations and talked with confidence and passion to the audience about the show. We learned a little about their lives and the opportunities and challenges for artists and they helped us understand how the rest of the world is seen from Egypt.

Thank you for reposting history so it won’t vanish (audience member)

We were lucky to have some time to walk the busy streets of the city – all the people in all the world seemed to be there – living life against the almost constant background sound of car horns and shouts from traffic controllers attempting to maintain some kind of order. There were persuasive invites to enter shops, children trying to make a living selling sweets, street sweepers welcoming us to Cairo, people waiting for buses in what seemed the least likely (or safe places). Walks past the opticians quarter, the wheelchair quarter, the mechanics quarter, past doorways with glimpses of kitchens or art galleries or workshops, past side streets full of people sitting at tables drinking coffee, smoking shisha pipes, chatting, sharing their days. Dust and colour and noise and faded grandeur and people.

You walk around for a few minutes and you see the whole world (audience member)

We had chance for a quick visit to the pyramids – with a memorable clamber and scramble into the heart of the Great Pyramid, bent double through narrow passageways and tunnels, squeezing past sweating people coming back the other way (a journey unlikely to be allowed in the UK). We took a trip up the Cairo Tower with its panoramic views of the dense city and the empty desert beyond. And flowing through the city – the River Nile – giving life for millions, with a history we hope one day to explore to add to our library of River Tours.

Loved that you added the issues that are going on in the world now, not just old numbers (audience member)

This was a visit we will not forget – we are so lucky to be able to travel the world with this show – exploring and experiencing through statistical research, through conversations, through taking in the sights and sounds and through sharing.

A view of Of All The People In All The World seen through a half opened roller shutter door. A performer in a brown warehouse coat is bending down to sweep dust off a pile of rice
A view of large rice piles representing the tourists who visited Cairo in 2020 next to the pile for tourists in 2023 which is 4 times larger. Behind the piles is a view out of a doorway to a brick wall, partially covered in painted arabic lettering
An A4 piece of paper, the label for the statistic "People Born in the World Each Day' written in both Arabic and English
A view of the outside of the venue. There is a black and white banner advertising the show
The performers in an informal photograph at the end of the show. They are all wearing the costume of brown warehouse coats.
A large group of people in the venue talking and looking at the piles of rice
A view of Cairo Tower - a tall cyclidrical tower clad in a concrete lattice work
A view from the top of Cairo Tower of the River Nile. Towerblocks line the river, there are a few sailboats and 2 long bridges

Credits

Installed and performed by: Craig Stephens and James Yarker
with: Mohamed Anwar, Mai Abdellatif, Islam Fouad, Tarnim Hany

Producer: Michelle Smith
Administration: Beth Crossley

Tour Dates