Since 2011, the Arab world has been facing turbulent times with uprisings, conflicts, extremist currents, and ongoing struggles of power and ideology. The Arab Spring and more particularly the wars and conflicts that followed it prompted the biggest migration wave since the Second World War. Societies are hindered by social, economic, geographic and intellectual segregation. Amidst this dispersed reality, we believe that arts and culture can act as a vehicle of resistance and change. Art can serve as a tool for development, capacity building, opening the door for mutual understanding and non-reductive discourses, at a time it is needed the most.

Our Satellite in Cairo was an attempt to make this a reality. The meeting revolved around questions related to the theme of art and social inclusion: In societies that are highly segregated, what place can the model of disability take? How can it attract people to contemporary art and make them consider it as one of the tools to address contemporary issues in our society? How to integrate culture to local development and social cohesion?

The artistic programme of the Satellite was presented by Arab Arts Focus, a dense selection of the latest highlights in the Arab contemporary performance field. Arab Arts Focus is organised in the framework of the Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF), which is Egypt’s only and largest international multidisciplinary contemporary arts festival.

Image in banner: © Victor Mayot