In 1872, Ismail Pasha, the khedive of Egypt, was the first to adopt the European custom of positioning heroic statues on public display as a symbolic message of the continuing authority of the ruling Muhammad Ali dynasty to which he belonged, but it was not until the early twentieth century and the determination of sculptor Mahmoud Mukhtar that such public art gained general acceptance, and today statues stand, ride, or sit in the streets, squares, and gardens of Cairo.
Bringing together contributors from dance, theatre, visual studies and art history, Perform, Repeat, Record addresses the conundrum of how live art is positioned within history.
From the author of Women from the Ankle Down comes a lively cultural biography of diamonds, which explores our societys obsession with the worlds most brilliant gemstone and the real-world characters who make them shine.
