Sporadic Schooling

21/11/2025

GRAPHIC POLITICS: A VISUAL HISTORY OF ACTIVISM AND RESISTANCE IN THE ARAB WORLD

Join us online, Wednesday the 26th, for a presentation by Dr. Danah Nassief moderated by Ghalia ElSrakbi.

Dr. Nassief’s research examines the intersections of graphic design, political engagement, and social change in the Arab Middle East and North Africa, with a focus on revolutionary movements from the post–World War II era to the early 1980s. Her work contributes to decolonizing design history by offering an Arab-centered perspective on visual culture and its role in shaping radical politics.

Dr. Nassief completed her PhD at the University of the Arts London and has taught and practiced graphic design across Jeddah, Dubai, and London. She is currently involved in independent design consulting and research on preserving Arab visual communication design.

Ghalia Elsrakbi is a design professional, researcher, and educator. She serves as an Associate Professor of Design at the American University in Cairo and Artistic Director of Cairotronica, an Electronic and New Media Arts Festival.

• TIME • 7 PM CAIRO • 8 PM DOHA • 5 PM LONDON

https://vcu.zoom.us/j/81594287824

This event is generously supported by the Graphic Design Department, VCUarts Qatar

05/09/2024

15/04/2024

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Typography and Letterpress Printing workshop by Dafi Kühne, which took place March 24–28 at the IFAO print museum.

Thank you to Samer Bou Saleh, Farida Ashraf, Amr Khadr, Rana Wassef, Valerie Arif, Amr Bakr, Sarah Rabie, Youmna Ayman, Mohamed Alaa, Mohamed Wahdan, Mirna Shehab, Enas AbdelRahman and Raghad ElRayes and most of all to Dafi Kühne!

Pictures by Amr Bahgat (IFAO), and Samer Bou Saleh (black and white film photography).

This workshop was part of “Sporadic Schooling x : Parallels”, a program of 5 public lectures and a workshop that discussed different moments in regional and international design history. Sporadic Schooling is an initiative by Engy Aly.

Parallels is kindly supported by Pro Helvetia Cairo - Swiss Arts Council .

29/03/2024

✸ JOINS US TONIGHT: PUBLIC LECTURE ✸
Dafi Kühne (Switzerland): «True Print— Letterpress printed posters»

Join us FRIDAY March 29th for a public lecture by Dafi Kühne at the IFAO.
8–9:30 pm

Dafi Kühne is a Swiss designer and letterpress printer. In his studio babyinktwice.ch he embraces the labor involved in the process of creating a poster, from initial idea to finished product. Fusing modern means with the century-old tradition of letterpress, he forms a new vocabulary for how to communicate through type and form in a truly contemporary way.

His mostly typographic posters have been presented in exhibitions in Zurich, London, New York and been published in international poster, graphic design and typography books and magazines. Kühne also gave talks and taught university workshops in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom and the USA. In fall 2016, his first monograph “True Print” has been published by Lars Müller Publishers, Zürich.

The lecture will be in English. No registration required.
This programme is organized by Sporadic Schooling in collaboration with the IFAO and is generously supported by Pro Helvetia Cairo - Swiss Arts Council.

19/03/2024

Sporadic Schooling x the IFAO presents: Parallels
PART TWO – LECTURES
March 28 8–9:30 pm + March 30 8–9:30 pm

✸ March 28 8–9:30 pm

✸ A Journey to and Through the Arabic Design Archive: Moe Elhossieny (Arabic Design Archive)

The team of the Arabic Design Archive, has been operating since 2020 with a focus on Beirut, Cairo, Casablanca, Jerusalem and Tunis. Their efforts have been geared towards building an open-access repository of Arabic design material with the aim of informing curricula, stimulating research and scholarship, and preserving graphic design work to ensure long-term sustainable access to historical material. In this presentation, the founder Moe Elhossieny will introduce ADA’s journey since 2020; how the project developed, what challenges lie ahead, successes on the road, and what paths forward may the archive take.

Elhossieny will also go through some of the materials in the archive, touching on important contributions of a selection of well-known designers, while simultaneously highlighting less known ones, giving a panoramic view of the archive collection and how the archive can contribute to the progress of the field of Arab graphic design.
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✸ Displayed for Sale: Egyptian Magazine Advertisements Archive: Farida Ashraf

This Bachelor's thesis explores, documents and analyses the history of printed advertisements in Egypt during the period between the 1930s-1970s, highlighting how advertisements had the ability to reveal compelling narratives about society and culture, and providing a unique lens through which to understand historical events of these four decades.

Due to the collaborative nature of this project, the conversations will be in English. Arabic subtitles will be added to the recordings at a later date. The lectures will be followed by a conversation with the audience.
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✸ March 30 8–9:30 pm

✸ Archiving Graphic Design – Influencing narratives yesterday and today: Bettina Richter (Museum für Gestaltung Zürich)

Bettina Richter presents the poster collection of the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, one of the most comprehensive archives of its kind. Richter will talk about the history of the collection, reports on the challenges of curating an international collection covering a plethora of subject areas and the changing criteria for acquisitions. The talk provides an insight into archiving and documenting practices and shares examples of how the contents of the collection are communicated in exhibitions and complementary publications.
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✸ Lost and Found: The Global Trek of Iconic Film Posters: Mohamad Diab (City Lights Posters)

This talk unveils the fascinating tales behind vintage Egyptian film posters – from their production to their final placement in the City Lights Posters' collection. A chance to discover the artists, the hidden stories of their travels, as well as marveling at the actual posters, and following their movement from owner to owner over the decades. This visual journey through time and across borders will be accompanied by maps and other visual tools to present not just a historical narrative but also a journey into the heart of cinema’s visual legacy.

Due to the collaborative nature of this project, the conversations will be in English. Arabic subtitles will be added to the recordings at a later date. The lectures will be followed by a conversation with the audience.

This programed is generously supported by Pro Helvetia Cairo - Swiss Arts Council .
Poster design by Engy Aly.

08/03/2024

العربية في أول تعليق.

ANNNNNND, WE’RE BACK! 👋🏼
Sporadic Schooling x the IFAO presents: Parallels
Cairo, March 2024

Sporadic Schooling, in collaboration with the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology (IFAO), presents “Parallels”, a week-long program of four public lectures focused on different facets of design history, accompanied by a hands-on five-day typography and letterpress printing workshop.

PART ONE – WORKSHOP
Typography and Letterpress printing workshop with Dafi Kühne

In this intensive five-day workshop, participants learn to experiment with progressive typography in combination with analog tools. During this workshop, all exercises will be realized with letterpress printing presses. Through this very slow but precise process the participants will learn to put emphasis on concept and micro typography, while exploring new approaches through the use of old technology.

Dafi Kühne is a Swiss designer and letterpress printer. In his studio babyinktwice.ch he embraces the labor involved in the process of creating a poster, from initial idea to finished product. Fusing modern means with the century-old tradition of letterpress, he forms a new vocabulary for how to communicate through type and form in a truly contemporary way. His mostly typographic posters have been presented in exhibitions in Zurich, London, New York and been published in international poster, graphic design and typography books and magazines. Kühne also gave talks and taught university workshops in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom and the USA. In fall 2016, his first monograph “True Print” has been published by Lars Müller Publishers, Zürich.

The workshop will be conducted in English and will take place at the print museum of the IFAO in Mounira.

To register, send a short motivation paragraph of a maximum 200 words to [email protected]. Deadline for application is Sunday March 17.

This programed is generously supported by Pro Helvetia Cairo - Swiss Arts Council.

25/12/2022

It's the last week to visit 'Delusions and Errors' exhibition at Cairopolitan! The exhibition closes December 31st!

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Delusions and Errors is a collaboration between: Engy Aly + Möbius Design Studio + Tashkeel + Weltformat
Curators: Engy Aly + Mobius Design Studio

Screen-printing: Christine Müller

The project is supported by Pro Helvetia Cairo - Swiss Arts Council

Delusions and Errors exhibitions in Egypt is in collaboration with SHELTER Art Space in Alexandria and Cairopolitan in Cairo

Special thanks to Typefaces for their support with the license for Favorit Arabic/Latin

25/11/2022

‘Delusions and Errors’ in Cairo at is postponed to December 7! More info soon!