In its second edition, the Arab Origami Festival is a two-day festival featuring workshops, lectures, performances, exhibitions, film screenings and installations at the Saint Gabriel School in Alexandria on 24-25 October.
The festival celebrates the ancient Japanese art of paper folding, which has grown in popularity in the Middle East thanks to many initiatives, among them the Arab Origami Centre, which is organising this month's event.
The two-day festival also coincides with the international Origami World Days from 24 October to 11 November.
This is the festival's second edition, with the first one held in 2011, and is organised by the Arab Origami Centre with the support of the Danish Centre for Culture and Development, the Cultural Innovators Network, The Japan Foundation, UNHCR, Rufy's and the Atelier of Alexandria.
Programme:
Friday, 24 October
Workshops will take place from 2pm to 5pm
Workshop for kids 6-9 years old
Workshop for kids 10-15 years old
Aeroplane workshop
Flower-making workshop
Newspapers workshop
Banknotes workshop
Napkins workshop
Origami toys workshop
Boxes workshop
Traditional Japanese figures workshop
"One fold" Origami Graffiti workshop by Asmaa Abdallah throughout the whole day
Exhibitions:
Origami Exhibition: An exhibition for origami designs executed and designed by both local and international artists.
Origami Applications Exhibition: An exhibition showing different kinds of origami applications in Egypt.
Wasset workshop's outcome exhibition: An exhibition for the boats used in the Wasset workshop as a mediator between arts.
Film screenings:
Between the Folds (2008 by Vanessa Gould), 2:30pm and 3:30pm : a documentary about origami art and artists all over the world.
Animation movies using stop-motion techniques and origami will be screened throughout the whole day.
Lectures:
Origami in product design by Mostafa Mahmoud Shehata, Faculty of Applied Arts, Helwan University, 3:30pm
Festival director's word, 5pm
Theatre:
Zokzok the Lost, 6pm. A Black Theatre production using origami puppets, the play is a product of the "Fold your Rights" project. The project uses origami and storytelling to teach children's rights. The play was written in a workshop for creative writing with Syrian refugees' kids in Alexandria, under the supervision of Rasha Hassan.
Saturday, 25 October:
Origami Workshop "Origami Design", 10am
A moderated debate on origami art, initiatives and individuals working in Egypt's origami scene, Goethe Institute, 2pm (invite only).

Source: Ahram Online