Farouk Hosni... Always Creative

As usual, his opinions enrich cultural life, his thinking is deep, and his vision is insightful. 

I enjoyed the interview of the prominent artist, Farouk Hosni, with the great journalist, Hamdi Rizk, on the occasion of his birthday. I wish him good health and long life.

Farouk Hosni, with his authentic Egyptian personality, is a creative artist and politician with his political vision. 

During his professional life, he was able to accomplish a lot within more than 40 years, he was cultural and diplomatic attaché and then he held the post of the Egyptian Minister of Culture until 2011. He established festivals and established public libraries, and was interested in Egypt’s heritage and antiquities, through renovating Cairo’s Islamic mosques and ancient churches, and renovating Egyptian Jewish synagogues.

In my opinion, Farouk Hosni is one of the best ministers of culture that Egypt has ever seen, amid all the cultural and archaeological projects that we see and are proud of, such as the Grand Museum and the Museum of Civilization in Fustat, and the development of the pyramid and Fatimid Cairo in addition to many other projects that changed the cultural and tourism face of Egypt.

I liked his views on technology and artificial intelligence, and his fear of the negative impact of artificial intelligence on humans and their creative talents, as technology has greatly harmed creativity. It has harmed the writer himself, who no longer has time to read. I liked his expression, “We are suffering from a state of Internet brutality.” Egypt is full of talents and creators, but it needs great and comprehensive attention.

Another of his opinions is that innovation in constants is not valid, and he declares his astonishment: How can a creative or intellectual be advised to “renew your cultural discourse”?, culture is an action, a rhythm, and a state, indicating that influential actions must be selected and presented to society. Fortunately, Salafist discourse has declined significantly in the recent period.

Farouk Hosni says that if the creator does not create a state, he does not exist.

With my respect for the atmosphere of calm, sophistication, and contemplation that characterized Farouk Hosni’s life after he left the ministry, but his activity did not stop, as he established a large institution that annually graduates creative people in various cultural and artistic fields, which is the Farouk Hosni Foundation for Culture and Arts.

There are some thinkers and artists whose presence in our public life represents a symbol of balance. Well, Egypt is full of talents and creators, but it needs great attention like our great artist who represents an exceptional and different artist. 

Happy birthday to the great artist Farouk Hosni. I wish you 100 years of art and creativity.