Formed by Dialogue — contemporary design in conversation with ancient Egypt, Egyptian Museum, Cairo, 5–14 November 2026

The Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square in Cairo hosts Formed by Dialogue from 5 to 14 November 2026, an exhibition organised by Art D’Égypte that brings contemporary design into conversation with objects from the museum’s ancient Egyptian collection.

Around twenty Egyptian and international artists and designers take part. Each places a contemporary work next to an archaeological object or architectural element of the museum, so that the two are read together. The programme looks at how art, design and craftsmanship have been shaped by the movement of people, ideas and materials, with Egypt as a point of origin for concepts in architecture, ornament and material culture that have been reinterpreted across the world, and at how design traditions evolve through exchange, where innovation comes from the meeting of techniques, aesthetics and philosophies across civilisations.

A first edition of Formed by Dialogue was held at the same museum in November 2025, with Egyptian and international designers including Ahmed Farid, Hassan Ragab, Stefano Cagol, Karim El Hayawan, Luca Boffi and the Cairo furniture house Kahhal 1871.

Art D’Égypte is a privately owned multidisciplinary firm founded by the French-Egyptian curator Nadine Abdel Ghaffar. It places contemporary art inside Egyptian heritage sites, from the annual Forever Is Now on the Giza plateau to the Cairo International Art District in the historic centre of the city. The Egyptian Museum, opened in 1902, remains the home of the collection of pharaonic antiquities in central Cairo.