Egypt’s Culturama Projection at WIPO

Geneva, July 10, 2012
PR/2012/716

Video | Photos (on Flickr) | WIPO Magazine

WIPO Director General Francis Gurry and Egypt's
Permanent Representative to United Nations in Geneva
Ambassador Hisham Badr (Photo: WIPO/Berrod)

WIPO will host a panoramic projection of the history of Egypt’s cultural heritage at its Geneva headquarters from July 10 to 20, 2012. Five presentations of the panoramic, interactive presentation, which takes the audience on a journey through time from the Pharaonic Period through contemporary times, will be organized daily. 

The “Cultural Panorama” projection – known as CULTURAMA – is co-organized with the Permanent Mission of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva and the Egyptian Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT), with the support of Egyptair and is being held on the sidelines of the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC). 

The inaugural reception was held at WIPO headquarters in the evening of July 9, 2012 in the presence of WIPO Director General Francis Gurry, Egypt's Permanent Representative to United Nations in Geneva Ambassador Hisham Badr, Directors General of international organizations, and a number of ambassadors.   

“Today we celebrate our joint commitment in WIPO to preserve and to protect human cultural heritage and wealth not only for our generation but also for many generations to come,” said Ambassador Badr in inaugural remarks. He said “Culturama reveals the unfolding rich and diverse Egyptian heritage encompassing ancient, Coptic, Islamic and contemporary Egypt.  A heritage and knowledge that offered humanity a wealth of knowledge in literature, music, engineering, medicine, architecture, and scientific research."

Ambassador Badr also said that "the newly democratic Egypt shall advance its leading role as a cradle of innovation and beacon of creativity." He thanked Mr. Gurry for his commitment to supporting innovation and creativity in Egypt. "Today, Egypt is a leading search authority under WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty, a regional hub for IP training and education in collaboration with the WIPO Academy and a center for technology and innovation support with the WIPO TISC project."

Mr. Gurry said the Culturama exhibit “is testimony to the reasons why we need to respect, protect and promote traditional cultural expressions.” He said Culturama “is a unique concept… which enables us to take a voyage through time to look at the richness and diversity of the cultural creations and the history of the Egyptian people.” 

CULTURAMA is an innovative mixture of cultural and natural heritage information delivered through a multimedia system using display technology that has been developed and patented by Egypt’s CULTNAT. It is a large panoramic surround system based on projection technology in which nine projectors connected to a single workstation display a variety of interesting cultural topics, in seamless images on nine interactive flat screens. 

The interactive programs used to display the content of CULTURAMA vary from “Ancient Egyptian History” to “Tour Modern Egypt”, and cover other aspects of Egypt’s rich cultural heritage. 

Culturama is present at five permanent exhibition halls around Egypt. It has also traveled around the world, with presentations at book fairs in Frankfurt, Geneva, Tunis, and Turin, as well as a number of international organizations and other locations. 

The Culturama projections at WIPO are open to the public. Five projections will be held at WIPO from Monday through Friday till July 20, 2012, at the following times:

• In English: 9.30 -10.30, 15.00 – 16.00
• In French: 11.00 – 12.00, 17.00 – 18.00
• Lunchtime sessions between 13.00 – 14.00 will depend on the language spoken by the major attendance

Visitors are required to present photo identification to access the WIPO building.