Plagiarism in Egyptian. The Cairo metro was illegally decorated with the works of an artist from Russia

Pavel Gulkin

In July of this year, a scandal erupted in Egypt and is still lingering over the use of plots, motifs and style by St. Petersburg artist Georgy Kurasov in the construction of the Women's College metro station in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. Many Russian media reported about him, but this story has not left the pages of Egyptian newspapers until now.

This is a very confusing story. Kurasov graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and somehow became connected with Egypt and Gada Vali, who used the plots and images invented by him to decorate the Women's College metro station under construction in Cairo. Last July, the Russian artist and sculptor announced that he intends to sue Gada Vali, accusing her of illegally using plots and images from his work.

As the scandal erupted, Egyptian MP Muhammad Saad al-Samoudi, a member of the House of Representatives, announced that he had sent a parliamentary inquiry addressed to the Minister of Transport, addressed to the Minister of Transport, about the results of the investigation into the incident with Ghada Wali.

In the inquiry, a spokesman for the subway builder noted, “Although two months have passed since the incident with the stolen panels of the Women’s College subway station, and the accused, Gada Wali, who “surfaced” under mysterious and mysterious circumstances, caused great embarrassment throughout the country after her shameful behavior has been reported in the international press, but no results have been obtained. We don't know exactly what the final results of the investigation are yet."

He added: “The Metropolitan Authority officially apologized to us for this offense committed by Gada Wali, removed the stolen panels from the walls of the station and announced that it has launched a detailed investigation into this incident, but this investigation has been dragging on for more than a month, and no one knows what it is. results. We counted on transparency and honesty, we waited for the Ministry of Transport to openly announce the results of the investigation into the incident with Gada Wali, but this did not happen.”

“As a Member of Parliament,” the MP said, “I am asking the Ministry of Transportation with the following request: what punishment will Gada Wali and her company suffer as a result of the crime she committed, damaging the reputation of the whole country? Has the Ministry of Transport received compensation? Was there a sentence of punishment? And why was the incident not referred to the prosecutor's office to initiate a criminal case against Gada Vali?

He concluded his question by saying, "We are waiting for the Department of Transportation to give us a written answer to all of the above questions".

Significantly, the Women's College subway station art theft scandal occupied the public eye for weeks, with artist Gada Wali topping search engine rankings after she was accused of stealing the design of paintings used to decorate the Women's College subway station.

The scandal erupted after Georgy Kurasov commented on this incident through his official account: “My paintings were used in the Cairo metro without my permission and without even mentioning my name”! The design and operation of the Cairo Metro Green Line was the responsibility of Dave Transportation Cairo. In a press release, the company noted that “it has been closely monitoring what is happening on social networks and on media platforms in connection with allegations about the use of artistic concepts from the work of a Russian artist in a design project at the Women's College station on the Third Green Cairo metro line.

The press release added that the contract with Gada Wali's advertising agency Studio Wali to develop artwork for the Green Line stations included a legally binding clause that her agency was solely responsible for providing the original artwork. design, and in the case of a quotation or reproduction, it must obtain official legal permission from the artists - owners of these works, to use them, in accordance with generally accepted practice. The press release clarifies: “In March last year, the contract with the advertising agency Studio Wali was terminated for reasons related to the violation of certain terms of the contract.

The National Tunnel Authority and Dave Transport Cairo spokesman said they were not aware that the projects were illegally inspired by the Russian artist's paintings and that they are against any infringement of intellectual property rights.

The company apologized to Russian artist Georgy Kurasov and the public for this incident, emphasizing its full respect for the intellectual property rights of its creators.