The main building of one of Egypt’s most respected art galleries has partially collapsed, adding to its struggles to reopen to the public after being shut down by the authorities in December.
Townhouse gallery in central Cairo has been shut to staff after a section of the recently renovated five-storey building collapsed on Wednesday. The neighbouring Cairo Hackerspace, a community workspace for engineers, designers and artists, was completely destroyed.
The incident comes less than two months after the staff were allowed to return to work, having been ordered to comply with new legal restrictions, some of which the gallery’s director, William Wells, said amounted to state control.
A statement on the gallery’s Facebook page said: “We would like to say how incredibly relieved we are that there were no casualties resulting from the collapse. This incident affects an entire community, residents and businesses and the general public. Our major concern is that everyone is safe and we are grateful for the hundreds of messages of support we have received to date.”
The statement added that Townhouse was working with the authorities and engineers “to secure the safety and potential future of the building itself”. In the meantime, staff have moved into the gallery’s nearby Factory Space, a converted paper factory usually used for exhibitions, film screenings and workshops.
Artist Huda Lutfi, who lives next to Townhouse and has a studio inside it, said: “I don’t know yet what I will do. I am still hoping that the building will be restored and I can get back my studio. But then who knows what will happen. The costs of restoration are high, and no one will pay. What will Townhouse do?”
The contemporary art gallery and the affiliated Rawabet theatre were closed on 29 December after a raid by more than 20 officials from the interior ministry’s censorship authority, the tax authority and the manpower ministry, which found “administrative irregularities”.
Prior to the collapse, the gallery had hoped that the theatre would reopen on 16 April with a full schedule of performances.
Speaking at the Sharjah art foundation’s annual March Meeting event in the United Arab Emirates last month, Wells said Townhouse was “under siege … and must fight for survival”, echoing his comments to the Guardian in February.
Wells also told the event that the gallery had bought a bus from which it could operate a mobile arts programme while its difficulties continued.
