From Freedom of Expression to Expression of Freedom: Responding to Socio-Political Change in the Classroom

Abstract

AbstractOn 25th January 2011 Egyptian reality changed. This change brought violence and even death, but it also brought concepts previously absent from society – democracy, choice, rights and freedom of expression. As educators we quickly became aware of our responsibility to capitalise on the opportunities this presented. This paper sets out to outline the ‘Freedom Pavilion’ project at the American University in Cairo (AUC), and its role in illustrating the expressive power of design. The American University, with a campus in Tahrir Square, was figuratively and literally a witness to the events of 25th January. Upon returning to classes merely 36 hours after the overturned president abdicated, as part of its role to bear witness to these events AUC launched a project to collect artifacts from the revolution – the ‘University on the Square’ initiative. The project outlined here is a design studio response to that initiative.Students were challenged to present projects that could embody this newly born fre...