Tale of Two Cities: Alexandria & Milan

A Dialogue Across Time, Stone, and Verse

The second edition of Tale of Two Cities bridges Alexandria and Milan—two urban centres deeply intertwined with history, art, and the passage of time. Inspired by the Milan Papyrus, this exhibition explores the fragile yet persistent relationship between cities, memory, and artistic legacy. Through the works of Egyptian and Italian artists, we excavate the echoes of the past, asking: What remains when civilisations rise and fall? How does art serve as both a monument and a witness to time?

At the heart of this exploration are three poetic fragments from the Milan Papyrus, each illuminating a different facet of artistic and cultural endurance:

Column I: Fragments on Art and Memory reminds us that art is both creation and erosion, sculptors carve, yet time also sculpts. The works in this section reflect on how artistic expression resists and succumbs to history’s chisel.

Column XII: Lost Cities and Time laments forgotten rulers and vanished grandeur. Here, artists confront urban decay, abandoned spaces, and the transient nature of human ambition.

On a Statue of a Famous Poet asserts the immortality of poetry and artistic voice. While statues crumble, the essence of creation persists, passed through generations like whispered verses in the wind.

From the ancient streets of Alexandria to the Renaissance grandeur of Milan, this exhibition invites audiences to traverse a landscape where stone, text, and image converge. Through painting, sculpture, photography, and mixed media, the artists engage in a cross-temporal dialogue, reinterpreting the poetic fragments in a contemporary context.

By placing Alexandria and Milan in conversation, Tale of Two Cities celebrates the continuum of artistic heritage, a lineage of chisels and pens, of statues and inscriptions, of loss and remembrance. It is an ode to the cities we inhabit, the cultures we inherit, and the legacies we leave behind.