Basim Comics Exhibition held in Cairo

Dr. Azzam Mohamed Aldakhil, chief executive officer of Saudi Research & Marketing Group, opened the Basim Comics Exhibition here on Wednesday evening. The three-day event, held at Salah Taher Hall of the Opera House, marks the 25th anniversary of the launching of the children’s weekly magazine Basim, and the opening of Saudi Research & Publishing Company’s office in Egypt. Aldakhil also opened Basim’s video production studio. Basim, launched in 1987, is a weekly magazine from SRMG focusing on educational and entertainment contents targeting the younger generations. Its full color pages cover everything from news of educational games to short stories, puzzles and comic strips. Aldakhil and other dignitaries toured the exhibition, which showcased 50 portraits of comics published by Basim magazine during the past 25 years. These included comics drawn by Basim’s first generation artists such as Fawaz, Michael Maalouf, Abdul Aal and Sameer Abdul Monem as well as works of the new generation cartoonists including Muhammad Sayyid Tawfiq, Khaled Abdul Aziz, and Ahmad Nabrawi. There was a special area at the pavilion for collective drawing by the guests and artists attending the event. Aldakhil opened this session known as ‘Collective work’ by drawing a picture of a horse. “I was invited to draw a picture all of a sudden. What struck my imagination first was this Arab horse,” he commented after drawing the picture. Other guests and artists who attended the opening session also drew pictures. Aldakhil also watched portrait of comics entitled ‘Basim Sat’, drawn by the artist Monem 15 years ago, visualizing a dream of launching a satellite for kids by Basim. Commenting on it, he said that for the time being SRMG do not have plans to launch a channel for children. “The group is now focusing mainly on improving content in terms of text, drawings and pictures, both motion and still, in addition to disseminating them through the Internet,” he said, adding that the group has plans to improve online portals containing 3D motion pictures and comics. “The newly launched studio would produce television programs for both children and youngsters, in addition to producing motion pictures by using various techniques,” he said. Later, speaking to Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Aldakhil unveiled plans for Basim to take advantage of comics through a blending of education and entertainment — Edutainment. “We present children’s drawings in a more developed way for educational purposes. We want to motivate our children to think and imagine instead of spoon-feeding and memorization,” he said while underlining the need for helping kids to find solutions rather than offering them readymade solutions. Several prominent figures, including Hazem Fatahallah, former dean of the Fine Arts Faculty of Cairo, and Ahmad Sayyid Ameen, managing editor of Basim, attended the ceremony. Dr. Abdul Munem Kamel, chairman of the General Authority for National Cultural Center (opera house) patronized the event.