On January 27th, 2011 Egyptian authorities succeeded in shutting down the country’s international Internet access points in response to growing protests. Over one weekend, a group of programmers developed a platform called Speak2Tweet that would allow Egyptians to post their breaking news on Twitter via voicemail despite Internet cuts. The result was thousands of heartfelt messages from Egyptians recording their emotions by phone. A few years later, the revolution is still ongoing, but the messages have disappeared into the depths of the web archive and are no longer accessible.
This presentation is about an ongoing collection of experimental films that utilizes select Speak2Tweet messages prior to the fall of the Mubarak regime on February 11, 2011 and juxtaposes them with the abandoned structures that represent the long-lasting effects of a corrupt dictatorship. The project attempts to depict the harsh reality of the physical state of the city and addresses the role that the urban infrastructure plays in instigating unrest amongst its inhabitants. Revolution became the context in which the emotional state of the Egyptian psyche was outwardly expressed. While Speak2Tweet didn’t necessarily serve the practical functions that Facebook and Twitter fulfilled, it nevertheless composed a unique archive of the collective psyche. As the voices disappear in the depths of cyberspace, the project brings forth the unique narratives and, in turn, connects them once again to the physical realm.