Abdelrehim Hanafi Abdelrehim Moussa

Biography

Abdelrehim Hanafi Moussa is a Senior Curator at the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo. His work involves the documentation and registration of newly accessioned objects, and overseeing various departments within the museum working with metal, ceramics, glass, wood, ivory, jewellery, carpet, stone and manuscripts. He also interacts with and guides visitors, sharing information on objects, and assists students researching art, archaeology and history.

His work also sees him organise exhibitions, including one which he is currently preparing about the Holy Quran, and will be exhibited outside of Egypt. He also contributed to the Direction of Mosque exhibition at the Museum of ITHRA in Saudi Arabia.

Abdelrehim previously held the position of Chief of the Department of Manuscripts at the Museum of Islamic Art. His research background is in sundials and astronomy in Islamic civilizations and he has recently completed his PhD researching Islamic religious architecture in Mauritania.

Abdelrehim participated in the reopening of the Museum of Islamic Art following bomb damage sustained in 2014. He was selected to attend the American Alliance of Museums Conference in Seattle in 2015. He completed a training programme about safeguarding Egyptian cultural heritage at the Levantine Foundation, as well as a workshop on Making Museums Matter: How can museums and exhibitions become more attractive for visitors, with DAAD Cairo Akademie.

Abdelrehim’s dream for museums of the future, is for museums to become more interactive and create awareness in their field by educating the public through their exhibitions and making visitors become part of the experience. He suggests this can be done primarily by integrating technologies that will allow more engaging and interactive museum experiences, encouraging some sort of action from the visitor, rather than just passive observation with the implementation of digital technologies across the whole customer journey. The visitors’ experience does not start when they enter the museum, it starts at home.

At the British Museum
During his time on the International Training Programme in 2012, Abdelrehim was based in the Department of Egypt and Sudan. His UK Partner museum was National Museum Wales.

In 2012 an element of the programme was a series of presentations, in which participants presented a 10-minute illustrated talk, prompted by the task to consider a new display at the British Museum.  Abdelrehim’s exhibition project proposal was entitled Measure the Time.

ITP Newsletter Publications
ITP Newsletter Issue 3 (2016), Bulletin Board