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On Art, Viral Dissemination, Impact and Reputation

"This documentary is about my work as "Ahmad Sherif", an anonymous character active on the Internet, from 2006 to this date. Anonymity ended on the evening of Feb. 11th 2011, when Hosni Mubarak stepped down.
My avatar's goal, and mine, was to raise awareness about Egypt being a ruthless police state, ruled by a corrupt dictator, family and entourage.
Ahmad Sherif used the Web and dissemination strategies to impact the real world: citizens, netizens, bloggers, politicians, local and international press in print & media."
By Aalam Wassef, March 23, 2011
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The Ahmad Sherif Project started on January 19, 2007, in a country overtly described abroad as a police state, which censors, intimidates and brutally punishes the authors of any form of expression it would consider libelous.
Ahmad Sherif is a virtual character, virtual and invisible so he could survive any hostile context, such as the one described above. This fictitious character is empowered to voice what cannot be voiced, and to reach those who cannot be reached - both the rulers and the people.
Over a year, Ahmad Sherif has built a media architecture whose dynamics are based on the most accessible services of the Web 2.0. This conducive canvas would help the migration of his work from one world to another: the internet, the mainstream media, and the street.
Breaking political and social taboos, Ahmad Sherif experiments in new media and networks with no restrictions as to formats, genre, styles or forms of expression, constantly morphing the nature of his expression according to its next environment. To date, one can find his signature associated with silent videos, music, animations, pop songs, news articles, online happenings, cell-phone videos circulated on the street, open letters, debates, interviews, comments, e-mails, tags, etc. His works have been received as an unexpected glitch in the suffocating vicious circle of fear, intimidation and silence, creating around them even more space for unprecedented free expression.

September 02, 2011