Latest news with #MohamedRadwan
CairoScene
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CairoScene
Cairo, Reimagined: A Digital Tribute to a City's Forgotten Glory
Cairo, Reimagined: A Digital Tribute to a City's Forgotten Glory We scroll past them daily — old balconies, faded cornices, tiled thresholds barely holding on. Cairo's layered streets carry the weight of centuries, but much of the city's architectural heritage has faded into the background of everyday life. Cairo Re-rendered, a digital art series by architect Mohamed Radwan, brings these stories back to the foreground. Shared widely across Instagram, Radwan's AI-powered project transforms archival images of four of Cairo's most iconic districts. The images aren't restorations — they're reimaginings. Part artistic prompt, part preservation manifesto, the series explores what it would mean to see the city not through the lens of decay, but potential. The journey begins where Cairo itself did: Fatimid Cairo. Here, AI styling draws from classical painting techniques to spotlight the historic district's timeless geometry. The arched doorways, intricate mashrabiya, and shadowed alleys are rendered with reverence, suggesting not just beauty but continuity — a living thread through history. In Khedival Cairo, the approach shifts. The lens sharpens into realism, echoing the district's once grand boulevards and Belle Époque façades. Through this clarity, Radwan doesn't idealise — he reminds. That these spaces existed, and in many cases still do, behind the noise of billboards and unkempt signage. Heliopolis, the early 20th-century utopia designed as a 'city of the sun,' gets bathed in photorealistic dawn. The result feels suspended in time — warm light on stucco walls, as if the neighbourhood is holding its breath between what it was and what it could be again. Finally, Maadi appears in a retro triadic palette. With its leafy streets and quiet mid-century charm, the district is reinterpreted with a nod to vintage travel posters — nostalgic, yes, but also forward-facing in its optimism. The colour treatment makes you feel like you could walk into the frame. What ties the series together isn't just the AI technique, but Radwan's underlying intention: to make memory visible again. Each image began as a vintage photograph, carefully researched and selected for its spatial authenticity. Through a mix of prompt engineering and stylistic layering, the transformation process was less about enhancement and more about storytelling. The resulting images feel intuitive, not manufactured — each mood, time of day, and texture chosen to evoke the emotional DNA of the neighbourhood. But Cairo Re-rendered isn't just a nostalgic exercise. Its impact is more than aesthetic. The project taps into something broader: a cultural craving to see Cairo clearly. Not as a backdrop, but as an identity. As an inheritance. As something we still have the power to shape. The series found an eager audience online — from architecture students to longtime residents, each bringing their own stories to the frame. In the comments, viewers didn't just react to how the images looked. They shared memories. And that might be the biggest success of all: turning passive viewing into active remembering. Radwan's experiment sits at the intersection of preservation, imagination, and public engagement. It's a quiet reminder that tools like AI aren't just about futures — they can be about pasts too. About holding on, and letting go, and seeing the city with fresh eyes before what's left becomes too faded to notice. Because sometimes, it takes a new render to remember what was always there.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Oil prices on course for biggest monthly fall since 2021
The pound fell against the dollar on Wednesday after a strong week of gains which had pushed it to its highest point since September. Sterling slipped 0.2% lower, to trade below the $1.34 mark. The dollar strengthened even as fears of a recession in the US begin to solidify. Wall Street firms have raised their odds of a year-end recession, citing growing risks from president Trump's aggressive trade policies. But with tariffs creating whiplash for businesses and consumers alike, economists caution that the impact could arrive sooner than anticipated, casting uncertainty over the broader outlook. The dollar index ( which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose 0.2%. Sterling also fell against the euro, heading 0.2% lower to trade below the 1.18 mark. Gold prices pulled back further from all-time highs of $3,500 on Wednesday dropping around 1.2% by late-morning as geopolitical tensions eased slightly. Spot gold dipped 0.2%, while US futures slid 0.5%, pressured by a modest rebound in the dollar index. "The recent de-escalation in US trade friction — highlighted by Trump's tariff relief orders and China's rollback of its 125% ethane duty — has dialled down the geopolitical risk premium that had been fuelling bullion's historic rally," said Mohamed Radwan, lead analyst at XMarabia. The dip represents short-term profit taking by investors, as opposed to a longer-term shift, Radwan added. He said: "The metal's role as a hedge against policy uncertainty, currency debasement, and financial stress remains intact — especially with global central banks still cautious and rate paths unclear. Until the Fed firmly signals a pivot or economic momentum reaccelerates, gold retains its strategic appeal." A firm dollar also contributed to the dip. A strong dollar makes gold more expensive for buyers outside the US. Oil prices fell further on Wednesday, putting them on course for their biggest monthly fall since 2021. Brent crude futures were down 0.8%, to trade around $62.75 a barrel by late-morning, while West Texas Intermediate dipped 0.9%, hitting the $59.87 a barrel mark. The drop comes as concerns about supply are mounting and the ongoing global trade war has put doubt in the minds of traders about demand. According to Reuters, Brent and WTI have lost 15.4% and 17% respectively, in April, the biggest percentage drops since November 2021. Bets are mounting of a global recession this year, with restrictive tariff policies from the Trump administration being a sticking point for growth. OPEC+ members ramping up supply output is also a concern heading into the summer.
