Artists: Dina Danish & Jean-Baptiste Maitre
This project is funded with the support of the Netherlands through the  Mondriaan Fund

Egyptian Blue - How to Forge the Skies and the Seas 
4K, 20mn, Sound, color, 2026. 

video link, password protected

SYNOPSIS

This video was made by The French Egyptian duo composed of artists Jean-Baptiste Maitre (1978, France) and Dina Danish (1981, France), who, since 2016, alongside their independent practices, have collaborated on specific projects.

The video is centred on the artists’ research into Egyptian blue widely considered to be the world’s first synthetic pigment. Created by the ancient Egyptians as early as the 3rd millennium BC, it was made as a replacement to Lapis Lazuli. While Egyptian Blue was valued in antiquity for its vibrant azure hue, the pigment possesses a unique scientific property: it emits the strongest radiation of near-infrared luminescence, an intense glow invisible to the human eye.

Departing from traditional artistic interpretation, the artist duo Danish & Maitre went to Egypt not knowing whether or not they would be successful in recreating Egyptian blue. They utilized experimental archaeology to achieve a rigorous scientific reconstruction. By rejecting lab-grade ingredients (as previous research has done) in favor of historically accurate materials locally sourced in the Egyptian and landscapes, they successfully recreated the historical pigment recipe. This achievement has been verified by scientific testing at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and acknowledged by experts in the Netherlands, contributing tangible new data to archaeological science.

The video, "Egyptian Blue - How to Forge the Skies and the Seas," documents this journey through archives, studio practice and crossing landscapes. Beyond its material history, the video shows amulets and the pigment's near-infrared luminescence, a property where the blue radiates light that is invisible ground to the human eye. This hidden emission links to the ancient theory of extramission, the idea that the eye sees by projecting its own light, which created the belief in the Evil Eye, a belief still found across the Mediterranean today. 

By connecting this near-infrared luminescence of the blue to the ancient belief in extramission and the Evil Eye, the artists frame the pigment not just as a color, but as an active, "seeing" substance that embodies the power of the gaze.

Biographies of the authors

Danish & Maitre
Danish & Maitre is the collaborative practice of artists Dina Danish and Jean-Baptiste Maitre since 2016. Their work bridges material research, experimental archaeology, and contemporary art. Their recent projects includes Reconstructing Egyptian Blue in Cairo (2024-2026); Victor Hugo Was Here, embroideries and velvet embossing (2018-2022) ; Whatever They Do May It All Turn Out Wrong, embroideries, velvet embossing and Photograms (2017-2019). Recent exhibitions were held at MAMbo in Bologna, American Academy in Rome, Gallery Stigter van Doesburg, Martin van Zomeren in Amsterdam, Artopia in Milan.

Dina Danish
Dina Danish’s work is incisive and humorous, with a keen sense of irony. Working across textile, video, performance, writing, painting, and sculpture, her practice explores how symbols, signs, and gestures question the value of language as a dominant form of communication. Drawing from historical events, global news, and overlooked incidents, she processes the world through miscommunication and misunderstanding. She engages with recurring signs and phrases: exploring sports memorabilia and autographs and their potential aesthetic value, using tongue twisters as theatrical forms, examining the use of chewing gum by contemporary artists and in Egyptian cinema, and collaborating on tapestries that juxtapose bespoke craftsmanship with the fleeting nature of media coverage. Utilizing humor and wit, Danish investigates the absurdity and contradictions within historical narratives and media representations, reimagining how information and history are constructed and disseminated.

Dina Danish (1981, Paris, France) holds a BA from the American University in Cairo and an MFA from CCA in San Francisco, and has completed a post-graduate artist residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam in 2010. Her work has been shown in museums and institutions such as MAC/CCB, Lisbon; MAMbo – Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna; Stedelijk Museum, Schiedam; Museum Boijmans, Rotterdam; Kunsthall Oslo; SFMOMA, San Francisco; Beirut and Nile Sunset Annex, Cairo; De Nederlandsche Bank and de Appel Arts Centre, Amsterdam; and South London Gallery. She has been nominated for the Volkskrant Prize and the Prix de Rome in the Netherlands and the Abraaj Art Prize in the UAE. Danish is the recipient of the illy Present Future Award at Artissima 18, a Celeste Prize, the Mondriaan Fund, and a Barclay Simpson Award at CCA. Her work is in the collections of the MAMbo, SFMOMA, MoMA in New York, the Berkeley Art Museum, the Getty Art Museum in Los Angeles, De Nederlandsvhe Bank, ABN Amro, Nomas Foundations, and the Texeira de Fritas Collection, among others.

Jean-Baptiste Maitre
Based in Amsterdam, Paris, and Cairo, Jean-Baptiste Maitre (b. 1978, France) is an artist whose practice centers on painting while expanding into animation, digitally constructed photography, and ceramics. His work sits at the intersection of Image-theory and Craft in reaction to the post-digital condition.

In his recent painting series, Painting as Makeup, Maitre reinterprets ancient painted busts to explore the construction of contemporary identity. This inquiry follows his earlier series, The Telephone is Killing the Cosmos, which examines the intersection of digital technology and traditional still-life techniques. Maitre’s exploration of media extends to his animated films, which dissect cinematic mechanics through the lens of historical or media found events. In his ceramic work, he reinvents neon signage to question the influence of media and the nature of memory. He is actively developing works with his partner the artist Dina Danish since 2016 under the name Danish & Maitre.

Maitre was educated in Paris in Fine art (ENSBA), Archeology (Michelet-sorbonne Paris-4) and Photography (Gobelins L'ecole de l'Image). In the Netherlands Maitre has participated in prestigious residencies such as the Rijksakademie and the Jan van Eyck Academie, and in Italy at the American Academy in Rome. Maitre has exhibited internationally, with works in major institutional collections (Stedelijkmuseum, Centre Pompidou, Dusseldorf Sammlung Philara, etc.).

Our project began in 2020, from a distant memory of a lecture by Dina's former Egyptology professor, Salima Ikram, who recounted the story of a man in Fayoum attempting to recreate the lost recipe for Egyptian synthetic blue. After learning he had passed away, we felt a strong urgency to preserve and carry forward the knowledge he had pursued. This became the starting point of our work. From 2023 to 2025 we spent time in Cairo reconstructing the pigment's original local recipe.

We were drawn to this pigment not only for its historical ties to protection from the Evil Eye in Egypt, but also for its remarkable material qualities—such as its ability to luminesce under infrared light. So far, we’ve developed around 50 test mixtures. After multiple firings, we produced a batch that the Cairo Museum of Egyptology confirmed as authentic Egyptian Blue.

Made by heating natural materials like sand and copper, this synthetic pigment resulted in a vivid blue used as a more accessible alternative to lapis lazuli, a stone long associated with holiness and the divine.

In September 2025, our blue experiments in Amsterdam have been thriving, thanks to the help of the ceramic workshop and Marianne at the Rijksakademie. After refining the recipes, we’re now producing a larger batch of pigment—laying the groundwork for new visual works that will be revealed in an upcoming exhibition.