The work of Egyptian artist Basim Magdy uses video, painting, slide projection and installation to examine war, information systems, scientific theories and the visual vocabulary of mass media. Positioning notions of progress within systems of humour and doubt, his work is marked by paradox and shifts between demolition and renewal, ruins and reconstruction.
This screening presents videos and slide works alongside discussion about Magdy’s fascination with the future and the anxious imaginary with which we construct it.
Following the screening, Basim Magdy will be joined in conversation with Regine Basha, Omar Kholeif and Stuart Comer.
Basim Magdy
Basim Magdy was born in 1977 in Assiut, Egypt. He lives and works in Cairo. Magdy studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Helwan University, Cairo from 1996 to 2000. Recent solo shows include A Steady Progress of Nothingness, Newman Popiashvili Gallery, New York (2013), Confronting the Monster in a Monster Costume, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris (2013), and On A Better Day than This, Townhouse Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cairo (2008). He has participated in numerous international group exhibitions including the forthcoming 13th Istanbul Biennial (2013), Sharjah Biennial 11 (2013), Future Generation Art Prize, Venice (2013), Homeworks, Askhal Alwan, Beirut (2013), La Triennale, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2012), Transmediale, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2012), One Day We Will Shine Like the Stars, Kunsthalle Wien (2011) and Rencontres Internationales, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2011). Magdy is a winner of the Abraaj Group Art Prize 2014.
Programme
Time Laughs Back at You Like a Sunken Ship, 2012, Super 8 film transferred to HD video, 9 min 31
13 Essential Rules for Understanding the World, 2011, Super 8 film transferred to HD video, 5 min 16
My Father Looks for an Honest City, 2010, Super 8 film transferred to HD video, 5 min 28
A Film About The Way Things Are, 2010, Super 8 film transferred to video, 11 min 07
Turtles All The Way Down, 2009, Super 8 film and DV on DVD, 10 min 09
A 240 Second Analysis of Failure and Hopefulness (With Coke, Vinegar and Other Tear Gas Remedies), 2012, 160 colour slides and 2 synchronised Kodak slide carousel projectors, 240 seconds
Programme duration 47 min
- Download programme notes [PDF, 1.17 MB]
- Hear the audio from this event