Basim Magdy

Interested in the power of mass media, information systems, and scientific theories—and the relationship between what is real and fiction in such domains—Basim Magdy uses a combination of images and words to construct narratives that can be humorous, reflective, or disquieting, but never linear. His work is at once suggestive of times past, present and future through the seamless interweaving of imagery—from historic ruins, to futuristic landscapes, to everyday scenes from a nondescript present. Alongside an implied desire to know what the future holds is a sharp critique of the notion that the passing of time is indicative of societal progress. Rather, his works suggest the constant push-pull of a striving for progress against cycles of repeated failure: the future becomes less about promise than a continuous re-enactment of the present.

Magdy’s work has appeared internationally in exhibitions and screenings at La Biennale de Montreal, Montreal Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, Australia, Seoul Biennial, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Passerelle Centre d’art contemporain, Brest, France, Trafo House of Contemporary Art, Budapest, CRAC Alsace, Altkirch, France, 13th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Tate Modern, London, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, Sharjah Biennial 11, Sharjah, UAE, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, Argos Art Center, Brussels, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Institut Mathildenhohe, Darmstadt, Germany, Mass MOCA, North Adams and Ateliers de Rennes—Biennale dʼart contemporain, Rennes, France among others. In 2012 he was shortlisted for the Future Generation Art Prize, Kiev and in 2014 he won the Abraaj Art Prize, Dubai. His work was included in the 2015 New Museum Triennial Surround Audience. Magdy has also just been selected for the 2015 New Photography exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.

Courtesy of Art in General