Basim Magdy

Basim Magdy

Basim Magdy’s (Assiut, Egypt, 1977) work reveals a suspicion towards the way history is being shared to form a collective identity and hints at unsubstantiated truths that are part of a plot. While Magdy’s works are often narrative in character they don’t evolve as a story, since a story has a definitive beginning and an end and his works refuse linear framing. The works evoke a sense of loss and dystopia that purposely confuses time. This sensibility is reinforced by Magdy’s technique: he shoots contemporary footage with a 16mm camera, a gesture that reads like a counter-claim to the past as a buried space.

Basim Magdy’s works recently have been shown, among other places, in the Third New Museum Triennial, New York (2015), the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2015), the Biennale de Montreal (2014) and Seoul Mediacity Biennial (2014). Magdy won the 2014 Abraaj Group Art Prize and was selected as Deutsche Bank’s 2016 Artist of the Year.

Curator: Heidi Ballet