Basim Magdy’s practice is grounded in an interest in iconic images and objects outside of explicit historical investigation or political referencing. His work concerns itself with the social implications of such symbols, and how they transform over time and in changing contexts into a mix of legend and bizarre cultural constructions and encounters. Often employing the language and forms of science fiction in his work, Magdy reveals something essential about human nature and desire by presenting worlds where the impossible becomes plausible reality.
Magdy works with different media including drawing, painting, animation, installation, sculpture, printed matter, film and sound. He is particularly interested in creating narrative structures that explore the space between reality and fiction and its influence on science, history, global culture and the dissemination of knowledge.
Basim Magdy (b.1977, Assiut, Egypt) graduated from Helwan University, Cairo, Faculty of Fine Arts (BFA Painting) in 2000. The artist lives and works in Basel, Switzerland.
His work appeared recently in solo exhibitions at M HKA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp; MAAT Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Lisbon; La Kunsthalle Mulhouse, France; MCA Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; MAXXI National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, Rome; Jeu de Paume, Paris; CAPC Museum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux; Deutsche Bank KunstHalle, Berlin; Arnolfini, Bristol and in group shows at MoMA The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Castello di Rivoli, Torino, New Museum Triennial, New York; Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-On-Hudson, New York; Whitechapel Gallery, London; KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; La Biennale de Montreal, Montreal; MEDIACITY Seoul Biennial; 13th Istanbul Biennial; Sharjah Biennial 11; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; The High Line, New York, La Triennale: Intense Proximity, Palais de Tokyo, Paris.
He was shortlisted for the Future Generation Art Prize, Kiev (2012) and won the Abraaj Art Prize, Dubai and the New:Vision Award, CPH:DOX Film Festival, Copenhagen (2014) and the Experimental Award at the Curtas Vila do Conde – International Film Festival, Portugal (2015).
He was selected Deutsche Bank’s 2016 Artist of the Year (2016). His films were screened at Tate Modern, Locarno Film Festival, New York Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, ICA London among others.
