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Biography



Mohamed Abdelkarim (1983) lives and works between Cairo, Rotterdam, and Vienna, where he is currently
a Ph.D. candidate at the Akademie der bildenden Künste.

Abdelkarim's works have been included in the Sharjah Biennial 11, 2013, Guild Master of Cabaret Voltaire, Manifesta 11, 2016, Live Works Performance Act Award Vol. 5, IT, 2017 and Berlinale 72/Forum Expanded, 2022. He has also received the Prix Excellence HES-SO in Switzerland 2016, and has been shortlisted for the Henrike Grohs Art Award 2022.

Abdelkarim's practice is performance-oriented. He considers performance as a research method and a practice that reflects on performative acts such as narrating, singing, detecting, doing, fictioning, and speculating, which embody various forms across performance, installation, film, sound, paintings, and encounters. His current umbrella project focuses on the agency of the landscape as a witness to "a history we missed and a future we have not yet attended."


Education:

2021/Current
- PhD Candidate at Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Austria.

2014/2016
- MA, Master of Arts HES-SO in Fine Arts, Major in MAPS - Arts in Public Sphères, École de design et Haute école d'art du Valais (édhéa/ecav), Sierre, Switzerland.

2011/2012
- HWP/Home Workspace, Independent Study Program, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon.

2000/2005
- B.A. Faculty of art education, Helwan University, Egypt.


Selected Group Shows and Events:

2022
- The Taste of Water Leaky vessels, flowing rituals and non-consensual collaborations, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Vienna, Austria.
- History Leads to Twisted Mountains, at Ard-Art, Cairo, Egypt.
- Interazioni Festival, a multidisciplinary festival, Chiasma, Rome, Italy.
- KAS, a group show (curated by Simone Frangi), Centrale Fies, Italy.
- The Tellers, a group show, Villa Romana Florence, Italy.

2021
- VAEFE | Walk-in cinema program, SEA Foundation, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
- Art as Connection, Group show, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland.
- On Self-Organisation (curated by Adele Jarrar), at Khalil Sakakini, Ramallah, Palestine.

2020
- The convention of restorative anatomy and prosopopeia, at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (curated by Valerio del Baglivo).
- A sequence of events in the Lives of the dormant, Temporary Gallery Cologne, Germany.

2018
- At the crossroads of different pasts, presents and futures, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, (curated by Valerio del Baglivo)Turin, Italy.
- “Live Praxes” at Townhouse Gallery (curated by Mohamed Abdelkarim) Cairo, Egypt.
- House of Wisdom (curated by Collective Çukurcuma) at Bonington Gallery Nottingham Trent University.

2017
- House of Wisdom (curated by Collective Çukurcuma) at Dzialdov, Berlin, Germany.
- House of Wisdom (curated by Collective Çukurcuma) at Framer Framed, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
- [A Gift to Those Who..] LIVE WORKS Performance Act Award Vol.5, 37°EDIZIONE DRODESERA. Italy.
- [Count! How many renegades I still have?] a performance at One Gee In Fog, Geneva, Switzerland.
- [Epistles on Knowledge Engagement] a performance at Sofia Underground International Performance Art Festival, Sofia, Bulgaria.
- PhotoCairo 6 Contemporary Image Collective - CIC - (curated by Andrea Thal) Cairo, Egypt.
- Plattform 17, Kunsthaus Glarus Glarus, Switzerland.
- The New Normal, The Hangar - UMAM Documentation & Research Beirut, Lebanon.

2016
- Cabaret der Künstler - Zunfthaus Voltaire Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Do it Sharjah Art Foundation Art Spaces (curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Hoor Al Qasimi) Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
- (a(version)s) (curated by Joe Namy)Cuchifritos Gallery + Project SpaceNew York City, NY, USA.

2013
- In Search of Europe? Kunstraum Kreuzberg، Bethanien, (curated by Daniela Swarovski) Berlin, Germany.
- Tokyo Story Part 3: Identities in the World TWS Tokyo Wonder Site, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan.
- (a(version)s) (curated by Joe Namy) at Beirut in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt.

2012
- Videoakt, Videoakt International, Barcelona, Spain.
- Rencontres Internationales paris/berlin [Nouveau Cinéma Et Art Contemporain].
- PhotoCairo 5 Contemporary Image Collective (curated by Mia Jankowicz) CIC. Cairo, Egypt.

2011
- Bamako Biennale, National Museum, Bamako, Mali.

2010
- Beyond the Desert (curated by Simon Njami), Darb 1718, Cairo, Egypt.

2009
- Contingent Identities, Depo İstanbul, Istanbul, Turkey 


Solo Shows:

2021
- Body, Language, Image, and Other Things That Can Be Used (curated by Valerio Del Baglivo) at Studio Emad Eddin Foundation and different public spaces in Cairo.

2015
- “Ahmed's Revenge and Other Untold Stories” (curated by Kaya Behkalam) at Sharjah Art Gallery, The American University in Cairo, Egypt.


Biennials and Festivals

2022
- kasseler dokfest, Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, Germany.
- Berlin International Film Festival, Berlinale / forum expanded, Berlin, Germany.

2021
- 5th International Biennale of Casablanca BIC - Casablanca, Morocco. 

2016
- Marrakech Biennale 6 - Parallel Projects, Marrakech, Morocco.
- Manifesta 11, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Colombo Art Biennale, PGIAR, [You May Say I’m A Dreamer], (curated by Sara Mahmood), Sri Lanka.

2013
- Biennale Jogja XII Equator #2: Not A Dead End, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
- Sharjah Biennial 11Sharjah BiennialSharjahUnited Arab Emirates.

2009
- "International Biennale Cuenca" Ecuador.
Fugitive Video Project, Dublin, Ireland

2008
- Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean (BJCEM), Bari Puglia, Italy.


Art Residences

2022
- PACT Zollverein, Essen, Germany.

2018
- The Camargo Foundation, Fellowship Spring, Cassis, France.
- Gleis70, The Gastatelier artists residency, Zurich, Switzerland.

2017
- “Madrassa” curatorial research program, Morocco.
- Pro-Helvetia Research Residency, Lausanne, Switzerland.

2015
- kunstpot göschenen، Göschenen, Switzerland.

2014
- The residency program at [BarProject] (curated by Juan Canela), Barcelona, Spain.

2013
- FUTURA – Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague, Czech Republic.
- UNESCO-Aschberg Bursaries for artists, Dar Al-Mamun, Marrakech, Morocco.

2012
- TWS, Tokyo wonder site, Tokyo, Japan.

2011
- Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, Pro-Helvetia, Switzerland.

2010:
- VASL International Artists' Residency, Karachi, Pakistan.
- Al-Mahatta Gallery, Ramallah, Palestine.

Awards and Grants

2022
- Shortlist for Henrike Grohs Art Award.

2020
- "production program," Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE.

2018
- AFAC, Arab Culture Fund Production, Beirut, Lebanon.

2016
- Prix Excellence HES-SO, Switzerland.

2015
- AFAC, Arab Culture Fund Production, Beirut, Lebanon.

2013
- UNESCO-Aschberg Bursaries for Artists.
- YATF, Young Arab Theatre Fund, production grant, Brussels, Belgium.

2012
- Al-Mawred production grant, Beirut, Lebanon.
- AFAC, Arab Culture Fund Production, Express grant, Beirut, Lebanon.
- Ford Foundation, residency, travel grant.
- British Council, production "Grants to Artists'.

2008
- Salzburg Summer Academy for Fine Arts, studio of Gulsun Karamustafa, Austria.

2007
- Salon Prize in Media Art, 18th Salon of young artists, Cairo, Egypt.


Curatorial and Pedagogical Works

2022:
- Mentoring Body As Barometer - Live Arts Workshop, at khoj, New Delhi, India.

2020:
- Worked as a tutor for the spring semester course titled ‘Time-based Media’ at AUC American University in Cairo.

2020:
- Curated Live Praxes #2, seminars, and performance nights [online edition], Egypt/Switzerland.

2019:
- A partner and a mentor of [Live Art works] SA, Egypt, India, Switzerland.
- Co-designed and mentored 2nd Roznama -Studio Programme, a six-month program for emerging Egyptian artists, Cairo, Egypt.

2018:
- Co-designed and mentored 1st Roznama -Studio Programme, a six-month program for emerging Egyptian artists, Cairo, Egypt.
- Curated Live Praxes #1, seminars, and performance nights at CIC, The townhouse gallery, and Rawabet Theatre, Egypt/Switzerland.

2017:
- Worked as a tutor for a course titled [Performing fiction] at The Cairo Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences CILAS, Alexandria, Egypt.
- Co-mentored with the Danish artist Anne Haaning, [Tech-myth] One month. Video production workshop was at Medrar for Contemporary Art, Cairo, Egypt.
- Curated [Performative-debate workshop] at CIC, Contemporary Image Collective Cairo.

2014:
- Mentored “Generator” Video workshop with the Swiss artist Christoph Oertli at Medrar for Contemporary Art, Cairo, Egypt.


Selected Bibliography

Publications and Books:
- Let the Sea Eat Me: To Perform a Ferry, Performance scripts, 2021.
- Comparison Of Appearance, shorts, ISOE and YATF, 2013.
- Conspiracy Exceeds Consumption, Booklet, Tokyo Wonder Site and Sharjah Biennial, 2013.
- Rhino Story, short, Mashrabia Gallery, Cairo, 2012.

Interviews:
- [Berlinale Forum Expanded: Gazing...Unseeing] by Geoffrey Macnab at Business Doc Europe, 2022.
- [Renegades, ghouls as telos, diasporic peregrination in apostasy, and the moltibodied monadic roots of all roots] Mohamed abdelkarim with Connor Maley, 2022.
- Hassan Khan Conversation with Mohamed Abdelkarim, at Medrar, 2017.
- (a(version)s) Mohamed Abdelkarim and Rough Americana By Joe Namy, Jadaliyya, 2012.

Contributions and Essays:
- Machi Mashy: Or, in Other Words "Not Working, 2022.
- Without Reduction, by Book Works for The Happy Hypocrite, BookWorks, 2021.
- Historical materials unfit for museumization, at The Swiss Artistic Research Network SARN, 2021.
- [Live Works editorial project] edited by Simone Frangi and Roberta Da Soller, Centrale Fies, 2019.
- [Two Stories Distorted] Ibraaz projects, 2013.
- [Three Practices In [non-physical archiving] Ibraaz Platform, 2013.
- [in search of Europe] Publication (edited by Daniela Swarowsky), 2013.
- [Sublimity of the desecrated building] PC5 photo Cairo [5] Catalogue, 2012.
- A photography project in issue Camera Austria International, issue 118, 2012.
- "Fifteen Ways to Leave Badiou",  [curated by Bassam al-Baroni], Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (ACAF), 2012.
- "ALHAGEZ" Book Co with Maria Ptqk, Radio de Accion (curated by Juan Canela), 2011.
- Perspective, Revolution of the Mind, Art Asia Pacific, issue 75, 2011.