Wael Shawky
b. 1971, Alexandria, Egypt
Lives and works in Alexandria, Egypt and Philadelphia, USA 

EDUCATION
2001 MFA, Graduate School of Fine Arts, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,  PA, USA
1994 BFA, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt

SELECTED SOLO SHOW

2024	Drama 1882, 60th Venice Biennale, Egyptian Pavilion, Venice, Italy I am Hymns of the New Temples, Museo di Palazzo Grimani in Venice
2023	I am Hymns of the New Temples, Sfeir-Semler Gallery Karantina, Beirut, Lebanon
2022	Wael Shawky: Isles of the Blessed, Lisson Gallery, London, UK Dry Culture Wet Culture, M Leuven, Leuven, Belgium  Artist and Society, Tate Modern, London, UK
2021	FOCUS: Wael Shawky, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX,  USA
2020	The Song of Roland: The Arabic Version, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2019	Wael Shawky: Al Araba Al Madfuna, The Polygon Gallery, Vancouver, Canada Wael Shawky: The Gulf Project Camp, Lisson Gallery, New York, USA The Song of Roland: The Arabic Version, MUCEM, Festival de Marseilles, Marseilles, France
2018	The Crusades and Current Stories, ARoS, Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus,  Denmark Al Araba Al Madfuna, Galerie Sfeir-Semler, Hamburg, Germany The Song of Roland: The Arabic Version, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE The Song of Roland: The Arabic Version, Theater an der Wien, The Opera House, Vienna, Austria
2017	Al Araba Al Madfuna, Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Yin chaun, China The Song of Roland: The Arabic Version, Theatre de Welt, Hamburg, Germany
2016	Wael Shawky. Al Araba Al Madfuna, Fondazione Merz, Turin, Italy Wael Shawky, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy Wael Shawky, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria Wael Shawky. Al Araba Al Madfuna, Fondazione Merz, Zurich, Switzerland
2015	Crusades and Other Stories, MATHAF: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar Cabaret Crusades, MoMA P.S.1, New York, USA
2014	Cabaret Crusades, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, Germany Al Araba Al Madfuna, Festwochen-Zentrum im Künstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria Horsemen Adore Perfumes and Other Stories, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE Dictums, Lisson Gallery, London, UK
2013	Al-Qurban/The Offering, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK Cabaret Crusades, Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, Canada
2012	Al Araba Al Madfuna, Kunst-Werke Institute, Berlin, Germany
2011	Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK Drawings and FlagsfromCabaret Crusades, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK Larvae Channel, Delfina Foundation, London, UK
2010	Contemporary Myths, Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella, Italy Contemporary Myths, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
2009	Larvae Channel 2, Project Gentili, Berlin, Germany Clean History, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt Darat al Funun, Amman, Jordan
2008	Al Aqsa Park, Factory Space, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt
2007	Then you will return to me and I will judge between you in the matters in which you used to dispute, Kunsthalle Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland Collective Gallery, Edinburgh, UK The Forty Days Road, Wet Culture – Dry Culture, Galeria Sztuki Wspolczesnej, Bunkier Sztukim, Krakow, Poland Al Aqsa Park, YAMA, Marmara Hotel, Istanbul, Turkey Telematch Sadat’/’Telematch Market’/‘Al Aqsa Park, Koninklijke Vlaamse Schouwburg, Brussels, Belgium Telematch Sadat’/‘Al Aqsa Park, Hebbel am Ufer 3, Berlin, Germany Telematch Sadat, San Matteo, Lucca, Italy
2006	Drawings 1998–2006, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt
2005	The Green Land Circus, Factory Space, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt Lose Your Identity, Ludwigsburg Kunstverein, Ludwigsburg, Germany
2003	Asphalt Quarter, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt
2002	When he decided to visit the Christmas village, Main Space, Cairo, Egypt
2001	Transitions, Gemmayze, Beirut Sidi El Asphalt’s Moulid, Townhouse Gallery, 2nd Al Nitaq Festival of Visual Arts, Cairo, Egypt

SELECTED GROUP SHOW

2023	In the Heart of Another Country: The Diasporic Imagination Rises, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE Alexandria: Past Futures, MUCEM, Marseille, France In The Heart of Another Country, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany
2022	Alexandria: Past Futures, Centre for Fine Arts, Bozar Brussels, Brussels, Belgium ‘MACBA Collection. Prelude. Poetic Intention’, MACBA, Barcelona, Spain
2020	Notre Monde Brule/Our World is Burning, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France Desert X AlUla, Al Ula, Saudi Arabia Between the Sun and the Moon, Lahore Biennale, Lahore, Pakistan
2019	GLASSTRESS, 6th Edition, Curated by Vik Muniz and Koen Vanmechelen, Fondazione Berengo Art Space, Venice, Italy The Gulf Project Camp: Look for Me All Around You, Sharjah Biennial 14, Sharjah, UAE
2018	Gangwon International Biennale, Gangwon, Korea Beyond Borders, Boghossian Foundation – Villa Empain, Brussels, Belgium NOW, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Scotland Dal-Bahar Madwarha: Valletta 2018, St Elmo Examination Centre, Valletta, Malta
2017	Everything at Once, Vinyl Factory & Lisson Gallery, The Store, London, UK Yokohama Triennale 2017: Islands, Constellations, and Galapagos, Yokohama, Japan Dream City Tunis Biennial – 6th Edition, Tunis, Tunisia, Africa
2016	Reconstruction of Story II: Duncan Campbell, The Otolith Group, and Wael Shawky, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Seoul, Korea The Migrant (Moving) Image, Tale of a Tub, VanityProjects, New York, NY and Miami, USA Performer/Audience/Mirror, Lisson Gallery, London, UK PLATOvideo07 – War: Marine Hugonniere, Wael Shawky, Clemens von Wedemeyer, PLATO, Ostrava, Czech Republic The Time is Out of Joint, SharjahArt Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
2015	Une Brève Histoire de L’Avenir, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France Saltwater, the 14th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey. Mario Merz Prize, Fondazione Merz, Turin, Italy Too early, too late: Middle East and Modernity, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, Bologna, Italy Cross Section of a Revolution, Lisson Gallery, London, UK
2014	Manifesta 10, The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia You Imagine What You Desire, 19th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia Fotofest 2014, Contemporary Arab Video,Houston, TX,USA Now Babylon, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark Dak’Art 2014, Dakar, Senegal The Anthropology Effect, MAP Centre forContemporary Art, Glasgow, UK Here and Elsewhere, New Museum,New York, NY, USA Neighbours: Contemporary Narratives from Turkey and Beyond, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, Turkey
2013	A History of Inspiration, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France In the Heart of the Country, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland Dreams of Reason: Highlights of the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection, Centre of Contemporary Art, Torun, Poland Re:emerge, SharjahBiennial 11, Sharjah, UAE Moment – Frontlines, Moderna Museet Stockholm, Stokholm, Sweden Les choses du cote du monde, Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France The Translation, Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich, Switzerland
2012	Mirages d’Orient: Grenades et Figures de Barbaries, Collection Lambert, Avignon, France 7th Asia Pacific Triennale of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia 9th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea Documenta 13, Kassel, Germany Bucharest Biennial 5, Bucharest, Romania Marrakech Biennial 2012, Marrakech, Morocco On the Edgware Road, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
2011	12th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey Serious Games: Krieg, Medien Kunst, Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany Where Is MY Place?, La Gallerie di Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy Miragens, Institute Tomie Ohtake/Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo, Brazil
2010	Lo Spazio del Sacro, Galleria Civica di Modena, Modena, Italy Breaking News: Contemporary Photography from the Middle East and Africa, Ex Ospedale  Sant’Agostino, Modena, Italy Localities: My World Images Festival, Museet for Samtigskunst, Roskilde, Sweden Beyond Credit: Contemporary Art and Mutual Trust, Sanat Limani, Istanbul, Turkey What’s Happening Now?, Casa Arabe Madrid, Madrid, Spain
2009	The Columns Held Us Up, Artists Space, New York, NY, USA 25th Alexandria Biennale for Mediterranean Countries, Alexandria Fine Arts Museum, Alexandria, Egypt The Jerusalem Syndrome, Al-ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, Jerusalem, Israel Tarjama/Translation, Queens Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA Socially Disorganised, Lion Arts Centre, Adelaide, Australia
2008	Lucky Number Seven, SITE Santa Fe Biennial, Santa Fe, NM, USA Medium Religion, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany Où? Scènes du Sud, Carré d’Art, Musée d’art contemporain de Nîmes, Nîmes, France
2007	Gestures of Infinity, Minotoren Kultur, Graz, Austria Gegenwart aus Jahrtaüsenden: Zeitgenössische Kunst aus Ägypten, Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany Out of Place, Gallery Sfeir-Semler, Beirut, Lebanon Contemporary Art Platform, London, UK Tate Modern, London, UK Petriolina, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, collateral event of the 2nd Moscow Biennale, Moscow, Russia
2006	Fremd bin ich eingezogen, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany AYOR: No Man’s Land, Hellenic American Union, Athens, Greece Choosing My Religion, Kunstmuseum Thun, Thun, Switzerland 47th October Art Salon Belgrade Cultural Center, Belgrade, Serbia Coding: Decoding, Kunsthallen Nikolaj, Copenhagen, Denmark 6th Visual Arts Festival, Kodra Field, Thessaloniki, Greece Outside the Living Room, Gb Agency, Paris, France
2005	9th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey Adam, Smart Project Space, Amsterdam, Netherlands Urbane Realitäten: Focus Istanbul, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany Normalization, Platform Granti Contemporary ArtCenter, Istanbul, Turkey PhotoCairo3, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt
2004	Mediterraneans, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Roma, Rome, Italy Meeting Points, Makan House, Amman, Jordan Journées de la Photographie 4, Centre Culturel Francais de Damas, Damascus, Syria
2003	Les Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers, Aubervilliers, France 24/7: Wilno – Nueva York (visa para), Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania 50th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy Video Invitational, FA Projects, London, UK International Experimental Film Festival, Goethe Institut, Alexandria/Cairo, Egypt Body and the Archive, Artists Space, New York, NY, USA
2002	Close-Up: An Artistic Collaborative Workshop and Exhibition, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt
2001	Rita Longa International Art Symposium, Codema, Bayamo, Cuba 2nd Al Nitaq Festival of Visual Arts, Townhouse Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cairo
2000	Meyrson Hall Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, USA 1st Al Nitaq Festival of Visual Arts, TalaatHarb Square,Cairo, Egypt
1997	Contemporary Egyptian Art, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria
1996	6th Cairo Biennale, Museum of Modern Art, Cairo, Egypt
1995	Al-Hanagar Gallery, Opera House Complex, Cairo, Egypt
1994	6th Salon of Youth, Akhenaten Centre of Arts, Cairo, Egypt

AWARDS
2015 Joint winner, Mario Merz Prize
2013 Louis Vuitton and Kino der Kunst Award for Filmic Oeuvre, Munich, Germany
2012 Joint Winner, Abraaj Capital Art Prize, UAE
2011 Kunstpreis der Schering Stiftung, Berlin, Germany
      Artist-in-Residence, Center for Possible Studies, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
2009 Grand Prize, 25th Alexandria Biennale, Alexandria, Cairo
2007 Ford Foundation Grant, Cairo, Egypt
2006 Ford Foundation Grant, Cairo, Egypt
2005 International Commissioning Grant, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, USA
2004 International Award of the Islamic World Arts Initiative, Arts International, New York, USA
      American Center Foundation Grant, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2001 Honorary Award, Rita Longa International Symposium, Codema, Bayamo, Cuba
2000 Piero Dozairo Award, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
1996 Grand Nile Prize, 6th International Cairo Biennial, Cairo, Egypt
1994 Grand Akhenaten Prize, 6th Salon of Youth, Akhenaten Centre of Arts, Cairo, Egypt

COLLECTIONS
APT Dubai, Dubai, UAE 
Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol, UK
Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan 
Fiorucci Art Trust, London, UK
Francois Pinault Collection, Venice, Italy 
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, UAE 
K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany 
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles, California, USA 
MATHAF: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar 
MACRO: Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Rome, Italy 
Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA 
Mart Museum Collection, Trento, Italy