Basim Magdy: A Peacock and a Hippo Walk into an Existential Debate

From June 6 to August 25, 2019, La Kunsthalle Mulhouse is hosting a solo exhibition dedicated to Basim Magdy.

Basim Magdy (b. Assiut, Egypt, 1977, lives and works in Basel, Switzerland) is a collector, a storyteller, a researcher, a manipulator, a chemist and a philosopher. He accumulates numerous visual material, objects and devices of all sorts.  While his starting point is a personal iconography made up of collected images, he makes sure that his works do not contain references that might make them too obviously recognisable and reduce their scope. He prefers the elusive to the familiar, and ventures beyond the visual to enter an unknown space which is more about questions than answers. He traces layers of alternative possibilities over his images. He adds them to other visions, buries them under chemical reactions, loses them in wandering narratives and produces new visions which are less reassuring but more seductive, less obvious but freer. To achieve this, he uses colour or humour, both of which appear in his works as an additional medium. 

The exhibition A Peacock and a Hippo Walk into an Existential Debate, presents a range of older and new works. New Acid is the title of the last film written and directed by Basim Magdy and produced by La Kunsthalle Mulhouse. Its premiere is taking place during the exhibition. A selection of photographs, paintings, films and installations will also be shown to the public for the first time in a colourful painterly environment that the artist created specially for the exhibition. The exhibition becomes an artwork in itself, welcoming visitors and inviting them to make it their own.

Basim Magdy’s work appeared recently in solo and group exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Athens Biennial; Beaufort Triennial, Belgium; South London Gallery; University Galleries at Illinois State University; MAAT Museum, Lisbon; Gothenburg Biennial; Arnolfini, Bristol; Castello di Rivoli, Turin; MCA Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Turin; New Museum Triennial, New York; MAXXI National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, Rome; Jeu de Paume, Paris; CAPC Museum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux; Deutsche Bank KunstHalle, Berlin; La Biennale de Montreal; MEDIACITY Seoul Biennial; 13th Istanbul Biennial; Sharjah Biennial 11 and 13; Les Ateliers de Rennes – Biennale dʼart contemporain 2010 and 2018, France and La Triennale: Intense Proximity, Palais de Tokyo, Paris.
 

During Art Basel: Reception at La Kunsthalle, Friday June 14, 7–10pm
(Shuttle from Basel to Mulhouse: Departure at 6:15pm, Corner Isteinerstrasse, Bleicherstrasse Return to Basel at 9:15pm)
Closed on Mondays and Tuesday in July and August and June 10, July 14, August 15
Free entrance

Enquiries/Press office: Clarisse Schwarb
clarisse.schwarb@mulhouse.fr

The exhibition is supported by Pro Helvetia and the Division of Cultural Affairs of Basel-Stadt.
Mulhouse Art Contemporain is a partner of La Kunsthalle.
La Kunsthalle Mulhouse is a member of d.c.a.
La Kunsthalle is a cultural establishment of the City of Mulhouse.
With support from the Regional Cultural Affairs Office of Grand Est/ the Ministry of Culture and Communication – Department of Haut-Rhin.