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Wael Shawky © The Prisma, UK

Wael Shawky

Wael Shawky puts historiography to the test in Cabaret Crusades (2010-). After a book by the Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf about the crusades, drawing from historic Arabic sources, it portrays the violent story of a religiously-sanctioned invasion that has left open wounds in East- West relations even in our time. Cabaret Crusades is dramatised in Arabic, using 200-year-old Italian puppets. The language itself is as essential as the revised facts; as we listen to popes and emperors from the West hold incendiary speeches about the threat posed by the Moslem faith.

Shawky’s films and performances return to pivotal moments in Arabian and Egyptian history. Politics as theatre and spectacle is often centre-stage. In Telematch Sadat (2007), he re-enacts the military parade at which Anwar Sadat was assassinated, with children in the parts. He examines the significance of different points of view, underlining how form influences our understanding. His work brings us closer to the core of the problem than the news reports on the aftermath of the Arab Spring and the complexity of democratisation.

Wael Shawky was born in Alexandria, Egypt, 1971, where he also lives and works. He has degrees in fine arts from University of Pennsylvania and Alexandria University. In 2010 he launched MASS Alexandria, the first Independent Studio Programme for young artists in the city. Shawky has received international prizes such as the Ernest Schering Foundation Award, Berlin, 2011. His work is included in the collections of Tate Modern, London, MACRO Museum, Rome and Darat al Funun, Amman.

Selected solo exhibitions: Kunst-Werke, Berlin, 2012; Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, 2011; Walker Art Gallery, Minneapolis, 2011; Darat al Funun, Amman, 2009; Townhouse Gallery, Cairo 2008.

Selected group exhibitions: Re:emerge, Sharjah Biennial 11, UAE 2013; dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, 2012; 12th Istanbul Biennial, 2011; Moscow Biennale, Moscow, 2007; The Museum of Modern Art Rome (MACRO), 2005.

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