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I am an artist, writer, researcher and producer.
My practice has been nomadic across languages, disciplines and media.
In my recent work I focus on mapping media ecologies, tech literacies, governance infrastructures and institutional world-building strategies that shape and consolidate
the imagination ( or lack thereof ) about the future.
After my studies in media theory and communications, sociology and urban design,
and as a self taught photographer, video maker and editor,
I have been working in research and reporting, documentary, art and exhibition making,
project design and curation with artists,
international organisations, urban initiatives, NGOs,
academic and art institutions and media platforms
in Egypt, Italy, Morocco, Spain, Greece, the UK and Germany.
Sardinia > Egypt > London > Berlin
WRITING / PHOTOGRAPHY
Awham, Spike, Delfina Foundation, Kaleidoscope, Fictional Journal, Tate Etc.,
Strelka Mag, Ibraaz, Mada Masr, Universes in Universe, Canvas Magazine,
Egypt Independent, Fortress Europe, Articolo21 (among others).
We have always been cake, (Awham Magazine 2022)
A Drowned World (This is how it Ends), (Spike Magazine, 2022)
Rebel Aesthetics, (Center for the Cultivation of Technology, 2022)
How to get rid of the Ghosts of the Future, Between the Material and the Possible: Infrastructural Re-examination and Speculation in Art - edited by Bassam El Baroni, (Stenberg Press, 2021)
Sad Sack, Sophia Al Maria, (Bookworks, 2019)
PSYOP: an anthology, Metahaven (Stedelijk Museum, Koenig Books, 2018)
Entry Points. The Vera List Center Guide on Art and Social Justice (Duke University Press, 2015)
Dissonant Archives: Knowledge Production and Contested Narratives in the Middle East (Tauris, 2015)
PhotoCairo5 Catalogue (Contemporary Image Collective, Cairo 2014)
The Exorcist (Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven 2011)
ART PRACTICE
Water Cybernetics, installation with Antonia Hernandez at Transmediale, A Model A Map A Fiction, Berlin (2023)
The Aesthetics of Finance, text, AI generated imagery, visual editing for Weird Economies platform, (ongoing, online)
Cassandra, film screenings at Matadero Media Lab (Madrid), Transmediale (Berlin), Dutch Design Week, Economia Festivall (Eindhoven), Tbilisi Architecture Biennale 2021, Fiber Festival (Amsterdam), The Terraforming 2020, Strelka Institute, (Moscow)
At The Threshold of Amnesia, The Absence of Paths, Tunisian Pavilion, Venice Biennale (2017)
Partners in Crime, multiplayer game presented at the London Design Weekend, Victoria and Albert Museum (2017)
Co-founder of Take To The Sea artist collective with Lina Attallah and Nida Ghouse.
Take To The Sea produced writing, site-specific installations, photography, drawing, video and sound-based works, and publications, including at: Yogyakarta Biennale (2013), The Hydrarchy Show at Contemporary Image Collective, Cairo (2012) and Manifesta Biennale 8, Murcia (2010).
Take to the Sea had its first solo show at Nile Sunset Annex, Cairo in 2013 and was selected for the Vera List Prize.
TALKS
“Collapsing Time”with Alice Bucknell, Sahej Rahal at Silent Green, Berlin (2023)
“How Water Calculates”, panel at Transmediale Symposium, Berlin (2023)
“Scenario Planning as Creative Practice”,'Art and Economics' lecture series MA visual cultures at Aalto University (2022)
"Another Terraforming" panel at Medialab Matadero, Madrid (2022)
“Steering the AI bias. Tactics for Narrative Diversity” with Alaa Mansour and Moises Horta Valenzuela.
“The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction and Artificial Scarcity” with Khyyam Allami, Mohamed Gaber.
ADE Berlin e.V. Media and Tech Series - online (2022)
“Fantasy and Damage” panel at Transmediale Symposium, Berlin (2022)
"DAOs Goals, Loots and Raids", Almanac for Refusal - Transmediale (2021)
"National and Supranational Branding in the Memetic Age", Sandbox - Trust.Support (2021)
"How to build a world: Storytelling in digital environments, Amber Network Festival (2021)
"The Terraforming"at the Strelka Institute, Moscow (2020)
"The Revenge Of The Real", The Terraforming online colloquium (2020)
“Permanent Crisis: the evolution of media narratives of the migration crisis in Europe” at ICCG
International Conference of Critical Geography, Athens (2019)
"Reframing the Nation. Visual branding strategies to promote Egypt's tourism” ICCG Ramallah (2015)
"Hydrarchy" Symposium at Contemporary Image Collective, Cairo (2012)
“Parallel Narratives” at the Alternative News Agency Program at CIC, Cairo (2011)
“Egyptian irregular migration to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea” at the American University in Cairo (2009)
DOCUMENTARY / VIDEO EDITING WORK
The Black Hole of Money, by 0x Salon -editor (2023)
Trust.Support talk series - live editing (2022)
Beast Type Song, a film by Sophia al Maria - BTS photography (2019)
Beyond the Substrata, a film by Larry Achiampong - BTS photography, editor (2019)
ADEF Arab Digital Expression Foundation Creative Coding Camp Alexandria - video documentary (2019)
AA Summer School Asinara, residency - photography, video (2019)
Making Doha exhibition by OMA architects, Zaha Hadid Studio - video (2019)
Sad Sac, book by Sophia Al Maria - photography (2018)
MigrantScene Rabat, Arts for Advocacy, University of Edinburgh - video documentary (2017)
Art, Law and Protest at Conway Hall, Art and Law network, photography - video (2017)
The Sea is Mine symposium at Mosaic Rooms for Qalandiya International Biennale - video (2016)
Untitled (Go-go dancing platform) speaks by Mahmoud Khaled at Frieze London - photography, video (2016)
Gypsum Gallery, Cairo - photography (2015)
CURATING / PROGRAMMING / PROJECT COORDINATION
ADE Berlin e.V. Arab Digital Expression Foundation "Media and Tech Series" Berlin/online (2021-2022)
ADEF Creative Coding Camp, Alexandria (2019)
London Doctoral Design Centre, Royal College of Art, London (2019)
Cairo Urban Initiative Platform CUIP Researching and mapping informal urban initiatives, Cairo (2011)
EDUCATION
2022 AI Anarchies Autumn School, Akademie der Künste, Berlin.
2020 Research fellow at The Terraforming postgraduate programme, Strelka Institute, Moscow.
2017 Creative Coding and Game Design by Code Liberation Foundation at V&A Museum, Goldsmiths University, London.
2007 Masters degree in Social, Public and Political Communication Studies, University of Bologna, Italy.
Thesis: “The Rome Charter: UNHCR’s media deontology for the protection of migrants and refugees”.
2005 / 2006 Erasmus exchange program - University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
2004 Bachelor in Media Theory and Communication Studies - University of Bologna, Italy.
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