The Egyptian artist Wael Shawky is a storyteller: historiographical and literary sources form the starting point for his concentrated film narratives, in which he interweaves myths, facts, and fiction. The actors, backdrops, and costumes, music, and text each become self-contained narrative voices and through their interplay, fracture ossified views of history. His poetic staging of historical events allows the concealed backgrounds of current thinking and actions to emerge and enables us to think anew about the past and the present.

Wael Shawky (born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1971) is the winner of the Ernst Schering Foundation Art Award 2011. For his solo exhibition at KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, he has created a new, large-scale work, El Araba El Madfuna, that is based on the artist’s personal experience in Upper Egypt over 10 years ago.

The cultural programs of KW Institute for Contemporary Art are made possible thanks to the support of the Governing Mayor of Berlin—Senate Chancellery—Cultural Affairs.

Further information
Denhart v. Harling: T +49 30 243459 42 / press@kw-berlin.de