Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha has dedicated part of its museum to a new exhibition of work by acclaimed artist Basim Magdy, opening tomorrow.
On show until July 16, the exhibition, entitled ‘It All Started With a Map and a Picture of Scattered Little Houses’ is on view at Mathaf’s Project Space, dedicated to emerging artists and curators’ experimentations with new ideas and forms of presentation.
Presented by Qatar Museums under the leadership of its chairperson, HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and curated by Laura Barlow, curator at Mathaf, the exhibition presents four films by Basim Magdy made between 2012 and 2016: No Shooting Stars (2016), The Everyday Ritual of Solitude Hatching Monkeys (2014), The Dent (2014), and Time Laughs Back at You Like a Sunken Ship (2012).
The lyrical and poetic narratives in the films unveil the exchange between human relationships, time, perception and memory. Exploring the transition from analogue to digital, Magdy addresses the reconciliation of tradition and ritual as the world move towards futuristic, industrialised tendencies of existence universally.
Mathaf’s collaboration with Basim Magdy marks the artist’s first presentation of his work in Qatar. Commenting on the project, Abdellah Karroum, director of Mathaf, said: “We are delighted to show his works in Mathaf’s Project Space, which is dedicated to new tendencies in artistic production and emerging curatorial practices.”
In addition to film, Magdy works in painting, drawing, text and photography. The narratives of his films blur fictional and real stories of true and imagined experiences. These trace the processes of desire and disappointment in humanity’s attempts at reshaping society’s systems and structures.
To open his installation, Magdy will be in conversation with curator Laura Barlow at Mathaf, today at 5.30pm, as part of the Museum’s public programme, Mathaf Talks.