Wael Shawky brings his work set in Pompeii to Venice exhibition at Palazzo Grimani

A solo exhibition of Egyptian artist Wael Shawky (Alexandria, Egypt, 1971) entitled I Am Hymns of the New Temples curated by Massimo Osanna (Director General of Museums of the Ministry of Culture), Andrea Viliani (Co-curator of the Pompeii Commitment. Archaeological Subjects program) and Gabriel Zuchtriegel (Director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii) is scheduled from April 17 to June 30, 2024, at the Museum of Palazzo Grimani in Venice. The exhibition is organized in collaboration between the Museum of Palazzo Grimani and the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, and accompanies the artist’s participation in the 60th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia, where Shawky will represent the Arab Republic of Egypt at the Egypt Pavilion. The exhibition brings together the film work I Am Hymns of the New Temples made by the artist in 2023, following its premiere at the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, and a selection of multi-material works and drawings made by the artist between 2022 and 2024. The exhibition is designed as a conceptual dialogue between different spaces and eras, in which modern works mingle with archaeological relics from Pompeii and the historic rooms of Palazzo Grimani

Wael Shawky explores the ways in which stories have been written and told and examines how they have also shaped historical reality. Through his creations, the artist invites us to be aware of the various ways in which history, society and culture are interpreted and communicated over time, both in the past and present. By exploring space and time, he creates a representation of history and society that is both real and imaginary, suggesting that these realities cannot be fully defined or understood from a single perspective. Filmed in the summer of 2022 in the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii, which was hit by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., I Am Hymns of the New Temples shows what surfaces at the thresholds between the different cultures that make Pompeii a true theater of Mediterranean cultures. The production of the work is the result of a collaboration between the Ministry of Culture and the Pompeii Archaeological Park in the context of the Pompeii Commitment program. Archaeological Matters. I Am Hymns of the New Temples is the first 2023 creation under the Pompeii Archaeological Park project. This innovative program aims to unite the ancient and the contemporary, enhancing the values of archaeological heritage. The LaM-Lille Métropole Musée d’art moderne, d’art contemporain, d’art brut supports the international promotion, while the Fondazione Teatro di San Carlo and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli collaborated on the realization, with the contribution of the Lia Rumma Gallery.

Notes on the artist

Wael Shawky was born in Alexandria, Egypt, 1971 trained at the University of Alexandria and then went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, United States. His artistic process originates from research and travels undertaken by the artist in his home country and embraces different techniques and media: from drawing to sculpture, but especially film, performance and storytelling. In his poetics, these techniques are often combined to create a fairy-tale universe, in which elements of traditional Arab culture and contemporary life coexist.

Famous are his film trilogy Cabaret Crusades - The Horror Show File (2010), The Path to Cairo (2012), and The Secrets of Karbala (2015), in which ancient puppets and marionettes become the protagonists of the historical medieval crusades, narrated by the artist through the eyes of Arab historiography and with the playful lightness of a children’s fairy tale. Important solo exhibitions have been dedicated to the artist by international museums and institutions including M Leuven Museum, Brussels, Belgium; The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX, USA; The Louvre Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE; The Polygon, Vancouver, Canada; ARoS Museum, Aarhus, Denmark; Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli - Turin, Italy; Fondazione Merz, Turin, Italy; Kunsthalle Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria; Mathaf, Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar; MoMA PS1, New York, USA; MACBA, Barcelona, Spain; K20, Beirut, Lebanon; Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE; The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA; Kunst-Werke, Berlin, Germany; Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella, Italy; Kunsthalle Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland.

Wael Shawky brings his work set in Pompeii to Venice exhibition at Palazzo Grimani

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