Bassem Yousri │ Studio Residency
Switzerland | Visual Arts
Visual Arts
Egyptian artist (Born in Algeria 1980). His multidisciplinary practice ranges between creating mixed media installations in art galleries and in public space, and experimental and documentary films. Inspired by the narrative quality of Ancient Egyptian murals, Yousri’s work has a strong documentary aspect. In his different practices, he relies on humor as a tool to converse with different audiences across the world, and to criticize common stereotypes and taboos. While his work is often a commentary on the contemporary Egyptian social and political situation, it is still concerned with the larger frame of the human condition. Moreover, Yousri’s work often investigates other issues such as the meaning of cross-cultural dialogue in the light of the current world culture politics, and the relationship between mass culture, art, and audience.
Since 2000, Yousri has been showing his work across Egypt, the Arab world, USA, and Europe. In addition to six solo shows between Egypt and USA, Yousri participated in a number of group exhibitions. Some of the most prominent venues where Yousri showed his work are the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) in New York, USA; Centre Pompidou in Paris, France; Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE; Mathaf: the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar; l’Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, France; the State Museum of Egyptian Art in Munich, Germany; and IVAM (Institut Valencià d’Art Modern) in Valencia; Spain.
Yousri received his MFA in painting, drawing and sculpture from Tyler School of Art – Temple University in Philadelphia in 2009, and his BFA in painting from the School of Fine Arts – Helwan U. in Cairo in 2003. He was also the recipient of a Fulbright Art’s Grant in 2006, and an AFAC grant in 2012. Additionally, he was awarded several artist-in-residence fellowships by several institutions: Vermont Studio Center in USA, 2013 & 2018; Kultur Kontakt Austria, 2017; Arte East in New York USA, 2016; Sharjah Art Foundation in the UAE, 2016; Kansas State University in USA, 2011; and Kala Art Institute in California USA, 2010.
