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Wael Shawky at M – Museum Leuven

April 7, 2022

Artist: Wael Shawky

Exhibition title: Dry Culture Wet Culture

Curated by: Valerie Verhack

Venue: M – Museum Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Date: March 11 – August 28, 2022

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and M – Museum Leuven

Egyptian artist Wael Shawky (1971) spent many childhood years in Alexandria, Egypt and Mecca, Saudi Arabia where he witnessed the transition from a nomadic society to a modernised society. This transition from Dry Culture to Wet Culture made a deep and lasting impression on him.

Social change remains central to his art and in particular the question how this intertwines with themes such as identity, religion, politics and history. He sees his artworks as a way of making these issues tangible. He works with various media including paintings, drawings, sculpture, film and even music.

At the exhibition ‘Dry Culture Wet Culture’ you can see two new installations. The first is ‘The Gulf Camp project: The Wall #2’ and is part of ‘The Gulf Project Camp’ series, a project that explores the history of the Arabian peninsula from the 17th century onwards. The installation includes a wall covered in black graphite on which cloths have been stretched out recalling Bedouin tents. It brings together a traditional nomadic form of society with a contemporary, industrialised one.

The second new installation was made especially for M. Based on Shawky’s interest in societies and local traditions, he tries to adapt his works and the way they are presented to the surroundings. The museum hall, with a panoramic view of the city of Leuven, was the starting point for ‘The Gulf Camp Project’: Drama’ which is a large installation that embraces the concepts of urbanity and architecture.

M also shows drawings, woodcuts and a film from the ‘Cabaret Crusades’ series. At its centre is a film trilogy that tells the story of the Crusades, but then from an Arabic perspective. The characters are played by puppets – some of them are on display in the exhibition.

‘The Cave’ is also a film work. It shows Shawky walking through a supermarket while reciting a passage from the Koran. The video raises questions: Is it an attempt to link economics and religion? Or does he just want to make it clear that those worlds are incompatible?

Wael Shawky, The Gulf Project Camp: The Wall #2, 2022, Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery © M Leuven (Photo: Dirk Pauwels).

Wael Shawky, The Gulf Project Camp: The Mirror (after Mir Sayyid Ali’s ‘A Camp Scene’, 1550-1574 CE), 2022, Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery © M Leuven (Photo: Dirk Pauwels)

Wael Shawky, The Gulf Project Camp: The Wall #2, 2022, Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery © M Leuven (Photo: Dirk Pauwels)

Wael Shawky, Cabaret Crusades: The Secrets of Karbala (Marionette), 2014, Courtesy the artist © M Leuven (Photo: Dirk Pauwels)

Installation view, Wael Shawky, Dry Culture Wet Culture, 2022 © M Leuven (Photo: Dirk Pauwels)

Wael Shawky, Cabaret Crusades: The Capture of Constantinople in 1204 (after Jacopo Tintoretto, 1580-1605), 2018, Courtesy the artist Lisson Gallery © M Leuven (Photo: Dirk Pauwels)

Wael Shawky, Cabaret Crusades: Cabaret Crusades: The Capture of The Capture of Jerusalem by Jacques de Molay in 1299 (after Claude Jacquand, 1846), Courtesy the artist Lisson Gallery © M Leuven (Photo: Dirk Pauwels)

Wael Shawky, Cabaret Crusades III: The Secrets of Karbalaa, 2015 HD Film, colour, sound, English subtitles 120 minutes

Wael Shawky, Cabaret Crusades: Relief of the Siege of Jerusalem 1189-91 (after Jean Colombe’s After the capture of Acre 1189 by Bourges,1475), 2018 Hand carved wood, gold leaf 146 x 119 x 6 cm 57 3/8 x 46 3/4 x 2 1/4 in

Wael Shawky, Cabaret Crusades: The Capture of Constantinople in 1204 (after Jacopo Tintoretto, 1580-1605), 2018 Hand-carved wood, paint, goldleaf 330 x 400 cm 129 7/8 x 157 1/2 in

Wael Shawky, Cabaret Crusades: The Capture of Jerusalem by Jacques de Molay in 1299 (after Claude Jacquand, 1846), 2018 Hand-carved wood, paint, goldleaf 250 x 450 cm 98 3/8 x 177 1/8 in