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ISSN 1460-8537 WAEL SHAWKY by Olivia Sand


Unquestionably, the talk of the 2024 Venice Biennale was the Egyptian Pavilion featuring the work of Wael Shawky (b 1971, Alexandria). In a bold move to feature a 45-minute-long video at a venue where the audience is racing against the clock to cover all the exhibitions, Drama 1882 revealed the artist internationally. With his video set in Egypt and based on the nationalistic revolution against British influence, the film presented a different way of making art: a gesamtkunstwerk where the artist created the sets, the production, the choreography, and wrote the music as well as the songs. In addition, in a world increasingly relying on AI, Wael Shawky’s approach is genuinely bringing the artist back to the centre of the creative process that covers mediums as diverse as painting, drawing, installation, sculpture, and video. Eager to explore the Arabic narrative within the topics he chooses to embrace, Wael Shawky is also a keen observer of the history of the Middle East and what shaped the region until today. In the following interview, he talks about his practice in light of a global context, which finds itself deeply rooted in history.


Asian Art Newspaper: Following the revolution in Egypt in 2011, you decided not to exhibit there anymore. Considering the way things worked out for the 2024 Venice Biennale, where you represented Egypt, is there a chance you may change your mind in the near future? Wael Shawky: No, and here is why: the Venice Biennale took place under special circumstances as the government had asked me to represent Egypt. It took me some time to start negotiating with them before being able to accept their proposal. Of course, it was an honour to


represent Egypt, but I also needed to make sure I could do it in the correct way. In the end, the government agreed with what I asked for, which was for them to give me the key to the pavilion and not interfere at all. Tere was no censorship, and they did not even know what topic I was going to address. As a result, they did not see any of the works until the opening – and they accepted it. Tat was extremely nice, and it worked out so it was a positive outcome for everyone. Having that freedom also allowed


Portrait of Wael Shawky at the Egyptian Pavilion, 2024, courtesy of the artist and Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Lisson Gallery, Lia Rumma, and Barakat Contemporary. Photo: George Darrell, Lisson Gallery


us to raise funds for the project and to be capable of achieving the level we were ultimately aiming for. In that specific case, we relied on ‘the independent artist’, an idea which we were somehow seeking during the project.


NEWS IN BRIEF


the Society’s critical focus on public policy, arts, culture, and education. Prior to joining Asia Society,


Dr Rudd served as Australia’s 26th Prime Minister (2007-2010, 2013) and as Foreign Minister (2010- 2012). He is a fluent Mandarin speaker and leading international authority on China. He began his career as a China scholar, serving as an Australian diplomat in Beijing before entering Australian politics. He is the author of two major books on China and US-China relations: On Xi Jinping (2024) and Te Avoidable War (2022). Founded in 1956, Asia Society is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year.


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CHINA INSTITUTE, NEW YORK It is also a big year for anniversaries at the China Institute, founded in New York City in 1926 by American educators John Dewey, Paul Monroe, and Chinese scholars Hu Shi and Kuo Ping-Wen with the aim of the China Institute of America, as a US nonprofit organisation, to dedicate itself to deepening the world’s understanding of China through programmes in art, business, cuisine, culture, and education. In 1944, the institution moved


Explore our extensive archives at asianartnewspaper.com


ASIAN ART | MARCH 2026 |


into a building renamed China House (the former Frederick S Lee House) at 125 East 65th Street, given by Henry R Luce as a gift from the foundation established and named in honour of his father Henry Winters Luce. In 2015, the China Institute of


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America relocated to Lower Manhattan in a new 41,000 square foot office space at 40 Rector Street, New York. Apart from the centenary, it is also


the 60th anniversary of the gallery exhibition space. Since 1966, the Gallery has presented more than 120 exhibitions showcasing both historical and contemporary works across a wide range of media and art forms. Covering 5,000 years of Chinese history from the Neolithic period to the present day with the China Institute Gallery being the only non-commercial exhibition space solely dedicated to Chinese art in New York and the US.


PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM, MASSACHUSETTS And another anniversary – Te Peabody Essex Museum (PEM), the oldest continuously operating museum in the US, is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the museum’s first permanent gathering and exhibition space – East India Marine Hall. Built in 1825, East India Marine Hall is the heart of the museum and is recognised today as a National Historic Landmark. Beginning 14 March 2026, visitors can experience a new, multimedia- enhanced installation of the hall featuring several hundred objects that offer a cross-section of PEM’s global collection and represent its earliest years of collecting. Te museum’s founding collections, acquired from 1799 to 1867 by the East India Marine Society, a group


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of sea captains and traders who sailed all over the world from Salem, form the basis of the museum’s collections.


CHINESE PORCELAIN AT THE FRICK Te Frick Collection is holding a free lecture, ‘Looking East from Fifth Avenue: Chinese Porcelain at Te Frick Collection’, on 20 March during Asia Week. Join Yifu Liu, Anne L Poulet Curatorial Fellow, is to explore the evolution of Chinese porcelain at Te Frick Collection, from Henry Clay Frick’s earliest acquisitions to the museum’s most recent additions. It examines the cultural significance of these objects in the early twentieth century and re-evaluates their relevance today within an American art institution traditionally celebrated for its European works of art.


THE HIGH LINE, NEW YORK Te High Line in New York has selected artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen to produce its next plinth commission scheduled to open this spring. Te Light Tat Shines Trough the Universe is a recreated version of one of the two Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan that were blown up by the Taliban in 2001. Te artist, based in Ho Chi Minh City, is known for a wide-ranging practice spanning sculpture and video with his work often relating to cultural memory and loss. Measuring over


11 metres tall, the sandstone Asian Art Newspaper


sculpture’s title comes from the local nickname for the colossi, Salsal, which translates to ‘the light that shines through the universe’.


ASIAN ART MUSEUM, SAN FRANCISCO In December 2025, the Asian Art Museum today formally transferred four ancient bronze sculptures to the government of Tailand, concluding a multi-year process of research, review, and collaboration among US and Tai authorities. Te sculptures, long part of the


museum’s holdings and most recently featured in Moving Objects: Learning from Local and Global Communities, were determined through extensive research to have been illegally removed from Tailand in the 1960s and later acquired on the art market by the museum’s founding collector, Avery Brundage. A multi-agency investigation with scholarship from Tai researchers and the Asian Art Museum’s curatorial team, confirmed that the works were linked to the disgraced dealer Douglas Latchford, who was later indicted for trafficking Southeast Asian antiquities.


AGA KHAN MUSEUM, TORONTO In February, the Aga Khan Museum announced that Dr Ulrike Al-Khamis will retire from her role as Director and CEO after nine years of service where she played a pivotal role in shaping the museum’s curatorial and international profile.


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