Catalogue > Un extrait vidéo au hasard

Basim Magdy

My Father Looks For An Honest City

Film expérimental | super8 | couleur | 5:28 | Egypte | 2010

Shot in an arid landscape of extremes on the outskirts of Cairo, My Father Looks For An Honest City is a film about cynicism and a persistent search for a seemingly essential unknown. In a reenactment of Diogenes of Sinope?s philosophical statement of carrying a lamp in daytime, Magdy filmed his own father while walking through what seems like a no man?s land where human existence seems seldom, other players like petrified wood, doves, fake palm trees, stray dogs, abandoned glass buildings and a flashlight evolve as protagonists. Diogenese, a contemporary of Plato, was one of the founders of the Philosophy of Cynicism. Although considered by many as one of the greatest Greek philosophers, none of his writings were found. Only his philosophical stunt of carrying a lamp in daylight remains as evidence to his beliefs. When asked why he did that, he explained that ?he was looking for an honest man?.

Born in Assiut, Egypt in 1977, currently lives and works in Basel and Cairo. Magdy works with different media including drawing, painting, film, video, animation, installation, sculpture, sound and printed matter to investigate the broad space between fiction and reality in the construction, distribution and assimilation of media-based knowledge and global culture. His work appeared recently in solo and group shows at Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel; Newman Popiashvili Gallery, New York; Argos Art Center, Brussels; Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon; Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCa), North Adams; Institut Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt; 1st D-O ARK Underground Biennial, Konjic/Sarajevo; 2nd Ateliers de Rennes Biennale d?art contemporain, Rennes; Neue Kunst Halle St. Gallen, St. Gallen; DEPO, Istanbul, MUSAC, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León; MARCO - Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Vigo, Spain; ACAF ? Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum, Alexandria; Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai; SAW Gallery, Ottawa; Le Fresnoy, Tourcoing; Sala Rekalde, Bilbao; Townhouse Gallery, Cairo and Art in General, New York among others.