Education
2009 — MFA in painting, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA.
2006 — Fulbright Scholarship: non-degree studies in fashion design, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA.
2003 — BFA in painting, School of Fine Arts, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt.
Teaching Experience
2023–2025 — Associate Professor of Practice, Visual Arts program, American University in Cairo, Egypt.
2022 — Adjunct Faculty, School of Creative Arts, Hertfordshire University, Cairo, Egypt.
2018–2023 — Adjunct Faculty, Graphic Design program, American University in Cairo, Egypt.
2018–2020 — Instructor, Kemet School for Art & Design, Cairo, Egypt.
2025 — Project development workshop, Masaha Residency, Misk Art Institute, Riyadh, KSA.
2024 — Two-week Masterclass on Conceptual Painting, Misk Art Institute, Riyadh, KSA.
2018 — Workshop: The Tools of Anger, ESAD Amiens, France.
2015 — Commissioned by ADEF to create the Visual Expression curriculum (36 sessions), Cairo, Egypt.
2013 — Workshop: Artist Encounters, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar.
2012 — Workshop: Drawing Revelations, Aufbau Haus, Berlin, Germany.
Exhibitions
Solo Shows
2022 — Performance: Ask Me a Question, Goethe Institute, Cairo, Egypt.
2022 — Solo show: Guideposts, Medrar for Contemporary Art, Cairo, Egypt.
2020 — Solo show: Where Do We Go from Here, Fiendish Plots Gallery, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
2014 — Exhibition: RGB (1), Mashrabia Gallery, Cairo, Egypt.
2013 — Exhibition: The Official Institution, Al Gazira Art Center, Cairo, Egypt.
2011 — Exhibition: Homage to the Egyptian Revolution, Kansas State University, USA.
2009 — MFA thesis exhibition: All the Important Issues, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, USA.
Selected Group Shows and Film Screenings
2026 — Film Romancy, group exhibition: 15 Jahre Arabischer Frühling 2011–2026, AE Galerie, Potsdam, Germany.
2024 — Sculpture: From the Bottom Up and Vice Versa, commissioned by Aldau Addart, Hyatt Centric Cairo West Hotel, Egypt.
2024 — Group exhibition: A Home for Something Unknown, featuring recipients of the Work Stipend Grant by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, Germany.
2022 — Duo exhibition: Together Again, with the Dufala Brothers, Atelier Art Gallery, Philadelphia, USA.
2022 — Duo exhibition: How to Build a City with Two Nails and a Wire, with Ahmed al-Badry, curated by Aleya Hamza, Gypsum Gallery, Cairo, Egypt.
2021 — Speed Date, video screening, Philomena+ Gallery, Vienna, Austria.
2021 — Dismantling (video), Redzone Festival, online.
2021 — The Wardrobe Man, online screening and talk, Bozar, Brussels, Belgium.
2020 — Instructions for a performance: Consciously Subconscious, commissioned by 1000 Scores.
2020 — Exhibition: Magic Window, with Evelyn Ashamallah and Salam Yousri, Shelter Art Space, Alexandria, Egypt.
2018 — The Wardrobe Man, film screenings: Mors Cultural Summit, Denmark; MoMI, New York; University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Cairo Cinema Days, Egypt.
2018 — Mai 68: Assemblée Générale, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France.
2017 — Exhibition: Hidden Stories, Gravit Art Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya.
2017 — Das Innere Wartet Draußen auf Dich, Parallel Vienna, Austria.
2017 — Exhibition with Dariia Kuzmych, Kultur Drogerie, Vienna, Austria.
2017 — Time, Site & Lore, commissioned by ET4U, Struer Museum and Off Road Festival, Denmark.
2016 — The March Project 2016, Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE.
2016 — Exhibition: From the Outside Inwards and From the Inside Outwards, AE Gallery, Potsdam, Germany.
2015 — Something Else – Cairo OFF Biennale, curated by Simon Njami, Darb 1718, Cairo, Egypt.
2015 — Exhibition: Keep it Real, curated by Klio Krajewska, Bayt al Sinnary, Cairo, Egypt.
2014 — Tea with Nefertiti, curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, Museum Ägyptischer Kunst München, Germany.
2014 — Exhibition: Good Day to You!, Saad Zaghloul Cultural Center, Cairo, Egypt.
2014 — A Politics of Drawing: Proposal for a Method of Transformation, curated by Philip Glahn and John O’Connor, Barbara White Gallery, Sarah Lawrence College, NY, USA.
2013 — Té con Nefertiti, curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, IVAM, Valencia, Spain.
2013 — Wavy Banners Festival, ET4U Organization, West Jutland, Denmark.
2013 — Le Théorème de Nefertiti, curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France.
2013 — Recording Against Regimes, curated by Klio Krajewska, Darb 1718, Cairo, Egypt.
2012 — Tea with Nefertiti, curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar.
2012 — Cairo Headlines, Ballhaus Naunynstraße, Berlin, Germany.
2012 — Signs of Resistance, Aufbau Haus Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany.
2012 — The Changing Room, curated by Aida Eltorie, Charing Cross tube station, London, England.
2012 — Super Market, Al Gazira Art Center, Cairo, Egypt.
2012 — ITB Tourism Festival, Berlin, Germany.
2012 — Shift Delete 30, Saad Zaghloul Art Center, Cairo, Egypt.
2011 — Renditions, Maraya Art Center, curated by Aida Eltorie, Sharjah, UAE.
2011 — The Changing Room: Arab Reflections on Praxis and Time, curated by Aida Eltorie, Spazio Qubi Gallery, Torino, Italy.
2011 — Manifest 770, Incline Gallery, San Francisco, USA.
2010 — Manifesta 8, Murcia, Spain.
2010 — Residency Projects I, Kala Art Institute Gallery, Berkeley, California, USA.
Filmography
Under development — Film Romancy (A Romantic Film), feature documentary hybrid (editor and director). Production: Seen Films, Cairo.
2018 — The Wardrobe Man (48 min), experimental docu-fiction (editor, performer and director).
2012 — Pulse (4 min), experimental documentary short (editor and director).
2010 — Still Recording (50 min), experimental documentary (editor and director).
2009 — Keep Recording (40 min), experimental documentary (editor and director).
2009 — All the Important Issues (14 min), experimental short (performer, editor and director).
Museum Acquisitions
The Egyptian Museum in Munich (Museum Ägyptischer Kunst München), Germany.
Curatorial Work
2025 — Heels Over Head, American University in Cairo Visual Arts senior exhibition, AUC Tahrir Campus, Cairo, Egypt.
2025 — Earth, Birds, and Metal Dragons, solo show by Amr el Kafrawy, Sharjah Gallery, American University in Cairo, Egypt.
2024 — MedRX Portal (co-curator), Sharjah Gallery, American University in Cairo, Egypt.
2024 — Solidarity Now, Visual Arts program juried open student exhibition, Sharjah Gallery, American University in Cairo, Egypt.
2024 — Kharasana: Construction Site, American University in Cairo Visual Arts senior exhibition, AUC Tahrir Campus, Cairo, Egypt.
2016 — Oshtoora Festival, Fayoum, Egypt.
2015 — Oshtoora Festival, Sinai desert, Egypt.
Publications
2020 — “I Am Serious!”, essay published in International Journal of Middle East Studies 52, no. 3 (2020): 516–25.
2016 — Visual Expression and Design, educational curriculum, ADEF (Arab Digital Expression Foundation).
2014 — RGB (1), graphic novel, B.E.B.A Editions.
Residencies, Fellowships, and Awards
2023 — Work Stipend Grant, Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe, Germany.
2022 — Studio Takhshina Residency, Goethe Institute, Cairo, Egypt.
2022 — Artist in Residence, RAIR Philly, Philadelphia, USA.
2021 — Artist in Residence, Philomena+ Gallery, Vienna, Austria.
2020 — Al Mawred Al Thaqafi (Cultural Resource) production grant.
2020 — AFAC (Arab Fund for Arts and Culture) Artist Support Grant.
2020 — Art Jameel Research and Practice Platform Grant.
2020 — Home Not Alone Artist in Residence fellowship, ProHelvetia, Zurich, Switzerland.
2018 — Artist in Residence fellowship, Vermont Studio Center, USA.
2017 — Kultur Kontakt Austria fellowship, Vienna, Austria.
2016 — March Project residency, Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE.
2016 — Arte East Fellowship – Art Omi International Artists’ Residency.
2013 — Artist in Residence Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center, USA.
2012 — AFAC (Arab Fund for Arts and Culture) Express Grant.
2011 — Visiting Artist-in-Residence, Kansas State University, USA.
2010 — Artist in Residence Fellowship, KALA Art Institute, Berkeley, USA.
2006 — Fulbright Arts Grant.
Artist Lectures
2025 — Medrar for Contemporary Art, Cairo, Egypt.
2022 — Medrar for Contemporary Art, Cairo, Egypt.
2020 — Hixson-Lied Visiting Artist Lecture, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA.
2020 — Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon, USA.
2020 — Sarah Lawrence College, New York, USA.
2018 — University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA.
2018 — Centre Pompidou, Paris, France.
2016 — Residency Unlimited, New York, USA.
2015 — Foundation Center for Contemporary Art (CSM), Kyiv, Ukraine.
2015 — Cairo University, Egypt.
2014 — The Palace of the Arts, Cairo, Egypt.
2013 — ET4U Organization, West Jutland, Denmark.
2012 — German University in Cairo.
2011 — Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA.
2011 — American University in Cairo, Egypt.
2010 — California College of the Arts (CCA), San Francisco, USA.
2010 — Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, California, USA.
2007 — Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA.
Bassem Yousri 