Artist Spotlight on Ahmed Nagy

Name: Ahmed Nagy

 

Where I live: Cairo, Egypt

 

My greatest inspiration: It is simply based on anything that opens the mind to new ideas and ways of thinking; asking and addressing questions about something that I am interested in; setting up a frame for a topic that guides a process and determines its focus; and continuously questions, with things like: What if this was like that? When will this not be true? Where would this look out of place?  

 

My hero: Iis searching behind the scenes

 

My most treasured possession(s): There are many things:  how to link subjects and context to each other; to know the difference between things that are very similar to each other; the capacity to translate an idea into an artwork; to switch my mind in order to understand a new subject, and to achieve something I didn't know before. It gives me the opportunity to create new challenges that didn't exist yet.

 

My favorite thing to do: To observe, watch and critically analyse are the best exercise for me. I consider them as being part of a process to break down a complex subject into smaller piece, in order to gain a better understanding of it. It strenghtens the idea that suggestions are better received and analyzed when one is cool-headed. 

 

My favorite words to live by: Real art is made with a deeper understanding and is not the result of some weak whims. It should be based on some kind of research in order to allow the opportunity to create new possibilities, meaning  "The possibility of impossibility". I call my artistic practice "a detection of something that does not exist yet."

 

My proudest moment or my greatest achievement: The establishment of the "Space for contemporary art and culture development," a virtual, independent non-profit organization devoted to contemporary art and cultural development and aiming to explore and document contemporary artistic production for established and emerging artists: exploratory contemporary art exhibitions - development of the monetary theory in the Egyptian contemporary art scene.

“Experiments in Arab Cinema” at Simon Fraser University (SFU), Vancouver, Canada, 2013.

"Future Imperfect: Cultural Propositions and Global Perspectives" an interview under the title of [An open methodology] as a contribution to (IBRAAZ Platform 006), Tate Modern, 2013.

“Long Saturday” during the program; (Window to the orient "Cairo") at “Bündner Kunstmuseum”, in Chur, Switzerland, 2013.

“PROGR Festival” Bern, Switzerland, 2013.

“Pro- Helvetia” Artist in residence for 3 months, Switzerland, 2013.

 

The best advice I received: "Don't do things that are possible to do by any stupid person."

 

The best advice I ever gave: "Everyone has a brain-fingerprint, and we must seek to detect it and use it." The nature of creativity always holds more than we think. Our relationship between the "self" and the "thing" is formed by “perception”. Formally, the act of perceiving may require the involvement of old meanings to create new meanings. When the mind grasps the thing freely - understanding it or not understanding it, or understanding it according to or through the context of endless abstract or concrete topics - when the mind actually grasps it, and regardless of the extent of which it does, it is only subject to the specific requirements inherent in the nature of perception.

 

I joined APT because: It is an international professional network, has a smart long-term investment project and is dealing with the most distinguished artists and curators globally.

 

Currently working on:

- Part II of "Sympathy With Hysteria" video-series,

- Solo exhibition based on my experience in Switzerland last 3 months as an artist in residence supported by "Pro Helvetia" Cultural exchange program.

- Preparing the third project of "Space For Contemporary Art And Culture Development" as a workshop for three months with seven emerging artists followed by an exhibition.

 

Currently exploring issues of: The Real Reasons Behind the Global Issues such as: social, political, economic, geographical and environmental issues and how to link them together via different  contexts.

 

What I love most about creating art/ being an artist:

To know / exploring something just like:

"PERFORMATIVE SENTENCES"

Part II of «When We Are Successful, And We Will Be» 2012.

The question based on “George H.WBush” speech in January / 16 / 1991, when he said: «When We Are Successful. And We Will Be».

                             

                              1/5 – C-Print on paper
                                      5 framed Pages  36.5 x 25 cm (each) © 2012
                                                                                            

 

I create art where I feel: There are many things around us, as an artwork itself without any kind of mediation just like:

“A STATEMENT OF COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP”

Part IIII of "When We Are Successful, and We Will Be." - A series of images based on an interview with “Housewife” lives in popular neighborhood.

The photographed objects sometimes have been freed from their contexts to emphasize

the manufacture of artificial aesthetics.

"The Aesthetics of Intelligent Systems-For Them and Us,"

 

1/5 – Photography - 134 x 122 cm © 2013.

For more about Ahmed, visit his artist's profile page here.