Engy Mohsen
I am a visual artist and an architect, recently graduated with a B.Sc. in Architecture from the German University in Cairo and Brandenburg University of Technology in Cottbus, Germany. My first encounter with art education happened through being a participant of two alternative formats, namely Roznama 6 Studio Program and MASS Alexandrina Independent Studio/Study Programme. Both of which involved a critical discourse on contemporary art practices that has been tremendously helpful in defining, articulating and reshaping my practice while still maintaining creative exploration. The constant inclination towards the inclusion of the other in my work and the notion of space as a core element are evidently informed by my practice and training of Architecture and understanding of space.
However I am currently interested in the discourse socially-engaged practices as well as the notions of participation and collectivity. This includes experimenting with discursive acts and choreographing spaces as well as working with conversation as a medium, while borrowing the tools of performative research. I have also experimented with organising and hosting formats that invite non-artists to engage with artists in order to produce knowledge about the relations between artists and their immediate context and how this affect the organisation of spaces for art practice, research and art education. My early works explored methodologies of how conversations that happen through encounters with others can create a physical space or an image of one. After that I shifted positions to explore the capacity of space to let a conversation unravel. Therefore, there is a continuous interest in the tension between spaces and conversations and the possibility of how can one lead to the creation of the other.
My work that ranges from performance to painting, photography, video works and most recently publications has been shown in group exhibitions in Alexandria, Beirut, Cairo, London and Venice. Among these venues is The Egyptian Pavilion in the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2018, Medrar for Contemporary Art in Cairo, The Palace of Arts in Cairo Opera House, Egyptian Cultural Centre in London, American University in Cairo, American University of Beirut, and Bibliotheca Alexandria.