Shapeshifting
Ahmed Basiony, 30 Days of Running in the Place (still), 2011. Three channel video installation. |
HISTORIES OF NOW: SIX ARTISTS FROM CAIRO | School of the Museum of Fine Arts | January 18–March 17 | Egyptian artist Ahmed Basiony was killed — apparently by sniper fire — in Cairo last January 28, during the beginning of Arab Spring protests that would overturn the Egyptian government. Beginning in June, he posthumously represented his country in the Venice Biennale with videos of a 2010 show in which he performed daily in a plastic suit with sensors that converted his movements and physiology into designs projected on a screen behind him. Basiony's project, along with videos he made of the protests before his death, is featured with recent art by Egyptians Mohamed Abla, Hala Elkoussy, Shady El Noshokaty, Sabah Naim, and Moataz Nasr that give a snapshot of a country on the eve of revolution. "If they want war, we want peace," Basiony wrote in his last Facebook post. "And I will practice proper restraint until the end, to regain my nation's dignity."
230 the Fenway, Boston | Free | 617.267.6100 or smfa.edu
LOOK AHEAD: All the movies, music, theater, games, restaurants (and more!) you'll be checking out in 2012