Mahmoud Khaled joins the Art Center as the newest Jackman Goldwasser Resident and will spend several weeks here, from May 26 – July 3, connecting his interdisciplinary practice to the city’s artistic and cultural scene. While in residence, he will be visiting exhibitions, doing studio visits and research, gathering artists for informal discussions, and present a talk on his work, Thursday, June 4 from 6pm at Hyde Park Art Center, discussion to follow.

This visit to Chicago will be a first for Khaled, who is originally from Alexandria, Egypt and currently based in Trondheim, Norway. At the core of his practice lies a probing engagement with the construction of male identity. In a global culture increasingly shaped by mediated and virtual exchanges, his work aims to trace the boundaries between what is real and what is hidden, disguised or staged. The impact of his training as an academic painter can be seen in his concern with form, which is at once extravagant and austere.

About the artist:
Mahmoud Khaled mixes photography and video with sculptural forms, sound and text and creates subjects who are often unconventional. His single-channel videos and installations have portrayed a professional male belly dancer, a group of bodybuilders, bullfighters and online communities of HIV-infected individuals. Many of his works can be regarded as formal and philosophical ruminations on the value and meaning of art as a form of political activism, an object of desire and a space for critical reflection.

Khaled was born in 1982 in Alexandria, Egypt. He currently lives and works in Trondheim, Norway. His work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions in art spaces and centers in Europe and the Middle East, including: Gypsum Gallery, Cairo (2014); 18th Videobrasil Festival for Contemporary Art, Sao Paulo; Lofoten International Art Festival, Norway; Home Works Forum 6, Beirut; Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg; (2013); Institute Du Monde Arab, Paris (2012); Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (SMBA), Amsterdam (2011); BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK; Contemporary Image Collective, Cairo (2010); Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn and UKS, Oslo, Norway (2009). His projects have been featured in biennales such as Manifesta 8: European Biennale for Contemporary Art, Biacs 3, Seville Biennale, and 1st Canary Islands Biennale, Spain. He was awarded the Videobrasil in Context prize in 2012.