Ahmed El Shaer is a contemporary artist born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1981 who currently lives and works in New York, USA. El Shaer is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice spans the mediums of installation, photography, sound, and moving images, with a particular interest in new technologies. holds a B.F.A. from the Faculty of Art and Education and is currently a Ph.D. student at the computing and games department at Abertay University, Scotland, UK.
He exhibited in various international art venues, including the 56th Venice Biennal, Venice, Italy (2015). Bamako Biennale, Bamako-Mali (2011) Cairotronica New Media Festival, Cairo, Egypt. Sanctioned Array, White Box, New York, USA (2010). Solo show at the Museum of the Moving Image, New York, USA (2019). Rencontres Internationales Festival Paris/Berlin: Represent Egypt at the 59th Venice Biennale 2022.
El Shaer was awarded several times, including the Fulbright fellowship in Los Angeles at UCLA Game Lab 2018, the Salon of Youth Honour Award in 2002, the first in media in 2003, and the first in media art in 2013 in Cairo, Egypt. He was granted several artists in residence programs: Prohelvetia, Zurich, 2009; Cite Internationale D’Arte Paris, invited by the French Institute, France, 2016; and ArtOMI RESIDENCY, New York, USA, 2012.
His work is in public collections, including New Cinema in Paris, France, and the Museum of Modern Art in Cairo, Egypt. His works have been featured in several publications, including Contemporary Practices Magazine, Hanan al-Cinema Affections for the Moving Image, and MIT Press. By Laura U. Marks.