Wael Shawky 'Drama 1882' at MOCA, Los Angeles, USA
28 January 2025
From 20 February – 16 March, MOCA presents the U.S. premiere of Wael Shawky's film installation Drama 1882.
Debuted at the Egyptian Pavilion of the 2024 Venice Biennale, this moving image work takes the form of an eight-part opera, performed for the camera and filmed in a historic theatre in Alexandria. Based on extensive periods of research and enquiry, Wael Shawky’s work tackles notions of national, religious and artistic identity through film, performance and storytelling.
Drama 1882 takes the populist Urabi revolution in Egypt against British imperialism (1879-1882) as its foundation, specifically a cafe brawl between a local donkey owner and a Maltese man that unleashed events that precipitated over seventy years of British colonial rule in Egypt. Seamlessly integrating fact, speculation, and fiction, Shawky proposes alternatives to established records. Sung entirely in classical Arabic by professional performers with sensational costumes and against the backdrop of colourful, expressionist sets, Drama 1882 is a spectacular restaging of historical events and further explores Shawky’s interest in historical counter-narratives, ultimately emphasizing the futility of war while probing the implications of drama itself.
According to Shawky, the work “conjures a sense of entertainment, of catastrophe, and our inherent doubt in history.”
Find out more via MOCA.
Image: Wael Shawky, Drama 1882, 2024, 4k video, sound, color, VFX, Arabic, © Wael Shawky, Courtesy Lisson Gallery
