
WAEL SHAWKY | Drama 1882 | Solo show | Grand Palais, Paris, France
With captivating videos, sculptures, and meticulous historical reconstructions, Wael Shawky participates in the Saison Méditerranée 2026 at the Grand Palais in Paris, after the success at the Venice Biennale 2024, questioning the authority of written history and its ambiguities. Colonel Ahmed Urabi, peasant turned founder of the Egyptian Nationalist Party, led the uprising and worked to return Egypt to its people. What event in 1882 could have imploded his popular movement, precipitated the bombardment of Alexandria by British forces and caused his exile? With meticulous attention to detail, Wael Shawky stages a musical, theatrical and magical tale filmed in a historic Alexandria theater, against a striking pictorial backdrop. The performers and soundtrack seem to be part of the same moving painting. The sets move in slow motion, while the characters seem hypnotized, evolving in a slow, spellbinding choreography. Drama takes on many faces: it can be entertainment, catastrophe, or the doubt inherent in the story.
- Grand Palais, Paris, France
- 3, avenue du Général Eisenhower, 75008 Paris
- 10 giugno – 26 luglio 2026





