Pitching the City
05/29/15 7PM
SCREENING: The Dent by Basim Magdy
Cover Image:
Basim Magdy, The Dent, 2014, Super 16mm film transferred to Full HD video. 19 min 02 sec. (Commissioned by the Abraaj Group Art prize 2014. Courtesy the artist)
Introduction by Lauren Cornell
The New Museum will screen the lush experimental film The Dent (2014) by Basim Magdy (b. 1977, Assiut, Egypt) on loop, from 9 p.m. until midnight. Shot in 16mm film across Europe, North America, and the Middle East, The Dent tells of a small town’s futile bid to host the Olympics, while considering how aspirations for progress are often thwarted by bad human behaviors: violence, fear, paranoia. With vivid scenes of local life—stadiums, construction sites, and parades—synced to a lilting, melodic score, The Dent has a universal feel, as if the “small town” could be any place, even somewhere in New York City.
