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BASIR MAHMOOD 

(b. 1985, Lahore, Pakistan) based between Amsterdam and Lahore.


 

Education 

 

  • Master of Film – Artistic Research in and through Cinema Netherlands Film Academy, Amsterdam University of the Arts, The Netherlands. 2025.

  • Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten (Research-Fellowship), Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2016-17. 

  • Beaconhouse National University (BFA, Distinction) Lahore, Pakistan, 2010. 


 

Solo Exhibitions 

 

  • Future is Empty curated by Quddus Mirza at the Canvas Gallery Karachi, 2022, Pakistan. 

  • Good Ended Happily curated by Kathrin Becker at the KINDL –Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin 2021-22, Germany.

  • I Watch you Do curated by Lauren Wetmore at the Cinéma Galeries Brussels 2019, Belgium.

  • Good Ended Happily at the Wilfried Lentz Rotterdam 2018, The Netherlands.

  • Eyes Recently Seen curated by Lauren Wetmore at the Letitia Gallery Beirut, 2018, Lebanon.

  • All Divided Equally curated by Salima Hashmi at the Canvas Gallery Karachi, 2018, Pakistan.

  • We are what we eat at Grey Noise, 2013, Dubai.

  • I won’t leave you till I die at Akademie Schloss Solitude, 2012, Germany and Grey Noise Lahore, 2011, Pakistan.

  • In the time of telling at Grey Noise Lahore, 2010, Pakistan.


 

Selected Group Exhibitions 

 

2026​

  • Colomboscope 2026 – Ninth Edition in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

2025

  • VISIO – Artists' Moving Image in Europe, Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

  • International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), Art Directions Programme, Katoenhuis, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

  • Far Away Is Close at Hand in Images of Elsewhere, transmediale 2025, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin, Germany.

2024

  • Nebula, organized by Fondazione In Between Art Film at Complesso dell’Ospedaletto, on the occasion of the Biennale Arte, Venice, Italy. 

  • Silent Times, Group Exhibition, Kunsthal Extra City, Antwerp, Belgium.

  • Manzar: Art and Architecture from Pakistan 1940s to Today, Group Exhibition, National Museum of Qatar, Doha, Qatar.

  • Nebula Expanded, Group Exhibition, MAXXI Videogallery, Rome, Italy.

2023

  • Tomorrow is a Different Day, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2023-2024), The Netherlands. 

2022     

  • Water Being Washed Away, Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna, Austria. 

  • II Video Rende Felici, Videoarte in Italia, Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Rome.

2021     

  • EURASIA- A landscape of mutability, M HKA – Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerpen, Belgium. 

  • International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), The Netherlands. 

  • Sheffield DocFest at Site: Here in This Room, UK. 

  • Fully Leaded, Industrieweg 23A, Duivendrecht, The Netherlands. 

  • DOKUFEST (International Documentary and Short Film Festival) Prizren, Kosovo. 

2020  

  • Lahore Biennale 02, Pakistan. 

  • Innsbruck international biennale, Austria. 

  • True/False Film Festival, Columbia, Missouri, United States. 

  • Identity XVI - My Home? - at Nichido Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan. 

  • THINGS MIGHT THINK online project funded by AFK, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 

  • The Paulo Cunha e Silva Art Prize Exhibition at Galeria Municipal do Porto, Portugal.

  • Mascarilla 19 – Codes of Domestic Violence at MAXXI - National Museum of 21st Century Art, Rome, Italy.   

  • Open City Documentary Festival, London, UK. 

2019    

  • Paradocs (IDFA), EYE Filmmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 

  • Above The Noise, National Science and Media Museum, Bradford, UK. 

  • Karachi Biennale 02, Pakistan. 

  • Art Dubai, (presented by Zilberman Gallery), UAE. 

  • First Look Screening, Museum of the Moving Image, NY, USA. 

  • Short Shadows: Second Time Around, EMPAC — Troy, NY, USA. 

  • Look, Stranger!, Serendipity Arts Festival Goa, India. 

  • I've seen your face before, Alice Yard, Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago. 

2018    

  • MUNICIPAL ART ACQUISITIONS, FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, The 

         Netherlands.

  • Monitor, Repeat After Me at Pakistan Pavilion, Izmir, Turkey. 

  • CPH:DOX, Copenhagen, Denmark. 

  • SIGN ‘Screenings & Settings’, Groningen, The Netherlands. 

  • 10th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany. 

  • SCENE & UNSEEN at Castle Old Rekem, Belgium. 

  • Curtas Vila do Conde, Vila do Conde, Portugal. 

  • Sharhaj Production Programme Exihibition, UAE.                   

  • IDFA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 

2017    

  • Set in Motion (IDFA), EYE Filmmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 

  • Directing the Real, VISIO, Sala delle Carrozze, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence, Italy. 

  • Rijksakademie OPEN, Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.             

  • la pensée du tremblement at Les Grands Voisins, Paris, France 

  • Tableaux Vivants, Foundation Etrillard, Paris, France 

  • Planet 9, Kunsthalle Daramstdt, Germany 

  • Polyphonic Worlds: Justice as Medium – Contour Biennale 8, Mechelen, Belgium. 

  • Transformations, Galerie Akinci, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 

  • The Open Hand at Gujral Foundation, Jor Bagh, New Delhi, India. 

2016    

  • RijksakademieOPEN 2016, Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 

  • For an Image, Faster Than Light – Yinchuan Biennial, Yinchuan, China. 

  • Syntax and Society at The Abraaj Group Art Prize, Dubai. 

  • Time of Others at Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia. 

2015    

  • Time of others at Singapore Art Museum (SAM). Singapore 

  • FIVA 05 at the National Library, Buenos Aires, Argentina 

  • Time of others at National Museum of Art Osaka (NMAO), Japan. 

  • Art Prize CBM at Premio Carlo Bonatto Minella, Turin, Italy. 

  • Ich und Du at The Hospitalhof, Stuttgart, Germany. 

  • Time of others at Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (MOT), Japan. 

2014    

  • Alchemy at Southbank Center, London, UK. 

  • Les Rencontres Internationales, at Gaîté Lyrique and Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France. 

  • Des hommes, des mondes, college des bernardins, Paris, France. 

  • At Intervals at the Cooper Gallery Project Space, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, UK. 

2013    

  • Survival Kit Festival, Umeå, Sweden. 

  • PARALLEL VIENNA 2013 Video program by Galerie Utopia, Vienna, Austria. 

  • 18o Festival Internacional de Arte Contemporânea Sesc_Videobrasil, São Paulo, Brazil. 

  • Sharjah Biennial 11, Sharjah. 

  • Art Dubai, (presented by Grey Noise, Dubai), UAE 

  • LISTE 18, Basel (presented by Grey Noise, Dubai), Switzerland.     

  • V-Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany. 

2012    

  • Rencontres Internationales at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France. 

  • APT 7, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia. 

  • Melancholy in Progress, Taiwan International Video Art Exhibition organized by the Hong-Gah Museum,  

  Taiwan. 

  • Inaugural Show, Broad Museum, MSU, Michigan, USA. 

  • The Garden of Eden, Video Program at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France. 

  • III Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Moscow, Russia. 

  • The first AIVA Angelholm International Video Art Festival, Sweden. 

  • Hidden & Forbidden Identities, Venice, Italy. 

  • The Divided Self , Slought Foundation, USA. 

  • RÖMER #11 – A CLOSER VIEW, Römerstraße 2, Stuttgart, Germany. 

2011  

  • Rencontres Internationales @ GAÎTÉ LYRIQUE, Paris, France.              

  • India Art Summit, New Delhi, India. 

2010    

  • The Rising Tide, The Mohatta Palace Museum Karachi, Pakistan.              

  • Cairo Film Festival, Cairo, Egypt. 


 

Residences 

 

  • Wiels, Brussels, Belgium, 2026.

  • Sacatar Instituto, Bahia, Brazil, 2014. 

  • Gasworks, London, UK, 2013. 

  • ARCUS Project, Ibaraki, Japan, 2012. 

  • Casa Dell'Arte Residency, Turkey, 2012. 

  • Akademie Schloss Solitude Fellowship, Germany, 2011-12. 


 

Curatorial Projects 

 

  • Curated Program: Go Short International Short Film Festival, 2025.

  • Curator of Stedelijk Museum Video Club x IDFA, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2018. 


 

Awards 

 

  • Winner Ammodo Tiger Short Award, International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), The Netherlands, 2021. 

  • Een stipendium, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, The Netherlands, 2022. 

  • Kunstenaar Basis Grant, Mondriaan Fonds, The Netherlands, 2022-26. 

  • Winner International Short Film Award, Open City Documentary Festival, London, UK, 2020. 

  • Winner of the second edition of the Paulo Cunha e Silva Art Prize, Porto, Portugal, 2020. 

  • Stipendium for Established Artists ( Werkbijdrage Bewezen Talent), Mondriaan Fonds, The Netherlands, 2018-22. 

  • VISIO Young Talent Acquisition Prize (3rd edition), Florence Italy, 2017. 

  • The Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF) Production Programme Grant, Sharjah, 2016. 

  • Shortlist Abraaj Group Art Prize, Dubai, 2016. 

  • South Asia Institute 2015 Emerging Artist Award, Harvard University, USA, 2015. 

  • Art Prize CBM at Premio Carlo Bonatto Minella, Turin, Italy, 2015-16. 

  • Award winner of 18th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil Prize, São Paulo, Brazil, 2013. 

  • Awarded Filminute Jury Commendation for a Short Film 'Dot In the Line’, 2011. 

  • Graduated in Fine Arts with a Distinction from the School of Visual Arts, BNU, Pakistan, 2010. 


 

Selected Talks 

 

  • Network  Week Programme at Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, The Netherlands (2023)

  • KINDL –Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin, 2021. 

  • Harabel Contemporary Art Platform, Tiranë, Albania, 2019. 

  • Conversation with Philippe-Alain Michaud at the French Pavilion, Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice, 2018. 

  • Action at a Distance VI, Corridor Project Space, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2018. 

  • Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon, 2019. 

  • Futur 3, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen Düsseldorf, Germany, 2016. 

  • The Harvard University South Asia Institute (SAI), A memory, a monument, a material, Cambridge, USA, 2015. Goldsmiths, University of London The Contemporary Art Talks, Department of Art, London, UK, 2013. 


 

Work in Collections: 

 

  • Queensland Art Gallery collection in Brisbane, Australia.

  • The Centre national des arts plastiques (National Centre for Visual Arts, Cnap), France.

  • M HKA – Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerpen, Belgium.

  • The Egbert and Loes Dommering Collection, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

  • FRAC (Fonds régional d'art contemporain) Bretagne, France.

  • Qatar Museums Collection, Doha, Qatar. 

  • KADIST in Paris/San Francisco.

  • Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

© BASIR MAHMOOD 2024

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