Selwa Abd

Lives and works in NYC, NY

Artist statement

Selwa Abd aka Bergsonist is a Moroccan-born, New York–based multimedia artist, composer, performer, and researcher. Her practice spans live performances, audio-video installations, sound compositions and recorded music. A recipient of the Issue Project Room Residency (2022), the Harvestworks Technology Immersion Program Grant & Fellowship (2022), the Jerome Hill Artist Alternate Award (2023), the NYFA x Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment Women Fund Grant (2024), and the NYSCA x Roulette Artist Grant (2025). Her work has been presented at MoMA PS1, Roulette, Moogfest, EKKO Festival, Mutek Festival, Sonic Acts Festival, Batalha Centro de Cinema, Amant and The Brooklyn Film Festival. Her practice has been recognized by The Washington Post, BOMB Magazine, GQ, Resident Advisor, Mixmag Mena, NPR and Artforum. Her work engages the reconfiguration of archival material — found sounds, processed sounds, and live video — into immersive environments and recorded music. Drawing on electroacoustic and musique concrète traditions and informed by Gilles Deleuze's interpretation of Henri Bergson, she employs electronics, DIY instruments, and signal processing (granular and spectral techniques) to examine postcolonial identity, techno-futurism, and the psychological effects of virtuality in contemporary culture. Intuition serves as both a critical and operative framework throughout her practice. Alongside her artistic work, she maintains a research interest in media theory, using...

Artwork