Heba Amin

Amin was born and grew up in Cairo. She was educated at Cairo American College in Maadi. Amin moved to the United States in 1998 and studied Mathematics and Studio Art receiving a BA diploma from Macalester College. She enrolled in a post-graduate program at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2005. She received an MFA in interactive design from the College of Design at the University of Minnesota in 2009.[1] Following her studies, she was awarded a DAAD (German Academic Exchange) grant for her project "Alternative Memorials" at the University of Applied Sciences, Berlin.[2] She is a DCRL Fellow in Leuphana University in Lüneburg (2017), a doctoral fellow in at BGSMSC at Freie Universität in Berlin from 2016 to present, and a current Field of Vision fellow in NYC.[2]

Amin's works are embedded in extensive research and interrogating the convergence of politics, technology, and urbanism. She is currently the curator of Visual Art for Mizna (Minneapolis, USA), curator for the biennial residency program DEFAULT with Ramdom Association (IT) (Italy) and co-founder of the Black Athena Collective along with artist Dawit L. Petros. She is also one of the artists behind the subversive action on the set of the television series "Homeland" which received worldwide media attention.[3]

Hired by the producers of the Homeland television series to incorporate "authentic" Arabic graffiti, Amin spray-painted subversive graffiti on the set of the show. Written in Arabic, the graffiti actually criticized the show Homeland itself, with phrases such as "Homeland is racist".[4] Amin has criticized Homeland for its inaccuracy and bias in its portrayal of people from various countries in the Middle East.[5]

Amin illustrated a children's book Extraordinary Women in the Muslim World;[6] the book received a Moonbeam Children's Book Award.[7]

Amin has taken part in group exhibitions at the Dak'Art Biennale 2016, Marakkech Biennale Parallel Projects 2016, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, the Kunstverein in Hamburg, Camera Austria, Berlin Berlinale 9th Forum Expanded Exhibition, the IV Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, the WRO 15th Media Art Biennale Poland, the National Gallery of Mongolia, and the Art Museum of Gotland Sweden. She has received a DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst) grant and a Rhizome commission grant and was shortlisted for the artraker prize.[8]

Amin has had teaching positions at the University of Minnesota, American University in Cairo, and the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin.[9] She has given various lectures and workshops worldwide. Her work titled The Earth Is an Imperfect Ellipsoid (2016) was featured in Mizna's Summer'16 Issue, where she was also interviewed in Lana Barkawi's essay "Criticality and Dissent".[10]

Amin currently lives in Berlin and works as a lecturer at Bard College Berlin.

• 2019 "History Is Not Here: Art and the Arab Imaginary" Minnesota Museum of American Art, St Paul, MN, USA
• 2016 "Beton" Kunsthalle Wien, Austria
• 2016 "The Earth is an Imperfect Ellipsoid" Galeri Zilberman, Istanbul, Turkey
• 2016 "The City in the Blue Daylight" Dak’Art Biennale, Dakar, Senegal
• 2016 Cairotronica, Cairo, Egypt
• 2016 "Ultrahabitat" Gallery Zilberman Berlin, Germany
• 2016 "As Birds Flying/Kama Tohalleq al Teyour" Art Dubai Film Program
• 2016 "The Earth is an Imperfect Ellipsoid" Marrakech Biennale, Parallel Projects, Morocco
• 2016 "Making Use" Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Poland
• 2016 "Fluidity" curated by Bettina Steinbrügge (Kunstverein in Hamburg), Nina Möntmann (Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm) and Vanessa Joan Müller (Kunsthalle Vienna) at Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany
• 2015 "To What End?" curated by Gulsen Bal, Walter Seidle at Camera Austria, Graz, Austria
• 2014 "Les Rencontres Internationales de la Photo de Fes–8eme edition" curated by Selva Barni & Francesca Girelli, Institut Francais Fes, Morocco
• 2014 "A Time for Dreams" curated by David Elliot, IV Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Russia
• 2014 "9th Forum Expanded: What Do We Know When We Know Where Something Is?" 64th Berlinale, Berlin, Germany
• 2012 "The Download" Rhizome, The New Museum, NY, USA
• 2012 "(Is there) Light in outer space?" exUrban Screens, Melbourne, Australia
• 2011 "Let’s Get Ready" Pixxelpoint New Media Art Festival, Nova Gorica, Slovenia

• 2016 "As Birds Flying/Kama Tohalleq al Teyour" Forum Expanded, 66th Berlinale, Berlin, Germany
• 2016 "Homeland is Not a Series" Field of Vision, International Film Festival in Rotterdam, The Netherlands
• 2014 "MEI Film Festival Davenport", St. Ambrose University, IA
• 2013 "Difference Screen" curated by Bruce Allan, Ben Eastop, ARKO Arts Centre, Seoul, South Korea
• 2013 "Difference Screen" curated by Bruce Allan, Ben Eastop, Artisterium, Tbilisi, Georgia
• 2013 "Difference Screen" curated by Bruce Allan, Ben Eastop, Mongolian National Modern Art Gallery, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
• 2013 "Difference Screen" curated by Bruce Allan, Ben Eastop, Clearwell Caves, Forest of Dean, UK
• 2012 "Mizna’s 7th Twin Cities Arab Film Festival" Minneapolis, MN USA
• 2012 "Fluid Spaces" Alfilm Arabisches Film Festival Berlin/ifa Galerie

• 2020 Prize, Anni and Heinrich Sussmann Artist Award
• 2019 Prize, Paulo Cunha E. Silva Prize, short-list
• 2018 Prize, Kunstpreis der Böttcherstrasse, short-list
• 2018 Production Grant, Valletta 2018 Commission, European Capital of Culture, Malta
• 2018 Production Grant, Akademie der Künste der Welt/Köln, Germany
• 2017 Production Grant, Shuttleworth Foundation Flash Grant
• 2016 Production Grant, Interkultur Ruhr Commission, Metropole Ruhr, Germany
• 2014 Prize, Artraker Artist Prize, short-list
• 2009 Prize, Rhizome Commissions Program, New Museum, NYC, NY
• 2007 Production Grant, “Latitudes” Mizna Granting Program, Minneapolis, MN
• 2004 Curatorial Grant, “Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Community Arts Grant” Minneapolis, MN

• "Heba Amin's web site".