Wael Shawky’s operatic cinematic masterpiece Drama 1882 makes its Australian Premiere at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Media Release 04 march,2026

Image: GIF – Wael Shawky, Drama 1882, 4k video, color, sound, 2024, film still, Courtesy of the artist and
Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Lisson Gallery, Lia Rumma, Barakat Contemporary; GIF- Wael Shawky, Drama 1882, 2024, installation view, Wael Shawky, Drama 1882, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, 2025, 4k video installation, sound, colour, VFX, image courtesy the artist, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Lisson Gallery, Lia Rumma, Barakat Contemporary and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia © the artist, photograph: Hamish McIntosh; Wael Shawky, Portrait, Courtesy of the artist and Sfeir-Semler Gallery.

Be transported to 1882 Alexandria — a pivotal moment in Egyptian history, reimagined through Shawky’s visionary world of colour, movement and spectacle.

Drama 1882 arrives in Sydney following global acclaim. At Venice, the work drew record crowds and rave reviews, with Apollo observing “hours‑long queues” outside the Egyptian Pavilion. Vogue praised the film as “one of the most powerful and mesmerizing pieces” of the Biennale, while Wallpaper described it as “a must‑see… awe‑inspiring in scale and scope.” The New York Times hailed it as “mesmerizing… a lush retelling of a failed revolution that offers hope in a troubled political landscape.”

Filmed in a historic theatre in Alexandria and performed entirely in classical Arabic, Shawky’s operatic 45-minute film brings together more than 150 Egyptian performers across eight meticulously crafted scenes. Combining music, choreography and theatre, Drama 1882 marks a pivotal moment in Egyptian history.

Directed, choreographed and composed by Shawky, the work is a spectacular retelling of history from a local perspective and takes as its foundation the Urabi Revolution (1879–1882) – a populist uprising against British imperial influence. It begins with a seemingly minor incident – a dispute in a café between a donkey owner and a Maltese man – that spirals into events culminating in more than seventy years of British colonial rule.

Shawky seamlessly blends fact, speculation and fiction to reimagine the historical record, inviting audiences to consider alternative perspectives on a defining episode in Egypt’s recent past. Featuring spectacular costumes and vibrant, painterly sets, Shawky’s richly detailed mise‑en‑scène, reflects his long-standing interest in the ways drama and storytelling shape our understanding of events.

As Shawky notes, the film ‘conjures a sense of entertainment, of catastrophe, and our inherent doubt in history.’

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia Director, Suzanne Cotter, says, ‘We are excited for the Australian public to experience this mesmerizing and seductive work that has captivated so many people from around the world. With Drama 1882 Wael Shawky has created for us a beautifully stylised staging of history composed of people, costumes, sets, and voice that resonates powerfully with our present time.’

Public Program

The Biennale of Sydney × Live at the MCA
Live at the MCA: Sham El-Neseem | A Night with Egyptian‑Australian performers, Thursday 2 April at 6 – 9 pm

As part of the Live at the MCA series on Thursday evenings, join a moonlit celebration of Sham El-Neseem—a festival dating back to ancient Egypt, celebrated across religions and backgrounds as a time of renewal and community.

In this special Biennale of Sydney edition, Live at the MCA marks Sham El-Neseem with a vibrant line up of live music by Egyptian-Australian talent including singer-songwriter Mariam Sawires and hip-hop artist Kid Pharaoh, opportunities to take part in traditional henna tattooing, palm weaving, and Egyptian food and beverage offerings on the Terrace. Visit Egyptian artist Wael Shawky’s virtuosic masterpiece Drama 1882 in the MCA Galleries and be transported to Alexandria in the late 19th century.

Curated by queer Egyptian-Australian writer & presenter, Daniel Nour, Sham El-Neseem at the MCA features a brilliant line up of talent to celebrate Sydney’s Egyptian-Australian community. This event celebrates the cultural depth and contemporary resonance of Shawky’s work in a broader community context.

Shawky represented Egypt at the 60th Venice Biennale (2024) and his work has been the subject of major exhibitions internationally including Daegu Art Museum, Daegu, South Korea (2024); Pompeii Archaeological Park, Pompeii, Italy (2023); M Leuven Museum, Brussels, Belgium (2022); The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, USA (2021); The Louvre Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE (2020); ARoS, Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark (2018); Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy (2016); Fondazione Merz, Turin, Italy (2016); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2016); Fondazione Merz, Zurich, Switzerland (2016); MATHAF, Doha, Qatar (2015); MoMA P.S.1, New York, USA (2015); 15th Istanbul Biennale, Istanbul, Turkey (2015); Documenta 13, Kassel, Germany (2012); 9th Gwangju Biennial, South Korea (2012).

In 2010, he founded MASS Alexandria, an independent nonprofit school for contemporary art, that offers spaces for art practices, interdisciplinary research, and critical thinking education.
In 2024, he was named Artistic Director of the Doha Fire Station, where he launched the Arts Intensive Study Program (AISP) for 20 emerging Qatari and international artists. In 2025, Shawky was appointed Artistic Director of the inaugural edition of Art Basel Qatar, which took place in February 2026. In 2025, Shawky was ranked 4^th in ArtReview’s prestigious annual Power 100 list of the most influential people in the art world.

Wael Shawky, Drama 1882 is presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Level 1 Galleries, from 5 March 2026 – 29 June 2026.

Curator: Jane Devery, MCA Senior Curator, Exhibitions

The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA Australia) presents, collects and engages with the art of our time. Guided by the principles of belonging, connection and influence, we aim to be the defining platform for contemporary art and ideas in Australia and beyond. Located on Sydney Harbour at Tallawoladah, a home to stories, art and culture for over 65,000 years, we connect the widest possible public to contemporary art through exhibitions, events, creative learning and access programs. Our evolving Collection of over 4,700 artworks is the only public collection in Australia dedicated to the work of living artists, with over a third represented by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. As an independent, not-for-profit organisation, MCA Australia raises over 80% of its revenue each year through donations and commercial activities to deliver its artistic and engagement programs.