selwa abd ✿ bergsonist

Selwa Abd is a Moroccan-born,
New York-based interdisciplinary artist, composer, and design researcher working with time-based media.
Her prolific and thought-provoking output challenges critical questions surrounding the future of technology, her own fragmented personal identity shaped by the complexities of post-colonial urban environments, and the influence of virtual realities on contemporary society.

Inspired by Deleuze's interpretation of Henri Bergson's philosophical framework, she embraces intuition as a legitimate method for investigating these complex issues in all her creative endeavors.

In her performances, she crafts intuitive soundscapes by layering manipulated sonic fragments with acoustic sounds. Blurring the lines between reality and virtuality, she explores speculative futures within the tensions of the present. Her work draws influence from musique concrète, electro-acoustic music, sound art, and minimalism.

Selwa has collaborated with a wide range of cultural artists across the art and music worlds. Her compositions have been featured in contemporary art exhibitions, and she has remixed works by musical artists, including Depeche Mode.

She has curated musical and non-musical events for projects such as Bizaarbazaar, Pick Up the Flow, and 3afak, as well as for compilations she has released. Her curatorial work is an ongoing and integral part of her practice, often operating quietly in the background.

She is a recipient of the NYSCA x Roulette Artist Grant (2025), NYFA x Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment’s Women Fund Grant (2024), The Jerome Hill Artist Alternate Award (2023), the Issue Project Room Residency (2022) and Harvestworks Technology Immersion Program Grant & Fellowship (2022).

Selwa has shown works at MOMA Ps1, Roulette, Moogfest , National Sawdust, EKKO Festival, Sonic Arts Festival, Issue Project Room x The Center for Performance Research, Basilica Hudson, Fridman Gallery, The James Gallery, 47 Canal, Batalha Centro De Cinema and The Brooklyn Film Festival to name a few.

Selwa has earned recognition from outlets including The Washington Post, BOMB Magazine, GQ Middle East Magazine, Resident Advisor, Mixmag Mena, NPR and Artforum.
Her music has been released on labels such as Optimo Music and Tresor Records.

Selwa is the founder of the community resource Pick Up The Flow and the publishing imprint BIZAARBAZAAR.
She's been a NTS Radio DJ resident since 2018

awards and press — full list

contact

@bergsonist

@selwaabd

Studio Press Pic by Greg Zifcak, 2025

As If Reality, 2022-2025

As If Reality, is a series of works initiated by Selwa during her Artist-In-Residence Program at ISSUE Project Room in collaboration with Harvestworks in 2022.
The project draws inspiration from David Chalmers' book, Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy, and follows a creative approach based on intuition and fragment-based systems.
According to Chalmers, as the physical world deteriorates, virtual worlds will offer new landscapes and possibilities. However, Selwa wrestles with the repercussions of this growing reliance on virtual platforms for our planet.
While she acknowledges the hopefulness in Chalmers' perspective, she is equally troubled by the ecological implications. This dichotomy, labeled as Opti-pessimism by Selwa and influenced by Henri Bergson’s philosophy, drives her to confront audiences with conflicting realities, prompting them to contemplate the future of humanity amidst planetary decline.

Selwa's latest works aim to build sonic and visual worlds as simulations that extend creative research and speculations on the future. Her focus is on utilizing fragments and intuition conceptually to alter the scales of perception and better understand the sonic and visual mediums. These explorations of fragments exist within the tensions between the actual and virtual, which have become a hallmark of the "Bergsonist" project.

As If Reality Part I | June 10, 11, 2022
Diptych composition comprising a 9-minute video art piece showcasing footage from Governors Island, along with 3D fragments created by Selwa.
The accompanying sonic composition features sounds recorded on Governors Island. The other half of the diptych composition is a 23 minute live performance on Governors Island, using sounds from the environment to immerse the audience in a physical representation of As If Reality.

Taking inspiration from musique concrete and electronic music, Bergsonist harnesses found sound as raw energy, manipulating and decontextualizing it before merging it with artificial sounds generated by constrained algorithms. This process was repeated in different environments to create a new body of work that simulates immersive experiences. The performance took place within Harvestworks Art and Technology Program Building 10a at Governors Island. Link

As If Reality Part II | November 4, 2022
Multimedia audio-visual performance showcasing 3D & designed objects, 360 video projections, and a live sonic and visual score performed by Selwa Abd.
Selwa developed the piece during her 2022 residency with the ISSUE Artist-In-Residence Program, in collaboration with Harvestworks and Center for Performance Research. This latest iteration builds upon previous presentations of As If Reality, it features 360 footage and visual fragments captured during Abd's travels in Morocco in the summer of 2022.

Video production support:
Greg Zifcak (Wavdwgs)
Link

As If Reality | Album | May 25th, 2024
This album was supported by a grant from the Jerome Foundation and builds on the works Selwa created during her Artist-In-Residence Program at ISSUE Project Room x Harvestworks in 2022.

Design: Gina Lee
Mastering: Loric Sih

As If Reality Part III | Bergen, Norway | October 2024
In the fall of 2024, Bergen Senter for Elektronisk Kunst (BEK) invited Selwa for a residency in collaboration with EKKO. During the week-long residency, Selwa recontextualized her As If Reality project for the city of Bergen, culminating in a live audio-visual performance at EKKO Festival.
At BEK, she focused on creating new electro-acoustic compositions, experimenting with BEK’ audio tools , recording underwater field sounds from the city’s piers, and manipulating visual footage captured during her outings. The resulting work drew also inspiration from TJ Demos’ book Radical Futurisms and reflected on the pressing political and climate challenges of our time. She also conducted a masterclass at BEK, where she presented her As If Reality series and shared insights into her creative processes and the outcomes of her residency.

As If Reality Part III at 22 Boerum Pl | ISSUE Project Room | February 6th, 2025
Selwa returned to ISSUE with a new iteration of As If Reality, a multimodal work-in-progress series first presented during her 2022 residency in collaboration with Harvestworks (and more recently recontextualized in Norway, last October).
Footage and photography by Cameron Kelly McLeod courtesy of ISSUE Project Room.

As If Reality Part III at Batalha Centro De Cinema, Porto | June 18th, 2025
As part of Câmara Sonica, Selwa presented her As If Reality A/V piece at Batalha, in a program curated by Diana Policarpo and João Polido.

Design by Gina Lee

Still from the Audio-Visual Project “As If Reality,” Norway, 2024

Courtesy of ISSUE Project Room. Photography by Cameron Kelly McLeod.

Footage and photography by Cameron Kelly McLeod courtesy of ISSUE Project Room. 2025

Footage courtesy of Batalha Centro de Cinema.

Bergsonist, 2016-Present

Selwa started her Bergsonist project in 2014—a creative persona through which she explores and expresses her thoughts and emotions across multiple mediums, including sound design, visual art, design, writing, and activism.

Bergsonist is recognized for her contributions to film scoring, sound commissions for contemporary artists, and pop/ experimental music production. She has notably remixed tracks for several artists, including Depeche Mode.

In her sound performances, she crafts intuitive soundscapes by layering manipulated sonic fragments with acoustic sounds. Blurring the lines between reality and virtuality, she explores speculative futures within the tensions of the present. Her work draws influence from musique concrète, electro-acoustic music, sound art, and minimalism.

She often combines her design and visual art background to enrich her live performances, reflecting her dedication to crafting immersive speculative worlds influenced by the context and politics of the times.

In her music productions, she delves into a variety of styles, ranging from dance genres like minimal, techno, and electronica to experimental music and musique concrete. Her vocals frequently feature prominently in her songs. She often sings in french and darija (moroccan dialect).

Selected Press

2025 | “As If Reality” A/V Performance | Batalha Centro De Cinema (Porto)

2025 | Studio Demo: “Making Music With Machines” | Demo Festival x New Inc✯
2025 | Panel at Libera NYC ✿
2024 | PUTF Interview Series ✯

2025 Ode To Life
2024 Exploitation Occident
2024 Avant
2022 Fasting
2021 Virtualite
2021 Toxic Materialism
2019 Chaos
2018 Heat
2018 Solyaris
2017 Mutation

Spotify | Soundcloud | NTS Radio Shows

Bandcamp

Portrait by Greg Zifcak, 2017

Original music for the film "Jmar", Samy Sidali, 2020

Official remix for Depeche Mode, 2023

Song commissioned by Tresor for their 30 year anniversary compilation, 2021

Soundtrack commissioned by Meriem Bennani for her show "Guided Tour Of A Spill", 2021

Soundtrack commissioned by Asif Mian for “Smokeless Fire”, 2022

A/V performance feat Miho Hatori, commissioned by Roulette, 2023

Music composition for ISSUE project room, video by Greg Zifcak, 2020

Stop The Killing by Bergsonist (composition & video), 2024

Attachement by Bergsonist (composition & video), 2024

Projects, 2010-Present

Pick Up The Flow, 2017-Present

Founded in 2017, Pick Up The Flow/PUTF
is a resource-sharing platform aiming to democratize access to opportunities. Opportunity listings are shared daily via the website and Instagram page (weekly via the newsletter).

The platform was initially designed to facilitate connections among musicians and creative people in NYC by offering a space to sell gear, share knowledge, post apartment listings, and more.

Currently, PUTF exists as an Instagr am feed with over 50K+ followers, a website, a newsletter (average open rate: 69.4%), a private FB group (2.1K members) and an interview series.

Since its inception, PUTF has organized various events, including workshops, radio broadcasts, and swap meets, in response to the changing dynamics of the music, art, and culture industries. The platform seeks to pave new paths forward through collective models of trust, both online and offline. PUTF’s mission is to promote access to resources and combat the dominant greed in the art and technology industry.

Selwa has contributed and continues to contribute to the visual identity and branding, as well as the curatorial program of PUTF.

Selected Clients: Queens Council On The Arts, Times Square Arts, The Joyce Foundation, Pepsico, Printed Matter, Inc, e-flux, The Laundromat Project, Institute For Studies On Latin American Art, Staten Island Arts, Mexican Summer, Apexart, Alfred University, Woodward Residency, Abrons Arts Center, Fractured Atlas, Something Special Studios, MIT Lab Poetic Justice, The American Trust for The British Library, Jeff Koons, Ethan James Green, Foundwork, Center for Book Arts, Children’s Museum of the Arts, Lighthouse Works, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Issue Project Room, Studio Museum In Harlem, Storefront for Art and Architecture and more.

Instagram feed, 2025

Pick Up The Flow’s official website

Pick Up The Flow’s Substack

Bizaarabazaar, 2010-2021

In 2010, Selwa founded Bizaarbazaar, a not for profit and advertisement-free music platform that began as a blog, a sonic archive, and a hub for conceptual compilations.

Her goal was to provide an alternative to the elitist music publications of the era and establish a platform for emerging and underrated musicians. The aim was to disrupt the established order and shape a fresh narrative. The project garnered momentum and earned acknowledgment from diverse music labels and cultural influencers within the industry.

Selwa contributed to the whole visual identity and curatorial program of the platform/label.

Bizaarbazaar's achievements have gained acknowledgment from various publications, including Wire , and its creations have found distribution through notable bookshops like Motto Books Berlin and Printed Matter NYC.

In 2021, Selwa decided to close the BB chapter, ending the blog and platform. However, she preserved its sonic archive on SoundCloud, documenting a decade (2010) of mixes and premiere features.
Initially, she considered compiling all the featured interviews into a zine as an archive but ultimately opted to document everything on the Instagram account instead.

In 2023, she revived the imprint side of bizaarbazaar, embracing a non-linear, free-form approach to releasing new music, with a focus on CD and digital distribution. She launched this new phase with NEXA, a CD by artist G. ZIFCAK, followed by her own album, As If Reality, in 2024.

T-shirt compilation for BB, 2019

Double cassette + Zine compilation for BB, 2017

Zine compilation for BB, Layout Design by Stephen Decker, 2017

Bizaarbazaar’s old blog/ platform hosted on Wordpress, 2012-2017

Double cassette + Zine compilation for BB, 2017