Selwa Abd is a Moroccan-born, New York–based interdisciplinary artist, composer and design researcher working under the alias Bergsonist.
Her practice engages
time-based media, sound, and performance, focusing on the reconfiguration of archival material –found sounds, processed sounds, and live video– into immersive audiovisual environments.
Drawing on electroacoustic and musique concrète traditions, and informed by Gilles Deleuze’s interpretation of Henri Bergson, her work employs electronics, DIY instruments, granular and spectral techniques to examine postcolonial identity, techno-futurism, and the psychological and perceptual effects of virtuality in contemporary culture.
Her methodology foregrounds intuition as a critical and operative framework through which these inquiries are developed.
In performance contexts, her work blurs distinctions between the real and the virtual, proposing speculative temporalities while confronting the tensions of the present.
Drawing on her design background, she complements her sonic tapestry by creating more complex archival frameworks, as seen in her latest projects such as ASL and As If Reality.
Abd has collaborated extensively with artists across contemporary art and experimental music contexts. Her compositions have been presented in contemporary art exhibitions and institutional settings, and she has produced remixes for musical artists, including Depeche Mode.
With a career spanning over a decade, she has been invited to speak about her practice and community projects, as well as to serve as an interviewer following her work on the PUTF podcast, on panels in NYC including Moogfest, MoMA PS1, and New Inc, and in classes at The New School, CalArts, and Pratt.
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/other labels have 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, Mutek 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, Resident Advisor, Mixmag Mena, NPR and Artforum.
Her discography spans over a decade, including more than 7 albums, 15 EPs, and countless featured tracks on various compilations.
Her music has been released on labels such as Optimo Music, Columbia Records and Tresor Records, and a forthcoming album on Dark Entries.
Selwa is the founder of the NYC based community resource Pick Up The Flow and the publishing imprint BIZAARBAZAAR.
She's been a NTS Radio DJ resident since 2018.
⤷ contact
⤷ cv
⤷ linktree
@bergsonist
@selwaabd
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, soundtrack 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
2026 The Wire Tapper 70, Wire Magazine
2024 The Best Albums out of Nov. 22, NPR
2024 DeForrest Brown, Jr.’s Best music of 2024, Artforum 2024 The GQ Sound Survey, GQ Middle East
2024 Freedom and resilience theme..., Mixmag
2023 MoMA Ps1 Warm Up, Cultured Mag
2023 NYC DJs Cover Story, Cult Classic
2022 Jace Clayton’s Best Music of 2022, Art Forum
2022 NYC Artists Breaking Barriers (Internet Archive Link)| GQ Middle East
2021 Feature by Mark LeVine, Songlines
2020 Bergsonist's diary, The Washington Post
2020 A Guide To Bergsonist’s..., Bandcamp
2020 Breaking Through, Resident Advisor
2019 Bergsonist's Archive, Borshch Magazine
2018 Elaborate Intuition, Bomb Magazine
2017-2024 Various Features, The Wire
Selected Commissions
2025 100% Moroccan Music Mix for LeGuess Who
2025 Dance Performance for Nikhil Vettukattil’s Timepiece at MoMA PS1 (NYC)
2025 Live Performance at Mutek Festival (Montreal)
2025 Collaborative Performance with G. Zifcak, NoGlucose x Combo (Bologna)
2025 “As If Reality” A/V Performance, ISSUE Project Room (NYC)
2024 “As If Reality” A/V Performance, EKKO Festival (Norway)
2024 Live Performance, Printed Matter NYABF (NYC)
2024 Live Performance, National Sawdust
2023 Live Performance, MOMA Ps1 Warm Up
2023 Elaborate Intuition Mix, e-flux
2023 Depeche Mode Remix, Sony Records
2022 “As If Reality” A/V Performance, ISSUE Project Room
2022 Soundtrack Feature in Exhibition, Meriem Bennani
2022 Soundtrack Feature in Exhibition, Asif Mian
2022 Soundtrack Feature in Exhibition, Eva Davidova
2021 Song Feature in Compilation, Tresor Records
2021 Soundtrack Feature in Exhibition, Meriem Bennani
2020 Music Compositiong for Film, Samy Sidali
2020 Online Presentation A/V Piece “D’un Fragment a l’autre”, ISSUE Project Room
2019 Soundtrack Feature, Meow Wolf, Janelle Langford
2018 Songs Featured in Short Film, Boiler Room x Margot Bowman & Lynette Nylander
Awards
2025 NYSCA X Roulette Artist Grant
2024 NYFA x Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, Women’s Fund for Media, Music & Theater
2023 Jerome Hill Artist Alternate Award
2022 Harvestworks Grant & Fellowship
2020 Breaking Through of 2020, RA
2020 SACEM Grant
2019 Discover the 24 Future audio innovators selected by Holly Herndon, Shure x Mixcloud
2017 Self-Storage NYC Recipient, Flux Factory
Residencies
2024 Artist-In-Residence, Bergen Senter For Elektronisk Kunst x EKKO Festival
2022 Technology Immersion Program Fellow, Harvestworks
2022 Artist-In-Residence, ISSUE Project Room
Scoring
2020 “Jmar” Soundtrack, Samy Sidali (Mabel Films)
Guest Artist / Teaching
2025 Emily Evans’s Class “Global Studios and Audiotopias”, Cal Arts (Fall 2025)
2024 Masterclass | Bergen Senter For Elektronisk Kunst
2024 Emily Evans’s Class “Global Studios and Audiotopias”, Cal Arts (Spring 2025)
2020 Raphael Griswold’s Class, Pratt Institute
2019 Dafna Naphtali’s Class, The New School
Talks
moderator:
2025 Interview feat Laraaji at Dripping Festival
2025 Studio Demo, Demo Festival-New Inc, NYC
2024 PUTF interview series, Online
panelist:
2025 Panel on How To Find Music, Libera, NYC
2023 “Design w/GENG PTP”, Nowadays, NYC
2019 “New Media Communities In NY”, RA, NYC
2018 Panel by Emilie Friedlander, Moogfest, NC
Selected DJ Sets
2026 Okeechobee Festival 2026, Florida
2026 Sonic Acts’s Biennial 2026, Amsterdam
2025 Dark Entries Record Shop Anniversary, SF
2025 Amant’s inaugural 6-9 series, NYC
2024 EKKO Festival, Norway
2022 Pioneer Works Software For Artist, NYC
2022 New Inc’s End Of Year Party, NYC
2022 Sustain-Release Festival, NYC
2021 4D Festival, Online
2019 Adidas x NTS x Room4Resistance, Berlin
2019 Moogfest Festival, NC
2019 Sonic Acts Festival, Amsterdam
2016 Discwoman 2 Year Anniversary, NYC
Albums
2026 Depths (Dark Entries)
2025 ASL أصل ⴰⵙⵍ (Bizaarbazaar)
2024 Maghreb (Self-Released)
2024 As If Reality (Bizaarbazaar)
2023 Bergsonist (Self-Released)
2019 Middle Ouest (Optimo Music)
2017 From Dualism To Monoism (Clandestine)
2016 Moral (Always Human Tapes)
Selected Eps
2025 Ode To Life (Self-Released)
2024 Exploitation Occident
(Self-Released)
2024 Avant (Self-Released)
2022 Fasting (Self-Released)
2021 Virtualite (Self-Released)
2021 Toxic Materialism (Self-Released)
2019 Chaos (Borft Records)
2018 Heat (Optimo Music)
2018 Solyaris (Where To Now)
2017 Mutation (Styles Upon Styles)
Soundcloud
NTS Radio Shows
Bandcamp
Mixcloud Archive
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 featuring Miho Hatori, commissioned by Roulette, 2023
Music composition for ISSUE project room, video by Greg Zifcak, 2020
Album “Depths” out on Dark Entries May 1st, 2026