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, Sony and Tresor Records.
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
⤷ design portfolio
short cv
full cv
contact
@bergsonist
@selwaabd
Artist CV
Born 1992, Casablanca, Morocco.
Lives and works in New York City.
Education:
Parsons School Of Design - The New School, BFA in Communication Design (Magna Cum Laude)
Solo Shows:
2022 | “As If Reality Part II”, ISSUE Project Room & Center for Performance Research, NYC
2022 | “As If Reality Part I”, ISSUE Project Room & Harvestworks, Governors Island, NYC
Selected Group Shows:
2025 | Live Performance at Mutek Festival (Montreal)
2025 | “As If Reality Part III” at ISSUE Project Room with Leila Hassan, NYC
2024 | “As If Reality Part III” at EKKO Festival & Bergen senter for elektronisk kunst, Bergen
2024 | “As If Reality Part II” at Printed Matter Book Fair, NYC
2024 | National Sawdust, NYC
2023 | Warm Up Series, MOMA PS1, NYC
2023 | The Future Of Water Festival, Music Gallery, Toronto
2023 | Dream Riots Musical Performance with Bergsonist and Gavilan Rayna Russom curated by Adam Hajyahia, James Art Gallery (CUNY), NYC
2023 | Presentation of multi-media project “Coins” (project with Miho Hatori), Roulette, NYC
2022 | Medium /98.6F series with Miho Hatori, 47 Canal, NYC
2021 | Radial series, Fridman Gallery, NYC
2017 | Show with William Basinski & YATTA, ISSUE Project Room, NYC
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 | SACEM Grant
Residencies:
2024 | Bergen Senter For Elektronisk Kunst Residency
2022 | Issue Project Room x Harvestworks Residency
2018 | RBMA Bootcamp Participation, Bonaroo Festival
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: 2025 | PUTF interview featuring Laraaji at Dripping Festival 2025 | Studio Demo: “Making Music With Machines” | Demo Festival x New Inc
2025 | Panel: “How to Organically Find New Music” | Libera NYC ✿
2024 | PUTF interview series
2023 | “DIY Design with GENG PTP” | Nowadays ✿
2023 | “Electronic’s Infinite Past, Present..”| Catalog ✿
2019 | “New Media Communities In NYC”| RA✿
2018 | Panel led by Emilie Friedlander | Moogfest ✿
Press:
2025 | Bergsonist curates compilation of Moroccan Electronic Music for Air Texture | DJ Mag
2025 | The Best Albums out April 4th | NPR
2024 | The Best Albums out of Nov. 22 | NPR
2024 | DeForrest Brown, Jr.’s best music of 2024
2024 | The GQ Sound Survey | GQ Middle East (print+online)
2024 | Freedom and Resilience Theme, Bergsonist new EP, Mixmag mena (online)
2023 | MoMA Ps1 Warm Up Feature, Cultured Mag (online)
2023 | Story feat. cross-section of NYC’s DJ community, Cult Classic (print)
2022 | Best Music of 2022, by Jace Clayton, Art Forum (print+online)
2022 | NYC Artists Breaking Barriers, GQ Middle East (print+online)
2020 | Bergsonist's techno diary, The Washington Post (print+online)
2020 | Breaking Through Artist of 2020, Resident Advisor (online)
2020 | 10 Under The Radar Releases.., Dazed (online)
2020 | Q&A by Ruth Saxelby, Love Injection (print)
2020 | Bergsonist Resists, Nouveau York (online)
2020 | A Guide to Bergsonist’s Sprawling, Intuition Driven Electronic Music, Bandcamp Daily (online)
2019 | Bergsonist's Bodiless Archive, Borshch Magazine (print+online)
2019 | Noise 101: Bergsonist, Scene Noise (online)
2019 | Selected by Holly Herndon Interview Series, Mixcloud x Shure (online)
2018 | Elaborate Intuition, Bomb Magazine (print+online)
2017-2024 | Various Features, The Wire (print+online)
Selected Shows:
ISSUE Project Room, MOMA Ps1, Roulette, Moogfest, National Sawdust, EKKO Festival (Norway), Sonic Acts Festival (Amsterdam), The Center for Performance Research, Basilica Hudson, Fridman Gallery, Spectacle Theater, 47 Canal (NYC), The James Gallery (CUNY), Boston Museum, Brooklyn Film Festival, Kafe Haerverk, Dripping Festival, Sustain-Release Festival, Bar Laika, Knockdown Center, Nowadays, Jupiter Disco, Mitsuki (Japan), Station Gare Des Mines (Paris), Industrial 236 (Vancouver), Mood Ring, Elsewhere, Bossa Nova Civic Club, Crown Hill Theater, ELM Foundation, The Music Gallery (Toronto), Paragon, Honey’s, Good Room, Brooklyn Bazaar, Deep Blue (Vancouver), Le Bain, Trauma Bar (Berlin), Ballesta Club (Madrid), Grillx (Vienna), Le Lieu Unique (Nantes), Output, Hyperion Tavern (LA), Secret Project Robot, First Unitarian Congregational Society, Nothing Changes, Betty’s Bar and Grill (Nashville), Sugar Hill Disco, Cafe Koz (Frankfurt), Fourth World Festival, Trans-Pecos, Amant, Pioneer Works, Batalha Centro De Cinema, Mutek.