Selwa Abd is a moroccan-born artist, music composer and freelance designer / consultant based in New York City.
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.
Selwa collaborated with a diverse array of cultural artists spanning the realms of both the art and music worlds. Her musical compositions were showcased in exhibitions of contemporary visual artists, she also remixed the works of musical artists, including Depeche Mode.
She is a recipient of the SACEM grant (2020), Harvestworks Technology Immersion Program Grant & Fellowship (2022), the Issue Project Room Residency (2022) and The Jerome Hill Artist Alternate Award (2023).
Selwa has shown works at MOMA Ps1, Roulette, Moogfest , National Sawdust, Issue Project Room x The Center for Performance Research, Basilica Hudson, Fridman Gallery, The James Gallery, 47 Canal 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 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.
Contact
Instagram
CV
Discography / Bandcamp
Bergsonist
In 2014-2015, Selwa started her Bergsonist project. Bergsonist is known for her work in film scoring, commissions for contemporary artists, and dance music production. Notably, she has remixed tracks for iconic bands like Depeche Mode.
In her sound performances, she thoughtfully blends electronic manipulations with acoustic sounds, drawing inspiration from musique concrète and minimalism traditions.
Selected Press
The GQ Sound Survey | GQ Middle East | 2024
Freedom and resilience theme... | Mixmag | 2024
MoMA Ps1 Warm Up | Cultured Mag| 2023
NYC DJs Cover Story | Cult Classic | 2023
Best Music of 2022 | Art Forum | 2022
NYC Artists Breaking Barriers | GQ ME | 2022
Feature by Mark LeVine | Songlines | 2021
Bergsonist's diary | The Washington Post | 2020
Breaking Through | Resident Advisor | 2020
Bergsonist's Archive | Borshch Magazine | 2019
Elaborate Intuition | Bomb Magazine | 2018
Selected Commissions
Live Performance | Printed Matter NYABF | 2024
Live Performance | National Sawdust | 2024
Live Performance | MOMA Ps1 Warm Up | 2023
Elaborate Intuition Mix | e-flux | 2023
Depeche Mode Remix | Columbia /Sony | 2023
Multi-media 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 | 2022
Song Feature in Compilation | Tresor Records | 2021
Soundtrack Feature in Exhibition | Meriem Bennani | 2021
Music Compositiong for Film |Samy Sidali | 2020
Online Presentation A/V Piece | ISSUE Project Room|2020
Soundtrack Feature | Meow Wolf | Janelle Langford|2019
Songs Featured in Short Film | Boiler Room x Margot Bowman & Lynette Nylander | 2018
Awards
Artist Alternate Grant | Jerome Hill | 2023
Scholarship Award | Harvestworks | 2022
Grant | SACEM x Mabel FIlms | 2020
Holly Herndon Selects | Shure x Mixcloud | 2019
Bass Camp Participation | RBMA | 2017
Guest Artist / Teaching Opportunties
Emily Evans’s Class | Cal Arts | 2024
Raphael Griswold’s Class | Pratt Institute | 2020
Dafna Naphtali’s Class | New School | 2019
Talks
“DIY Promotion/Design with GENG PTP”, Nowadays, 2023
“Electronic’s Infinite Past, Present, Future”| Catalog |2023
“New Media Communities In NYC”| Resident Advisor | 2019
Panel led by Emilie Friedlander | Moogfest | 2018
Spotify | Soundcloud | NTS Radio Shows
Bandcamp
Original music for the film "Jmar", Samy Sidali, 2020
Official remix for Depeche Mode, 2023
Soundtrack commissioned by Meriem Bennani for "Guided Tour Of A Spill", 2021
Multi-media performance in collaboration with Miho Hatori for Roulette, 2023
Music composition for ISSUE project room, video by Greg Zifcak, 2020
Untitled, live performance commissioned by Julia Govor & Kamran Sadeghi for Fridman Gallery, 2022