CONTACT

Meandering between architecture, writing, curation, publishing and oil painting, Ahmed Morsi’s interests and much of his research are rooted in urban anthropology. His research delves into themes revolving around the spatialization of dissidence and the convoluted relationship between marginalized artist and activist groups and urban development. Through a master's degree in Architectural Design and History at the Polytechnic University of Milan, he carried out extensive research on the history and evolution of adaptive reuse and the interplay between artist-occupied nonconforming spaces and neoliberal arts-led urban development. In 2021, Ahmed co-founded Dataland Publications for which he acts as Managing Editor and Art Director. In 2023, he pursued a postgraduate certificate in Curation at Zurich University of the Arts which led to a curatorial fellowship at the Prada Foundation in Milan. Ahmed is currently based in New York City.

PUBLISHED WRITING

“Dear Anwar”, Comizi d'Emigrazione (zine), December 2024

“Decay-migration-decadence”, Two Hours Ago I Fell in Love (zine), November 2023

“Adaptive Reuse. Again. Now, again: Microcosmic portraits of economic, sociocultural, and political transformations”, Dataland Publications, 1, March 2023

“The Fallacy of Revitalization: Subversive Creativity, Consumption, and the Contestation of Heritage Spaces”, European Heritage Tribune, March 2021

“Through the Tide. Adaptive Reuse, Creative Industries and the Politics of Arts-Led Redevelopment in Downtown Cairo”, Master’s thesis, Politecnico di Milano, 2020, DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.36111.41126/1, https://hdl.handle.net/10589/166357

ARCHITECTURE

Enclosed Garden, 2022 (Architect, buro.doqi)
Penrose-Eucalyptus House, 2024 (Architect, buro.doqi)
Scalable Office, 2023 (Architect, buro.doqi)
French Institute Mediatheque, 2016 (Design Architect, CLUSTER)
Rabbat Project: Al-Fabrika, 2018 (Design Architect, CLUSTER)
Cinema Rio, 2017 (Design Architect, CLUSTER)

MAPS

EXHIBITIONS

“Distance of the Moon” by Shuang Li, Fondazione Prada
Assistant Curator
Prada Rong Zhai, Shanghai, China
November 2024–January 2025

“Michaël Borremans: The Promise”, Fondazione Prada
Assistant Curator
Prada Rong Zhai, Shanghai, China
April–June 2024

“Calculating Empires: A Genealogy of Technology and Power, 1500-2025” by Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler, Fondazione Prada
Assistant Curator
Osservatorio, Milan, Italy
November 2023–January 2024

“Stories of Water. Chapter IV: Wounded and Healing Waters”
Co-curator
ONCURATING Project Space, Zurich, Switzerland
November 2022–March 2023

RESEARCH/EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS

M. Godfrey (ed.) & M. Mainetti (assoc. ed.), Pino Pascali, Fondazione Prada, 2024

K. Crawford & V. Joler, Calculating Empires, Quaderno #36, Fondazione Prada, 2023

N. Cullinan (ed.), M. Mainetti & N. Gravina (assoc. eds.), Paraventi. Folding Screens from the 17th to 21st Centuries, Fondazione Prada, 2023

O. Nagati & B. Stryker, Street Vendors and the Contestation of Public Space, CLUSTER & the Research Foundation for the State University of New York, 2017

HIGHLIGHTED WORK

Habashtakanat, 2, 2024

F. Dessouky, “Dataland: Stepping into Cairo’s Administrative Buildings”, Scenehome, June 2023

Nafs Space, 2022

“Watch this artist”, Mathqaf, 2021

“Suq Bab el Luq” (adaptive reuse project with CLUSTER); Egyptian pavilion, Giardini, Biennale Architettura 2018; Venice, Italy; May–November 2018

“Politics of Form” (studio project with Vlatka Seremet); Egyptian pavilion, Giardini, Biennale Architettura 2016; Venice, Italy; January–November 2016

“Mapping Cairo” (with Manar Moursi); Egyptian pavilion, Giardini, Biennale Architettura 2016; Venice, Italy; January–November 2016