About
Heba Amin is an Egyptian artist whose work seeks to map collective memory as it relates to the built environment. Her theoretical and studio-based work addresses themes related to urban planning, mapping, migration/immigration and language as an aesthetic database to explore junctures, failures, and flawed memory. She works in an archival nature, drawing from collections of work to reconfigure and make meaning of the subject through different materials, most often manifesting as video, installation, and projection performance. Amin is a current DAAD scholar and lives in Berlin.
Download cv >> here (pdf)
Education
Master of Fine Art, Interactive Design, 2009
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Thesis: "Fragmented City: Visualizing the City-Psyche Relationship of Cairo"
Advisor: Steven McCarthy
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate, Painting, 2005
Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Apprenticeship in Painting, 2003
Post-Graduate Study under Macalester Professor Christine Willcox
Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota
Bachelor of Arts, Studio Art, 2002
Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota
High School Diploma, 1998
Cairo American College, Cairo, Egypt
Grants
2010/11, DAAD Stipendium
German Academic Exchange Service, Berlin, Germany
“Alternative Memorial: Berlin’s Abandoned Structures”
2009/10, Rhizome Commissions Program Grant
Rhizome, New York, NY
"The Conceptual Tourist"
2008, Block Grant Fund Grant
Graduate Student Grant, Department of Design, Housing, & Apparel, University of Minnesota
2007, Mizna Re-Granting Program, Artist Grant
Mizna, Minneapolis, MN
2004, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Community Arts Grant
Minneapolis, Minnesota
1998-2002, DeWitt Walllace Scholarship
Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota
Residencies
2011, DEFAULT Masterclass in Residence: On Art, Cities and Regeneration
Ramdom, Lecce, Italy
2011, Art and Politics
Platforma 11, Leipzig, Germany
2009, Transart Institute, Certificate in New Media
Summer Residency, Berlin, Germany
2005, Women’s Art Institute
MCAD, Minneapolis, Minnesota
2004, The Creative Community Leadership Institute
Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Workshops/Conferences
2011, Falling Walls Conference (invitee)
Berlin, Germany
2011, Photographing the City with Rana ElNemr
Contemporary Image Collective
Cairo, Egypt
2010, Windows Project with Aras Ozgun
Cairo, Egypt
2009, WISE Conference, Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (invitee)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Lectures/presentations
06.02.12 - 10.02.12: State of the World Week, "Censorship"
ECLA Bard in Berlin
Film screening and panel discussion on Technology and Dissent, program
10.11.2011: Art in Revolution
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Panel discussion on the role of art in the Arab uprisings with Fadia Afashe, Mohammed Bamyeh, Waleed Mahdi, Tania Khalaf, Heba Amin, moderated by Imed Labidi.
15.2.2011, The Egyptian Revolution and its Historical Context
PROGRAM, The Public School, Berlin, Germany
Presentation about the events of the Egyptian revolution and the role of new media with Mohammed Bamyeh and Heba Amin.
11.2009, Lecture on Minneapolis Art on Wheels
Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt/ Department of Art, American University of Cairo, Cairo Egypt
Lecture by Heba Amin, Ali Momeni, and Jenny Schmid about guerilla projection and the Minneapolis Art on Wheels project.
12.2005, Heba Amin Lecture
St. Cloud University, St. Cloud, Minnesota
Lecture on the artist’s work for solo exhibition at St. Cloud University.
2004 - 2009, Moving Lives Speakers Bureau
Intermedia Arts/Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, Minneapolis, MN
One of nine artists selected as part of an ongoing program to lecture at Twin Cities schools and communities for fostering dialogues about human rights and immigration through art.
Awards
Book Awards, “Extraordinary Women from the Muslim World”
2009 Skipping Stones Honor Award: Winner, Multicultural and International Awareness category
2008 Middle East Book Award: Winner, Youth Non-Fiction category
2008 National Best Book Award: Winner, Religion: Islam category
2008 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards: Winner, Moonbeam Peacemaker Award category
Press and Publications
Amin, Heba. “Fragmented City: Visualizing the City/Psyche Relationship of Cairo.” Journal of the New Media Caucus 24 April 2009: v.05 n.01. <http://www.newmediacaucus.org/journal/issues.php?f=papers&time=2009_spring&page=amin>.
Azhar, Ayesha. Bridging Gaps Artistically. Mcubed Magazine. March 2004. <http://www.mcubedmagazine.com/main2.php?article=002>.
Haywood-James, Adrienne. “Focus on Contemporary Muslim Art-An Interview with Heba Amin”. Muslims Weekly 28 Jan 2005, 7.256: 5.
Mehmet Dede. Desert Rose: Breaking Boundaries with Heba
Amin. Asma Society. April 2003 <http://www.asmasociety.com/arts>.
Olson, Norma Smith. “Powerful Portraits: Heba Amin gives faces to extraordinary Muslim women.” Minnesota Women’s Press 13 May 2009 25.4: 22-23.
Oweis, Fayeq S. “Heba Amin.” Encyclopedia of Arab American Artists. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2008.
Strickler, Jeff. “Putting a face on Role Models.” The Star Tribune 28 March 2009: Section E.
Westhoff, Kelly. “Home is Where the Art is: Arab-American Artists Explore Their Longing for Home.” Minnesota Women’s Press 9 Feb 2005, 20.24: 1+.
Exhibitions/SCREENINGS
.2012.
It’s in the ‘Can’ curated by Gülsen Bal
Open Space Systems, Zentrum Für Kunstprojekte
Vienna, Austria
.2011.
Let's Get Ready curated by Gülsen Bal and BridA/Jurij Pavlica
Pixxelpoint New Media Art Festival
Nova Gorica/Gorizia, Slovenia
Mizna's 7th Twin Cities Arab Film Festival
"My love for you, Egypt, increases by the day" screening followed by Q&A
Minneapolis, MN
Fluid Spaces curated by Charlotte Bank
My love for you, Egypt, increases by the day" screening followed by Q&A
Alfilm Arabisches Film Festival Berlin/ifa Galerie
Berlin, Germany
Northern Spark
Macalester College, St. Paul, MN
1256 Stunden Schein
Industriesalon Schöneweide, Berlin, Germany
.2010.
Exhibition ONE: zero gravity
International Women Artist’s Salon, NY, NY
Windows: Collaborative Multichannel Video Installation
Townhouse Rooftop, Cairo, Egypt
.2009.
White Desert Projection
White Desert, Egypt
(projection with members of Minneapolis Art on Wheels)
.2008.
Root Shock
Obsidian Arts Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota
MAW X Country
Documented Projection road trip from Minneapolis, MN to San Jose, CA
Zero 1 New Media Festival, San Jose, CA
.2007.
Latitudes
Mizna Granting Program, California Building Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota
.2006.
Praxis/Practice.
Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Tekween: Making Art in Arabic.
Center for Independent Artists, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Global Unity: A Coming Together of Cultures Through Artists Minneapolis Mosaic
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Prism of Longing.
The Phipps Center for the Arts, Hudson, Wisconsin
Immigrant Status: Faith in Women
Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Heba Amin
Atwood Gallery, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota
(solo show)
.2005.
Haneen: Between Home and Homeland
Mira Gallery, El Colegio, Minneapolis, MN
9 Degrees: Post-Baccalaureate Exhibition 2005
Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, Minnesota
.2004.
Mideast-Midwest: A Tesselation of Artists
Mira Gallery, El Colegio, Minneapolis, MN
.2003.
Revealing Truths: Muslim Women Artists
The Anne C. Fisher Gallery, Washington, D.C
Revealing Truths: Muslim Women Artists
A Ramona Studio, NY, NY
.2002.
Arab Eye
Babylon Art & Cultural Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Senior Art Show
Macalester College Art Gallery, St. Paul, Minnesota