Wael Shawky is a leading Egyptian contemporary artist, known for blending fact and fiction through diverse media including drawing, painting, performance, music and film. I Am Hymns of the New Temples is a site-specific exhibition that entirely transforms La Grande Halle of LUMA Arles into an immersive experience that blurs the lines between the metaphysical and the real. The site of ancient Pompeii, the legendary city that was buried under ash and volcanic debris for centuries, is at the center of his display. 

Its outstanding state of conservation offers a fascinating record of the diversity of cultures that shaped its unique identity, at the crossroads of civilizations and trade routes. Intertwining history, stories and contemporary narratives, Shawky reinterprets the ancient Greek myth of creation, through a spectacular choreography of movement, images and sounds, alongside unique sculptural and painterly elements, reflecting on the human need to understand and make sense of the world.