Bouchra Khalili in Sweden
Malmö Konsthall, Sweden
6 June - 13 September 2026
Founded in 1975, Malmö Konsthall is a contemporary art centre in Sweden with an open exhibition space covering 2,000m2. The gallery presents three to four shows each year, featuring both international and local artists. Its programme includes talks, workshops and public events. Malmö Konsthall also works closely with local and international partners, creating opportunities for learning, exchange and collaboration.
The solo exhibition by Bouchra Khalili titled How to Call a Ghost at Malmö Konsthall in Sweden seeks to weave together the various threads in Khalili’s work from the 2010s to the present day, and encompasses installation, film, printmaking and textile. Presented works include The Tempest Society, The Circle Project and The Public Storyteller. These three installations are devoted to the Movement of Arab Workers (MTA: Mouvement des Travailleurs Arabes), investigating its activities in France in the 1970s as well as its relevance today. The series focuses on MTA’s two theatre groups, Al Assifa and Al Halaka, and how they used performance to advocate for equal rights, by running a presidential campaign for an undocumented Arab worker.
At Malmö Konsthall, Khalili lets the works speak in dialogue with the building’s architecture by creating a site-specific presentation. Newer works meet older ones, and together they form a chorus of voices, where forgotten stories from the past are brought to light and resonate in our own time. The title of the exhibition, How to Call a Ghost, is taken from the film The Magic Lantern and alludes to the ways in which ghosts from the past may be summoned and given presence.
Bouchra Khalili (born 1975 in Casablanca) is a Moroccan-French artist based in Vienna. Trained in cinema and visual art, and working in several mediums, Khalili often repurposes the visual approach of documentary cinema. Her practice examines the legacies of colonialism, reflected in contemporary illegal migration and the histories of anti-colonial struggles and international solidarity. Khalili’s work has been presented at the Louisiana Museum, Copenhagen; Sharjah Art Foundation; MACBA, Barcelona; MoMA, New York; and Palais de Tokyo, Paris. She has also participated in major festivals and group shows, including the Venice Biennale, Sharjah Biennial and Documenta 14.
Her solo exhibition at Malmö Kunsthall is her second collaboration with Phileas, after her participation at the 25th Biennale of Sydney in 2026.
Bouchra Khalili,The Circle, 2023 (video still). © Bouchra Khalili. Courtesy the artist and mor charpentier, Paris