Biography

Duncan MacDonald is a Canadian contemporary artist, curator, and professor currently based in Canada. His artworks have been exhibited in numerous venues and festivals throughout the world such as Paris Nuit Blanche, PM Gallery, the Tahrir Cultural Center, Cambridge Galleries, Mercer Union, Gale Gates, Paved Art, Museu Joinville, Oakville Galleries, Museu de Arte Contemporanea do Ceara, Anna Leonowens, Grimsby Art Gallery, and many others. 

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MacDonald studied at York University and Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University (NSCAD), focusing on interdisciplinary studio practice and sound. He has received distinctions, awards and grants such as a Danish international visiting artist residency, the Canada Council Paris Studio, a Canada Council Research and Production Grant to research found video and audio from various archives throughout Canada, numerous grants from the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), a pre-commercialization grant from Federal Pre-Commercialiation Development grant (FEDDEV), a residency at the Royal College of Art in London, England, and the Established Artist Award for Niagara.

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Between 2018-2021, he worked on a large-scale research project entitled MASR: Research in Modern and Contemporary Egyptian Art. The project's focus was to map Egyptian modern and contemporary art through the production of an exhibition series at the Sharjah Art Gallery, the publication of a series of exhibition catalogs, and a set of artist talks and workshops. 

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Recently, MacDonald collaborated with Kurt Campbell (University of Cape Town) and  Michelle Stewart (University of Kwazulu Natal, Durban) as part of two HUSSLab Global South Co-Teaching Fund projects, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Their collaborations draw attention to the opportunities and restrictions technology affords citizens in artistic expression within the Global South.  

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He also curated the Cairo Years exhibition by late African American artist Robert Colescott along with Terri Ginsberg and Matthew Wesley. Information on the exhibition can be found in Art Forum, listed as one of the best International Art Exhibitions of 2021 (December issue, 2021). 

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In April of 2021, he curated and produced a Sound Art exhibition at the Tahrir Cultural Center entitled City Volume Cairo 2021 including artists from four continents. 

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MacDonald acted as Director of the Visual Arts program at the American University in Cairo from 2018-2021. He also has acted as Chair of the Sharjah Art Gallery at AUC between 2018-2021.