Omar Kholeif (EGYPT/UK) is a  curator, writer, editor and producer. His writing appears in The Guardian, Art Monthly, Wired, Film International,  Frieze and  Scope, to name but a few (See Publication). Omar holds degrees from the University of Glasgow, Screen Academy Scotland, and The Royal College of Art, London.

Omar is a Senior Curatorial Advisor (formerly Curator) at FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), Liverpool, the UK’s leading centre for the support, commission and exhibition of artist film, video and new media, and a Visiting Curator at Cornerhouse, Manchester’s international art and film organisation, as well as Curator at the Arab British Centre, London.  He is founding Director of the UK’s Arab Film Festival, an annual touring programme which tours the UK.  Formerly, he was a  co-curator for Abandon Normal Devices and the Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art.

A specialist in contemporary artist film and video and emerging technology, his work also boasts a specialist focus on contemporary cultural practice within the broader intersections of North Africa and the Middle East. Kholeif is Senior Editor and Curator for  Ibraaz publishing, the leading critical forum for visual culture in North Africa and the Middle East. He was also a co-founding editor of Portal 9: Stories and Critical Writing About the City — a Beirut-based semi-annual focusing on urbanism and architecture.

Kholeif has curated projects and events, which have occurred at the Whitechapel Gallery, London; The International Film Festival Rotterdam; ICA, London; ‘Beirut’ in Cairo, Rhizome, New York, Arnolfini, Bristol and Art Dubai, to name but a few.

In 2013, Kholeif will co-direct the residency and media programme for SPACE, London and its new cultural centre, The White Building (www.thewhitebuilding.org.uk).

Omar is a Churchill Fellow and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.