MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo

SHAHZIA SIKANDER
Ecstasy as Sublime, Heart as Vector
22 June 2016 - 15 January 2017

Curated by Hou Hanru and Anne Palopoli

Shahzia Sikander observes the present through the lens of the imagination, symbols, literature and history of diverse cultural traditions. Her rich, complex oeuvre is housed for the first time in an Italian museum with this exhibition that shows the artist’s work from 1990’s to the present day.

In the exhibition the artist will create a layout specifically for the museum with over 30 works in various media and idioms, from drawing to miniatures referring to the Indo-Persian tradition and from video to digital animation. Included are works born from critical thinking and inquiry of historical, literary and political positions that delineate the inherent complexity of universal themes ranging from the pre-colonial to the post-colonial, geopolitical changes, migration, cultural quarantine and the birth of nations and religion and ultimately human identity.