Shahzia Sikander: Apparatus of Power

Shahzia Sikander (1969–, Pakistan) is an artist based in the United States who employs a multitude of media, notably miniature paintings. Her first solo exhibition in Hong Kong was installed within the Former Explosives Magazine Compound of Asia Society Hong Kong Center’s permanent home. The catalogue includes a text by Brandon as well as contributions by Nick Robins, author of The Corporation that Changed the World: How the East India Company Shaped the Modern Multinational (Pluto Press, 2012); art historian John Seyller, a specialist in miniature painting and author of Pahari Paintings in the Jagdish and Kamla Mittal Museum of Indian Art (Hyderabad, 2014); Ayad Akhtar, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his play Disgraced (2012); Ashey Nga-sai Wu, assistant curator at Asia Society Hong Kong Center; and Hans Ulrich Obrist, artistic director at London’s Serpentine Galleries and author of Ways of Curating (Farber & Farber, 2014). It also includes an artist statement by Sikander in which she reflects upon her practice since the late 1980s.

Claire Brandon is a specialist in modern and contemporary art, based in Madrid. She holds a Ph.D. in History of Art from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. Brandon has lectured and participated in panels at distinguished institutions such as the Asia Society Hong Kong, The Humanities Initiative, New York University, and The Indianapolis Museum of Art. Her awards include the Willner Family Fellowship at NYU, the Global Research Institute Fellowship at NYU, and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Fellowship for Research in the Veneto.

HKUP Spring 2017