Dates
ifa Gallery Berlin
21.10. – 18.12.2005
02.01. – 21.01.2006
ifa Gallery Stuttgart
24.02. – 07.05.2006

Worlds of Islam

Layers of Times and Spaces
Art from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan

Hamra Abbas
Sarnath Banerjee
Naiza Khan
Bharti Kher
Shahzia Sikander
Farhana Syeda

The New York-based Pakistani artist Shahzia Sikander works with traditional as well as contemporary techniques: The various miniature painting schools of the Indian subcontinent which she refers to are being uncovered and reassembled layer by layer. In this manner, she creates a virtual space, which opens up a room for questions of identity.

The title of the DVD animation "Pursuit Curve" refers to the mathematical function describing the path that is followed by an object chasing another object. The pursuer, however, will never seize its prey on the curve of pursuit.

Shahzia Sikander's animation is based on hand coloured drawings. Most of the images are inspired by landscapes either known from 17th century Moghul miniature paintings or which can be found in the deserts in Mexico and California. The miniature paintings of the Moghul ateliers were subject to very strict rules with regard to form and content. In contrast to European paintings of the 16th and 17th century, naturalism or perspective was not part of the mostly static representations of the court, with the exception of some landscape paintings. The ambivalence between the strict, hierarchical etiquette of the court and the artistic interest in aesthetics evokes a subtle tension that is unique in the world of Islamic miniature painting.

"Pursuit Curve" presents a series of paintings that dissolves hierarchies and calls oppositions such as old and new, centre and periphery, minimal and abstract into question. Through the interaction with more sophisticated pictures, which are borrowed from miniature paintings of the Indian subcontinent, and with minimalist desert sceneries, which the artist found in America and Mexico, a series is created that makes the spectator soon start to wonder, who chases whom. The interplay between landscape and cosmic formations allows for various interpretations. Star-shaped forms may be seen as fireworks or as an explosion, as a harmless plant or as a bleeding wound. By connecting these different times and places, often in a humorous way, Skiander remains true to her artistic intention to dissolve hierarchies, to build a bridge between past and present, time and space, without exploiting the tradition.

"Pursuit Curve" speaks of a possible different reality that is located outside the post-colonial discourse and theories of modernity dominated by Western institutions.