Shahzia Sikander’s Works Light Up M+ Facade

Description

Visual artist Shahzia Sikander’s radiant cinematic tableau, 3 to 12 Nautical Miles, transforms the M+ façade into a luminous study of global power. Animated from hand-painted imagery, the work navigates the complex maritime histories connecting Mughal India, Qing China and the British Empire, charting how trade and imperial ambition reshaped Asia from the 19th century onward.

Rooted in research from the Hong Kong Museum of Art and Hong Kong Maritime Museum, Sikander’s cinematic tableau magnifies gestures, symbols and objects of authority — from opium fields to treaty ports and ships at sea. Through historical detail and visual specificity, she exposes the mechanisms of imperial extraction while reflecting on how power remains mutable in the fluid spaces between nations. Projected nightly until 21 June, the work marks the fifth year of collaboration between M+ and Art Basel.