The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (MMCA, Seoul) holds its first exhibition of 2014, Shirin Neshat, from April 1 to July 13, as part of the MMCA Asia Project (M. A. P.), a project aimed at placing MMCA at the forefront of promoting international modern and contemporary art in Asia.
※ MMCA_ASIA PROJECT (M.A.P.) is a project specially designed to position MMCA as a leading museum committed to promoting international modern and contemporary art in Asia by conducting extensive research on the development of modern and contemporary art and important artists in Asia, presenting exhibitions, and establishing an excellent collection of artworks. M.A.P. is expected to contribute to forming a global network of museums across the world. M.A.P. will present a series of exhibitions; the next exhibition following Shirin Neshat is Infinite Challenge, and will open at the end of April.
Shirin Neshat is the first exhibition of 2014 organized by MMCA, Seoul under the sponsorship of Kumho Asiana. This mid-career retrospective of Shirin Neshat (b. 1957), a renowned Iranian artist and filmmaker who lives and works in New York, is the first extensive exhibition of her work mounted in Korea, and presents an overview of the artist’s practice over the last twenty years.
The exhibition includes two series of photographs-- the early series Women of Allah (1993-1997) and the photographic installation The Book of Kings (2012)—and several video installations, including the famous black-and-white video trilogy comprising Turbulent (1998), Rapture (1999) and Fervor (2000), and three video installations from the project Women without Men (2004-2008).
Though Neshat is widely acclaimed for her work in various media, her collected oeuvre is rarely considered as a singular production or displayed together. Exploring Neshat’s work in photography and video, this exhibition offers visitors a rare opportunity to experience an overview of the artist’s passionate practice. Through visual metaphor and compelling sound, Neshat confronts the complexities of identity, gender and power to express her own vision that embraces the depth of Islamic tradition and Western concepts of individuality and liberty.
Shirin Neshat’s work is deeply rooted in her experience as an artist in exile and her Iranian roots. Her work explores the political and social conditions of Iranian and Muslim culture, particularly focusing on gender and questions of power, displacement and paradox. Neshat's work in various media reveals poetic and aesthetically charged meditations on the universal themes of memory, martyrdom, revolution and social change. As the artist has stated: “My work is always navigating between issues that I face as one woman, one Iranian, one artist –and issues that are far larger than me.”
The exhibition at MMCA offers a rare opportunity to immerse oneself in Neshat’s world, which is a great voyage, starting from her personal history and building towards universal themes of identity, justice and humanity.
Biography:
Shirin Neshat was born in Qazvin, Iran and moved to the United States in 1974. Neshat has had solo exhibitions at various museums and institutions worldwide, including the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan, USA; the Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; Walker Art Center,Minneapolis; Castello di Rivoli, Turin; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Serpentine Gallery, London; Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, León, Spain, and the the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin. Neshat's work has also been included in major international group exhibitions including Documenta XI (Kassel, 2002), the 2000 Gwangju Biennale, the 2000 Whitney Biennial, and the 1999 Venice Biennale. Neshat is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum, Davos (2014), the Lillian Gish Prize (2006), the Hiroshima Freedom Prize (2005), the Grand Prix at the Gwangju Biennale (2000) and the First International Award at the 48th Venice Biennale (1999). In 2009, Neshat directed her first feature-length film, Women Without Men, which received the Silver Lion for Best Direction at the Venice International Film Festival. Neshat currently lives and works in New York City.
Acknowledgments:
This exhibition is organized by the Detroit Institute of Arts. Generous support has been provided by the MetLife Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.