In 1972, Belgian poet Marcel Broodthaers opened his Museum of Modern Art, Department of Eagles — a complex and multidimensional undertaking that seemingly replicated the practices of art museums. However, his museum turned the accepted notions of display on its head to critique the institution that he believed promoted biased views. Artists since and before Broodthaers have questioned museum methodologies and opened up ways to understand how exhibition tactics force a particular reading of an artwork or why some artists receive more attention than others.

Broodthaers targeted museums in the West and offered critical insights into the art world in Europe. In his recent work, artist Hasnat Mehmood does something similar, but from the perspective of a postcolonial artist. His exhibition at Karachi’s Koel Gallery nudges us to Look. Look Again. This provocation helps viewers to see a new vision of art. Visitors to the gallery will not expect to search for the art, but that is what they must do to appreciate the artist’s message: the institutionalisation of art limits its possibilities. Even as a lot of work over the last 100 years has pushed the boundaries of what we can imagine to be art, new outlines are continually established. Mehmood’s installation gets viewers to think about this idea by participating in the artwork.

The artist has also included graphite drawings in the exhibition that explore similar ideas. In fact, he has been investigating these topics for several years, specifically through the lens of colonialism. This historical period has left a lasting impact and Mehmood has looked into its effects from various viewpoints, including neocolonialism and globalisation.

Installations and graphite drawings create an interactive experience for art lovers, pushing them to view and reconsider the meaning of art

His series entitled ‘Search the Collection’ charted the movement of art and cultural artefacts during the time of colonial rule, when Europeans pillaged such objects from the colonies. Many times, these artworks and other paraphernalia ended up in museum collections in Europe and the United States.

In his new drawings, the artist continues to address colonial dynamics and, more broadly, authoritarian situations. He does this through imagery and text that highlight moments in the history of art when art had been forced to be viewed in a way dictated by writers or other interested individuals and organisations. Whether it be the formidable art critic Clement Greenberg writing about the artist Jackson Pollock, or the fact that the ‘Dancing Girl’ statue of the Indus Valley civilisation is now located in the collection of the National Museum in Delhi instead of one in Pakistan: there have been many times when art has been imposed with meanings. And these definitions have limited the multiple readings that are often possible to find in a work of art.

The artist attempts to open up possibilities for thinking about art through the concepts he explores, as well as by mixing together several media. In the ‘Archaeology of Colonialism’, he juxtaposes drawings, ceramics and, at times, music to make viewers reconsider what they think they understand about art. As such, we may question historical events and how they have been described in books. The artwork, thus, comments on the destruction and manipulation of the past in order to shed light on its potential meaning for us today.

Together, the works in the exhibition create experiences for the visitors during which they look, participate and develop new ways to see and think about art.

“Look. Look Again” is being exhibited at the Keol Gallery in Karachi from May 22 to May 31, 2018

Published in Dawn, EOS, May 27th, 2018