The study of alchemy, as it was practised in Asia, Muslim regions and the West in ancient and medieval times, is often concerned with the physical and philosophical properties of metals. At the time, alchemists were the earliest chemists, who also fused ideas of spirituality and numerology while processing raw metals. Now, they are relegated to academic discourse due to the advent of modern-day science.

The exhibition ‘Copper, Steel, Iron, Silver 1080 666 ’ installed at the Koel Gallery centres its broad premise on English writer John Michell’s book The Dimensions of Paradise: Sacred Geometry, Ancient Science, and the Heavenly Order on Earth, which is based on alchemy, sacred formulae and ancient Western philosophy.

The exhibition simultaneously divides viewers by perplexing many who are not immediately familiar with the academic study of alchemy, while charming art enthusiasts with a dexterous display of material amalgamation, as the artworks encompass the metals ticked in their titles.

The curatorial statement tries to unify the works under the numbers 1080 and 666 that, according to Michell, have a special significance in alchemical studies. But while this information provided via the wall text is stimulating, it is incomplete, and viewers may run that through books or the internet later.

Nine contemporary artists present works in metals that were cornerstones in the study and practice of alchemy

For now, admiring the sculptures, some of which may be best perceived independently rather than tied under the show’s theme would be profitable. Here, nine contemporary artists display artworks that are diverse in raw material and complex in ideas, attesting that contemporary Pakistani sculpture is alive and thriving.

Repurposing discarded items with nuanced meaning or creating objects that are often packed with social significance, is a dominant aspect in the works of educator and artist Munawar Ali Syed. His aluminum casted sculptures in the ‘Blank in Black’ series, consist of a bull whose head is obscured by an oversized book: in one instance, the head tears through two books. If the bull represents the common individual and the books lead to success, then their suffocating weight represents constricting demands that modern economic and educational systems place upon the individual.

More found objects are converted into assemblages with popularised phrases as titles by Affan Baghpati, such as ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ (2021). The artist often divides and joins various paraphernalia as a point of conversation for hybrid cultural encounters and material networks.

Additionally, printmaker Meher Afroz spins the social and the historical with the personal. Stitched in silver leaf and fused with paint on wasli (handmade paper), her work titled ‘Nuqraa-e-Tabnaak’ (2021) highlights spiritual devotion and the passing of time through silver’s eroding quality (an essential metal in ancient alchemy), thus tying up well with the exhibition’s thematic focus.

“That the promise of justice to an individual, did in turn, make up the collective. No need, to put down one, to make tall, the other?” questions educator and artist Nurayah Sheikh Nabi who connects her poetic statement with the work ‘Dragon Dance, A Repositioning in Dispersal’ (2021). Created in brass and copper, and hung from the ceiling, several butterflies connected with elegant strands pour out of a central and mid-air spherical container. Through the work, Nabi peers into the self, social justice, and destiny.

Jewellery-maker Zohra Rahman’s conceptual sculptural jewelry and installations learn from local visual cultures and emblems of Islamic beliefs and are modelled in copper and silver.

Swiss architect Andre C. Meyerhans and educator Arshad Faruqi explore implications of “remote design” in their multiple copper pieces, while Noor Ali Chagani and Fahim Rao explore their ideas via concrete and iron.

The exhibition cultivates a graceful atmosphere, fascinates with a stylish inclusion of creative practitioners and sets itself to inform. However, clearer (or more than one) wall text would have worked better to educate viewers about the relationships that artists can manifest between ancient alchemical viewpoints and contemporary art.

‘Copper, Steel, Iron, Silver 1080 666’ was displayed at Koel gallery from July 13 through July 28, 2021

Published in Dawn, EOS, August 15th, 2021