The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (MMCA, Seoul) holds its first exhibition of 2014, Shirin Neshat, 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. 

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.”

(Alternate artist quote: “My art has stemmed from a desire to bridge deeply personal issues with critical social, political and historical issues that concern the worlds I inhabit. Whether through the medium of photography, video installations or feature films, all of my work tends to investigate various dichotomies, including masculine and feminine; mystical and political; poetry and violence; and finally, personal angst with social crisis.”)

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.

※ 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.

*image (left)
Shirin Neshat,
Rapture, 1999 Production Still
Copyright Shirin Neshat
Courtesy the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels