Skip to content

Encroachments

18 January – 15 March 2020

New Art Exchange, Nottingham

Click here for more information.

Installation view, Encroachments, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, 2020. Photography © Reece Straw.

Installation view, Encroachments, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, 2020. Photography © Reece Straw.

Installation view, Encroachments, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, 2020. Photography © Reece Straw.

In this exhibition titled Encroachments, Shezad Dawood takes a pragmatic and oblique look at the relations between Pakistan and the US since partition in 1947 through a Virtual Reality (VR) environment, contained within an installation comprising paintings, neon, wallpaper, sculpture and print. The narrative behind Encroachments is a meditation on ideas of sovereignty, private property and the politics of space in the two largest cities in Pakistan: Lahore & Karachi. The term ‘encroachment’ is used to designate the backlash in Pakistani politics and the media against so-called illegal structures built onto the fabric of existing private and state infrastructure. These ad-hoc encampments become social and commercial apparatuses for the lower classes, and reflect a grass-roots entrepreneurialism, and reclamation of space.

The central element of the VR is the proposed US embassy in Karachi designed by Austrian-American Modernist architect Richard Neutra. Its construction began in 1959, but by the time it was completed, the capital was moved to the new city of Islamabad and Neutra’s building was downgraded to a Consulate. On the journey to the Neutra building and onwards, the VR user moves through various parallel environments, including renowned colonial-era bookshop Ferozsons in Lahore, established in 1894. The mazelike corridors give way to a secret passage into the Reagan years and a video game arcade referencing anti-Soviet propaganda, which fuelled a large amount of early game design evolving against the backdrop of the Soviet-Afghan war. The final sequence leads you into a contemporary Encroachment on the outskirts of Karachi, which is used as a tea shop and meeting space.

Click here to view a trailer.

Encroachments is co-commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation for SB14, 2019 and New Art Exchange, Nottingham. Generously supported by the Bagri Foundation. Special thanks to Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai, Timothy Taylor, London, EMI Pakistan, Umeed Ansari, Ahsan Sajjad, Fasahat Syed, Iftikhar Dadi, Dion Neutra, Barbara Lamprecht, Sonya Rehman and Arif Belgaumi.

Installation view, Encroachments, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, 2020. Photography © Reece Straw.

Installation view, Encroachments, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, 2020. Photography © Reece Straw.

Encroachments I (Jinnah), 2018.
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas,
139 × 119 cm.


Encroachments II (Peace Air Drop), 2018.
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas,
139 × 119 cm.

Encroachments III (Defender), 2018.
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas,
139 × 119 cm.

Encroachments IV (Terrazzo), 2018.
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas,
139 × 119 cm.

Related

Art Dubai
2024
Jhaveri Contemporary, Art Dubai, Dubai
Horror in the Modernist Block
2022—2023
IKON Gallery, Birmingham
Sculpture in the City, 11th Edition
2022—2023
Leadenhall Market, London
Reflections in a Golden Eye
2021
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 32 × 21 cm
The Crying Book
2021
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 32 × 21 cm
The Dispossessed
2021
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 32 × 21 cm
The High Window
2021
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 32 × 21 cm
The Sun Also Rises
2021
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 32 × 21 cm
Boat On The River Nile
2020
Oil, acrylic and textile collage on canvas, 32 × 21 cm
Cobra Lady
2020
Oil, acrylic and textile collage on canvas, 32 × 21 cm
Colonial Adventures I
2020
Oil, acrylic and textile collage on canvas, 32 × 21 cm
Colonial Adventures II
2020
Oil, acrylic and textile collage on canvas, 32 × 21 cm
Djinn
2020
Oil, acrylic and textile collage on canvas, 32 × 21 cm
History
2020
Oil, acrylic and textile collage on canvas, 32 × 21 cm
Mean Maulana
2020
Oil, acrylic and textile collage on canvas, 32 × 21 cm
One Step Beyond
2020
Glazed ceramic on terrazzo plinth, 36 × 34 × 6cm, plinth circa 146.5 × 70 × 70 cm
Spy Games
2020
Oil, acrylic and textile collage on canvas, 32 × 21 cm
The Rebel
2020
Oil, acrylic and textile collage on canvas, 32 × 21 cm
The Sheikh Who Loved Me
2020
Oil, acrylic and textile collage on canvas, 32 × 21 cm
Art Dubai
2019
Jhaveri Contemporary, Art Dubai, Dubai
Encroachments
2019
VR environment, duration variable
Folk Tunes of Pakistan on Electric Siltar and Western Instruments
2019
Screenprint on paper in artist’s frame, 71.8 × 97 cm
Invasion
2019
Neon, 198 × 186 cm
Spacewar!
2019
Tapestry in teak artist's frame, 159 × 1116 cm
The American Centre
2019
Resin and polychromatic paint, 40.5 × 48 × 44.5 cm
The Directorate
2019
Tapestry in teak artist’s frame, 159 × 116 cm
Encroachments I (Jinnah)
2018
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 139 × 119 cm
Encroachments II (Peace Air Drop)
2018
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 139 × 119 cm
Encroachments III (Defender)
2018
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 139 × 119 cm
Encroachments IV (Terrazzo)
2018
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 139 × 119 cm
Neutral Density
2018
Acrylic and mixed media on denim, 180 × 180 cm