ILLUSIONS SOLO EXHIBITION BY SABINA SHIKHLINSKAYA AT BAKU MOMA
11 Dec - 02 Jan 15
Baku Museum of Modern Art will host Illusions, a solo exhibition of light and video installations by Sabina Shikhlinskaya, honoured Azerbaijani artist, in December 2014. Sabina Shikhlinskaya is an artist and independent curator working in conceptual and multimedia contemporary art. She has long experience of participation in local and international exhibitions and projects. Art works by Sabina Shikhlinskaya are exhibited and housed at numerous private and museum collections globally. Her curatorship experience includes the implementation of more than sixty Azerbaijan-based and foreign projects. This exhibition project includes seven light and video installations that allegorise and evoke the images of the prevailing longings and aspirations of today's society. The titles of the installations are: 'Power', 'Fame', 'Liberty', 'Choice', 'Happiness', 'Horizons', and 'Nature'.
The underlying concept for these works is a reflection on that most essential philosophical human question 'to have or to be?' Psychoanalyst and Freudo-Marxist, Erich Fromm, wrote in his seminal work To have or to be? about the idea of human hopes for boundless happiness, freedom, affluence and domination over nature, with the advent of the industrial age. Unlimited production was supposed to provoke limitless consumption and therefore bring fulfilment. However, this is largely responsible for the current materialistic state of the general public that simply selects the option 'to have' rather than 'to be'.
Shikhlinskaya specifically selected neon as a material as it is widely used in present day advertising that grabs the attention of the consumers thanks to its luminosity and colour. Since she set a goal of demonstrating critical and ironical perspectives on the appeal and popularity of materialistic aspirations in modern society, neon is the ideal medium to demonstrate the visual and semantic delusory qualities within the exhibited works.
Venue: Museum of Modern Art
Exhibition Dates: 12.12.2014 - 02.01.2015
Opening Hours: Tuesday - Sunday: 11:00 > 20:00, Monday: CLOSED
General Admission: 5 AZN
Student Admission: 2 AZN
