Opening April 8th, 2022

Amin Gulgee: The Spider Speaketh in Tongues

This immersive solo exhibition of sculptures and new media works presents an opportunity to entangle oneself in Amin Gulgee’s aesthetic web. His practice explores unlikely connections to uncover alternative narratives, resisting conceptual categorization.

He attempts to dissolve the divisions not only between the many layers of South Asian spirituality, but those of gender and sexuality. This nondualistic approach manifests itself in the materiality of his metalwork, and is reflected in the philosophy behind his performative and curatorial practices. As the late doyen of Islamic art history, Oleg Grabar wrote:

…works by Amin Gulgee bewilder us by the variety of their expressions, by an apparent freedom in technique and design, by the range of pleasures they offer… It is clear that Gulgee is trying to find the limits of a sculptor’s art… he gives pleasure to the senses and excites the mind.

For over three decades, Amin Gulgee has been spinning threads that interweave sculpture (primarily in copper and bronze), performance and curation. His curatorial practice spans over two decades. In 2017, Amin Gulgee was the Chief Curator of the inaugural Karachi Biennale, Pakistan’s first biennial. Performance is an integral aspect of both his curatorial and personal practice. Gulgee has enacted over 30 performances throughout his trajectory.

His last series of solo exhibitions, entitled 7, took place in 2018, from Kuala Lumpur (Wei-Ling Contemporary) to Karachi, culminating in concurrent exhibitions at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Roma Capitale, and the Mattatoio di Roma. Prior to this series, Gulgee’s work had been shown in 47 solo-exhibitions across the world. He has 10 public works, including: Steps (2003), located in front of the Parliament of Pakistan, Islamabad; as well as Reaching for the Skies (2019) in the Rose Garden of the United Nations, New York. The South Asia Institute will host The Spider Speaketh in Tongues, an encapsulation of Amin Gulgee’s practice.

Curated by Adam Fahy-Majeed

Learn more about Amin Gulgee’s work here.