On Artists and Artisans: The Experimental Worlds of Shahzia Sikander

In May 2014, the editors of CSSAAME hosted a discussion with the Pakistani American artist Shahzia Sikander about artistic practice and its role in deconstructing (and reframing) the often vexed relationship Eurocentric canons of art history and aesthetic theory have with regional art and artists. The discussion is the first of a series of events that intersect ongoing concerns of the journal, even as they open new avenues for collective consideration of art and its curation that extends beyond the attention that an individual art historian or cultural critic might direct toward specific artists, or singular artworks. These questions assume added significance against the backdrop of a rapidly globalizing museum culture, supported by the concomitant rise in museum construction as supportive infrastructure for new sites of spectacle and speculation.