An immense hand-painted animation by Pakistani American artist Shahzia Sikander will cast a glow over Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor this spring. The work, 3 to 12 Nautical Miles (2026), will be activated on the M+ Facade, the gargantuan digital media surface that is embedded into the architecture of M+, Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District. Co-commissioned by M+ and Art Basel and presented by UBS, the work will be shown every evening from March 23rd through June 21st, and it will coincide with Art Basel Hong Kong.
The work chronicles the power imbalances between the British East India Company, Mughal India, and Qing China: a dynamic built on opium cultivation, coercive trades, and imperial expansion that crescendoed into the First Opium War. “3 to 12 Nautical Miles traces the city’s emergence at a locus of intersecting empires, markets, and cultures, where the opium trade and the sea converged,” explained Sikander. “This time-based cinematic work echoes the idea of the sea through ink, movement, and particle systems, alluding to water and ocean as conduits of imperial power, commercial exchange, and political control.” The hand-painted animations are a result of research the artist conducted on Chinese trade art at the Hong Kong Museum of Art and the Hong Kong Maritime Museum.
Sikander is one of the most celebrated living Pakistani artists today, who first rose to prominence in the 1990s with her breakthrough work The Scroll (1989–90). Born in Lahore, the New York–based artist is known for fusing ancient art forms with contemporary techniques to explore histories of colonialism and diasporic experiences. She works across a diverse range of media including painting, drawing, printmaking, digital animation, mosaics, sculpture, and glass, and is known especially for her Central and South Asian miniature paintings. She is represented by Sean Kelly Gallery.
“Shahzia Sikander’s practice, rooted in Central and South Asian miniature painting, offers a distinctive perspective on past and present globalisation through art,” said M+ museum director Suhanya Raffel. “This project explores the nuanced, multifaceted colonial history of Asia, underscoring the museum’s role in tracing cultural development in the region, fostering dialogue with audiences locally and globally.”
Angelle Siyang-Le, director of Art Basel Hong Kong, added, “Seeing Shahzia Sikander’s work transform the M+ Facade and engage contemporary art with civic space is incredibly rewarding. It invites audiences to pause and reflect on urgent global themes in an increasingly interconnected world. Projects like this remind us why art matters—it opens conversations that transcend boundaries and bring people together.”
