Overview
In 3 to 12 Nautical Miles, Sikander traces the entangled histories of empire, trade, and maritime power that linked the British East India Company, Mughal India, and Qing China. This animation charts the decline of Mughal authority under Akbar II, the internal strains of the Qing dynasty, and the East India Company’s rise from commercial venture to territorial power. Within this context, the work interrogates Britain’s opium cultivation in India, its coercive trade with China, and the First Opium War, exposing the mechanisms of imperial extraction and the deep power asymmetries between Britain and China at the time.
Featured on the M+ Facade, Sikander’s animation magnifies the painted gestures, objects, and symbols that signal how authority was constructed, distributed, and contested, from Indian fields and ports to Chinese treaty cities and British naval power. It also examines how authority remains vulnerable, especially in places like the sea, where boundaries are never fully fixed. Grounded in research on China trade art at the Hong Kong Museum of Art and Hong Kong Maritime Museum, the work is rooted in historical detail and visual specificity. Through these complex histories, Sikander highlights empire as an interconnected global imperial economy built of coercion, extraction, and shifting power.
A public programme will accompany the commission, including:
- A free illustrated lecture by Shahzia Sikander, on Thursday, 26 March at 17:00, in the M+ Cinema.
- An artist talk with Shahzia Sikander and Doryun Chong, Artistic Director and Chief Curator of M+, presented as part of Art Basel Hong Kong’s Premiere Artist Talk series, on Wednesday, 25 March at 15:00, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
- Free drop-in screenings of Sikander’s earlier animations, created over the past two decades, running all day from Tuesday, 24 March to Sunday, 29 March, in the M+ Cinema.
In addition, for the first time, a limited-edition T-shirt in two designs, featuring images from 3 to 12 Nautical Miles will be available at the M+ Shop and online, as well as the physical and online Art Basel Shop.
For further details, please refer to the M+ website.
