The Institute of Arts and Science & the San Jose Museum of Art present “Seeing Through Stone”
University of California, Santa Cruz NEWSCENTERApril 10, 2024 San José, California (March 20, 2024) — The Institute of the Arts and Sciences...
Join us for a conversation at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences with artist, activist, and architect Sofia Karim touching on the imprisonment of her uncle, the renowned Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam, and her ideas on architecture as a language of struggle and resistance.
This program is presented in conjunction with Seeing through Stone, a multi-sited exhibition that is part of the Visualizing Abolition series. Sofia Karim will be giving an Artist Talk at San José Museum of Art on May 30, 2024.
Events and exhibitions are always free and open to the public at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences.
Sofia Karim has practiced architecture for over twenty years at studios including Norman Foster, London and Peter Eisenman, New York. Her practice combines architecture, visual art, and activism. The incarceration of her uncle (photographer and activist Shahidul Alam) led to the development of her theories on an ‘Architecture of Disappearance.’ and her explorations of architecture as a language of struggle and resistance. Her activism focuses on human rights across Bangladesh and India, where she campaigns for the release of imprisoned artists and political prisoners. She is the founder of Turbine Bagh, a joint artists’ movement against fascism and authoritarianism and platform for political art and activism.
She was a finalist for the Jameel Prize: Poetry to Politics, in 2021. She has exhibited at galleries and museums including Tate Modern, London; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Rubin Museum of Art, New York; Wrightwood 659, Chicago; and as part of Documenta 15, Steidl/ Kunsthaus Göttingen. Her work has been presented at Harvard University and Cambridge University, and featured in publications including The Observer, The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Architectural Review, The Art Newspaper, and the British Journal of Photography. She has appeared on BBC World News, Channel 4 News, Al Jazeera, and Sky News. She lectures on architecture and is a visiting critic at the Westminster School of Architecture.
Biography courtesy of sofiakarim.co.uk. Edited for length and clarity.
Image: Sofia Karim, detail “Memories of Keraniganj Jail,” 2018. Courtesy of the artist. Photo © Shahidul Alam.
