Shirin Neshat at Gladstone Gallery

A young Iranian art student captures and analyses the dreams of various American subjects in Shirin Neshat’s two channel film and photography exhibition ‘Land of Dreams,’ encouraging viewers to ponder the stories and psychology of her subjects.  Here, an installation of over one hundred photographs pictures New Mexico residents along with personal info – names and birthdates – written in Farsi and drawings relating to their dreams. (On view at Gladstone Gallery through Feb 27th).

Installation view of ‘Land of Dreams,’ Chelsea, Jan 2021.

Mika Tajima at Eleven Rivington

As part of a residency at Philadelphia’s Fabric Workshop and Museum, New York artist Mika Tajima created textiles with a fascinating back story. Taking recordings from factories using Jacquard looms (a precursor to digital) and from server co-location sites (representing new technologies), she translated the sound waves into patterns woven on fabric which was then mounted on acoustic panels to create an object that simultaneously is cutting edge and historical. (At Eleven Rivington on the Lower East Side through April 13th).

Mika Tajima, Negative Entropy (Caledonia Dye Works, quad), cotton, wood, acoustic baffling felt; made in collaboration with the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, 78 x 54 inches, 2014.