A conversation with Shireen Taweel, DPAG 7 November 2024

Based in Warrane Sydney, Shireen Taweel is a multi-disciplinary research-led artist whose work considers the histories and futurisms of collective space, materiality, and cultural practice. Her most recent work looks at the influence of the celestial navigation technologies of Arab astronomy on the future movement of people through migration and pilgrimage. As the Dunedin Public Art Gallery’s 2024 International Visiting Artist, Taweel has produced a new moving image work, navigational devices, and a set of copper engraved prints as documentation of a performative pilgrimage that started in Ōtepoti Dunedin and moved north-west across the South Island. Guided by the careful tracking of the night sky, 5364 nocturne speaks to how the continuing contributions of the Arab sciences can produce alternative futurisms for space migration.

On 7 November 2024, the Dunedin Public Art Gallery held a public talk with Shireen Taweel, where she discussed her residency with the DPAG, the exhibition 5364 nocturne and her wider practice.

A Dunedin Public Art Gallery Visiting Artist Programme, supported by Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa.