Shotgun Reviews are an open forum where we invite the international art community to contribute timely, short-format responses to an exhibition or event. If you are interested in submitting a Shotgun Review, please click this link for more information. In this Shotgun Review, Nancy Garcia reviews Sanaz Mazinani: Threshold at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

Currently on view at the Asian Art Museum is Threshold, a new work by the Iran-born, San Francisco-based artist Sanaz Mazinani. The installation is an impressive development for the artist, and engages both the museum’s architecture and the visitor’s experience.

Mazinani, whose work is rooted in conceptual photography, has created a mesmerizing video by splicing together sequences of helicopters and explosions from Hollywood action films. The resulting work pulses with the movement of kaleidoscopic patterns that draw on Islamic ornamentation; these patterns are also evident in the laser-cut mirrored panels along the gallery walls. In the center is a large, mirrored sculpture that reflects the viewer and further fragments the images. Completing the immersive experience is a six-channel sound installation that responds to movement. Threshold’s repeated visual and sonic fragmentation is seductive and intense.

In a conversation at the opening, the artist told me that Threshold is about the beauty of fireworks, her ambivalence over her love of Hollywood action films, and the pull and push of power. “Power can be tantalizing and exciting, and at the same time it can be an issue because of how it’s exerted over others. Threshold is about the cusp of the sublime, and the disastrous negative energy [of it]. I really hope that with all the fragmentation that happens, we might be able to think about those issues in a new way.”[1]

Unlike some works that explore political content, Mazinani’s work never preaches, but instead recognizes complexity and makes viewers question their experience. The installation uses contemporary culture to tell a visually compelling story. It draws the viewer in while directly questioning ideas of perception and place. Watching an action film may never be the same again.

In conjunction with Threshold, Mazinani invited contemporary dancer Bobbi Jene Smith to perform a dance that engages Threshold both thematically and physically. Smith has danced with the Batsheva Dance Company based in Tel Aviv, Israel, since 2006. The performance, Crossing Threshold, will take place on April 16, 2015, at the museum.

Sanaz Mazinani: Threshold is on view in the Asian Art Museum’s Vinson Gallery through May 3, 2015.  

Nancy Garcia is a freelance writer and television producer. She writes on arts and culture for multiple outlets, and resides in San Francisco.

[1] Sanaz Mazinani, conversation with the author, March 27, 2015.