1708 is pleased to present the first solo exhibition in the US for Bangladeshi artist Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury (Sakib).

Mizanur’s artwork investigates space and community and is invested in revealing the interconnectedness that exists between disparate sites – like Richmond, Virginia and Dhaka, Bangladesh. He imagines this connection as creating a sense of energy. For his exhibition at 1708, this is represented by a series of kinetic sculptures that are installed along the length of the gallery. These revolving, roughly life-size spoon sculptures are evocative of an internal, circle of life energy; surrounded by imagery, including projections of videos captured in Bangladesh and the United States, the components merge into a gentle force field that invites viewers to enter and navigate through.

Additionally, he draws energy, and materials from the site of the gallery.  For the past several months Mizanur has utilized the gallery’s basement as a temporary studio space, replicating this experience through sound, images, and repurposed materials.

As the artist shares:

This work emerges from the entanglement of time, space, materials, situations, and community. It is shaped by relationships and the sensing of meanings that unfold through interaction. The wind, water, stars and place—the non-human entities—are inseparable from us as we coexist within the same field of being. When everything collapses, when reality fades, and time dissolves into darkness, this work continues to sense the deep feelings of loss that the wind, water, and stars witnessed.

There is a humility to Mizanur’s process and materials—Xerox copies, thrifted spoons—that combines with the symbolism of natural elements – wind, air, water – present in his work to deliver an ecological message: that our relationship as individuals to the natural world is singular and small but the energy that binds us to one another amplifies our voices.

Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury is an interdisciplinary visual artist from Dhaka, Bangladesh, currently residing and practicing in Richmond, USA. His works emerge through a dynamic engagement with time, space, and community, unfolding across diverse situations and materials. Working at the intersection of sculpture, installation, movement, and performance, his practice weaves together assemblage, collage, video, found footage, and experimental film to create layered, multifaceted artistic universes. Through this fluid approach, he explores the entanglement of human-non-human entities to reveal new ways of sensing and inhabiting this universe.

His works have been exhibited widely across the world, including in Paris, Zurich, Vienna, Romania, New Delhi, and Goa. He is the first visual artist from Bangladesh to receive the prestigious six-month international residency at Art Explora in Paris (2022–23), selected by an eminent committee including Hans Ulrich Obrist, Diana Campbell Betancourt, Simon Njami, and Philippe Vergne. 

He has also participated in the Pro Helvetia Studio Residency at Rote Fabrik, Zurich (2021) and the Delfina Foundation Residency in London (2018). In 2018, he received Bangladesh’s most prestigious recognition for contemporary art, the Samdani Art Award at the Dhaka Art Summit, judged by a distinguished panel featuring Aaron Cezar, Mona Hatoum, Runa Islam, Subodh Gupta, and Sheela Gowda.

His works have been presented in numerous international exhibitions, including Art Encounter at Romania Biennale (2023, curated by Adrian Notz), Art Explora – Cité internationale des arts, Paris; Dhaka Art Summit (2018 & 2020, curated by Diana Campbell Betancourt); Samdani Art Award Exhibition (curated by Simon Castets); Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts (TMoFA), Taiwan (2021); 19th Asian Art Biennale, Dhaka (2022); Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa (2019); India Art Fair, New Delhi (2019); A Finger on the Pulse, New Delhi (2018); National Art Exhibition, Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka (2021); Chobi Mela X – International Photography Festival (2019); Self-Identity, National Museum of Bangladesh (2016); Mourn, Dhaka Art Center (2013); Only God Can Judge Me (OGCJM Collective), Dhaka (2012); and How Are You?, Community Space Litmaus Gallery, South Korea (2012).