Mesa Contemporary Arts hosts 'Shimmering Mirage' immersive exhibit

Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum’s new exhibition is “Shimmering Mirage,” a large-scale installation that uses light, shadow and pattern to create an immersive, shared experience.

Located in the museum’s new Immersive Gallery, “Shimmering Mirage” was conceived and created by American-Pakistani artist Anila Guayyum Agha and is on exhibit now through Jan. 5, 2025. Admission at the museum, 1 E. Main St., is free. The museum is open 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Tuesday–Saturday; noon–5 p.m. Sunday and closed on Mondays. Note that the museum will be closed Aug. 5-Sept. 12 for summer break, according to a release.

A large-scale white cube made of heavy cut steel, “Shimmering Mirage” is illuminated from within, with delicate lace-like patterns carved on the surface. Suspended from the ceiling, the sculpture casts magical shadows and patterns on the turquoise gallery walls, which transforms the space in tandem with movement of the visitors, the release states.

“Mixing reflections and shadows with solid forms, my artwork aspires simultaneously to be perceptually soothing and conceptually challenging,” Agha said in the release. “The somewhat familiar Islamic geometric motifs allow me to re-interpret these motifs from the everyday and elevate them to the extraordinary. My goal is to explore the binaries of public and private, light and shadow and static and dynamic by relying on the purity and inner symmetry of geometric design, and the interpretation of the cast shadows, both in the sculptural installations and the flatwork.”

Go to mesaartscenter.com/museum or call 480-644-6560.