Currents 118: Elias Sime

On display now through January 31, 2021

Museum Hours: Tuesday–Sunday: 10 am–5 pm, Friday: 10 am–9 pm, Closed Monday

Ticketing Information: Free

Description: Ethiopian artist Elias Sime creates monumental modular artworks out of salvaged technological materials including electrical wires, circuit boards, keyboards, and other computer parts. Currents 118 represents a new direction for Sime; he has created two large-scale, colorful domes for the exhibition. These sculptures were inspired by his visit to St. Louis and the Cahokia Mounds in present-day Illinois. Sime’s works reference both Western art history and traditional Ethiopian textiles and architecture and are created using local, Ethiopian techniques for weaving wire. Rather than seeing the discarded objects he collects as recycled items, Sime is interested in how they are reclaimed and given new life in art. By transforming the discarded into the extraordinary, Sime allows us to see things in new ways. The exhibition is curated by Hannah Klemm, associate curator of modern and contemporary art, with Molly Moog, research assistant.