Aleena Akbar Khan (b.1999) is an interdisciplinary artist working between Pakistan and USA. She works across media, moving between sculptural installation, drawing, publication, sound and video.
Her practice employs methods of translation that attempt to articulate the inherent failures/glitches of technology, scientific knowledge production and institutional power structures. Through various virtual, fictive, and physical interlocutors, her work probes the way information is materialized in our world, and considers how meaning can be abstracted, fractured, or fictionalized through loops of translation. Her practice lies on the edge of irony, humor and improvisation to build a language broader than personal, or geographical specificities.
She gained her BFA from National College of Arts, Pakistan in 2022 and has since completed multiple residencies internationally. In 2022, she received a year-long grant from the Vasl Artist Association, Karachi and was most recently the recipient of the Prince Claus Seed Award in 2024.
Academics, residencies and grants
2024 Prince Claus Seed Award, Netherlands
2023 Artist in residence, Misk art Institute, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2022 Artist in residence, Vasl artist's association, Karachi, Pakistan
2022 Year-long research grant, Vasl artist's Association
2022 Artist in Residence, Digital Arts Studios(DAS), Belfast
2022 BFA with Distinction, National college of Arts, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Exhibitions
2023 '4 days', part of LDF, Lahore, Pakistan
2023 Masaha residency showcase, Misk art Institute, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2023 Lahore Digital festival(LDF), group show, Pakistan
2022 'Museum of Blue', a two person show at Vasl artist's association, Karachi, Pakistan
2022 'Anticipated Nostalgia', at Golden thread gallery, Belfast, UK
2022 'Zine scene', at CFAW, Karachi Pakistan
2022 'Playground', BFA thesis show, NCA Rawalpindi, Pakistan
2019 'In-house', Storia art studio, Faisalabad, Pakistan
Publications
2022 'Blue Noise', artist's book published by Vasl artist's association, Karachi, Pakistan
2021 'Things on the ground', self published
2020 'MAKESHIFT', self published