Siah Armajani: Follow This Line is the first comprehensive retrospective in the United States devoted to the work of Minneapolis-based artist Siah Armajani. Born in Tehran in 1939, Armajani moved to Minnesota in 1960 to attend Macalester College in St. Paul, where he immersed himself in the study of philosophy and American literature. He has lived and worked in the Twin Cities ever since, while exhibiting internationally.
Armajani is best known today for his works of public art—including bridges, gazebos, reading rooms, and gathering spaces—across the United States and Europe. Near the Walker, the artist’s landmark 375-foot Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge connects Loring Park to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. This groundbreaking exhibition spans seven decades of the artist’s studio practice and resituates his work first within the context of prerevolution Tehran and, later, postwar and present-day United States. The exhibition encourages viewers to “follow the line” of language woven throughout Armajani’s practice, which engages a range of thinkers and references—from Persian calligraphy to the manifesto, letter, and talisman; from poetry to mathematical equations and computer programming; from the Abstract Expressionist canvas to the vernacular architecture of rural America, Bauhaus design, and Russian Constructivism.
Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website