Common Sky (2025)
Faisal Anwar: CommonSky
September 11, 2025 - December 13, 2025
South Asia Institute
South Asia Institute is pleased to announce new exhibition CommonSky will be on view September 11 through December 13, 2025. This will be an immersive exhibition by hybrid artist and curator Faisal Anwar, conceived during his Labverde Residency in 2019 in the Amazon rainforest, Brazil. Rooted in ancient knowledge and driven by predictive futurism, the project explores new ways of collaborating with environmental research and data. By merging scientific facts, artistic expression, and innovation, CommonSky creates poetic and deeply reflective experiences that highlight the impacts of climate change and the interdependence of ecological systems and our collective future. The exhibition features immersive, interactive installations; digital prints; video works; and kinetic sculptures. Anwar hopes these works will inspire new collaborative processes and methods where art, science, and nature intersect, opening space to ask new questions and engage audiences more broadly with interconnected ecology.
CommonSky is supported by Hundal Foundation, Arts Midwest, Ontario Art Council, and CIBC.
CommonSky is made in collaboration with partner scientists and institutions: Joe Siegrist, President/CEO, Purple Martin Conservation Association (PMCA); Dr. Mario Cohn-Haft, National Amazonian Research Institute; Dr. Erika Hingst Zaher, Butantan institute; Dr. Loren Buck, Northern Arizona University; Dr. Kevin Fraser, University of Manitoba and Dr. Jason Fischer, Disney Animals Science and Environment.
CommonSky Team: fabricator William D. Nelsen, Shop Time Studios; sound designer Debashis Sinha; and tech team: Muzammal ahmad, Yuno Choi, DJ Kim, Haneul Seo, Gozde Altunbulak.
Download Promotional Graphics
1080x1080
1080x1350
2160x1080
About the Artist
Faisal Anwar (b. 1970) is an award-winning Pakistani-Canadian hybrid artist and curator who works at the intersection of art, design, data, and emerging technologies. His transdisciplinary work challenges conventional notions of space, time, urban environments, cultural identities, and human engagement in today's world. Anwar founded CultureLab, a studio that focuses on creating impactful experiences, investigating climate change, wellness, sustainability, emerging economies, and social impact by collaborating with scientific studies and research to engage diverse audiences through immersive installations, public interventions, and data-driven storytelling. Anwar served as the chief curator for the 2022 Karachi Biennial and co-founded ArtAddress, an artist-led collective that promotes creative contemporary discourse. His work has been exhibited internationally at galleries, museums, and major festivals. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design from the National College of Arts in Lahore and studied at the Canadian Film Centre's Habitat-LAB Interactive Art and Entertainment Program.
Press Kit
-
“I believe Common Sky can unlock new ways of knowing, where knowledge is not just consumed, but felt. For me, data becomes powerful when it transforms into lived experience, touches the heart, and inspires meaningful reflection or action.”
“Common Sky is a sensory meditation and medititive on the growing divide between humanity and the natural world. Blending environmental and research data/knowledge and immersive art, I explore planetary consciousness and living systems. I see art as a portal, not just to reflect, but to rekindle awareness and awaken a more intimate connection with the world we belong to.”
"I envision Common Sky as a space for reimagining collaboration, where art, science, and nature intersect to develop new methods of inquiry. My work reflects a continued interest in fostering engagement and dialogue, as well as nurturing emotional and ecological relationships through creative practice.”
“We must learn to connect with nature and the ecological network around us. When we become part of it and truly care, the Earth will care back.”
-
“Although separated by oceans and culture, South Asia and Chicago share deep, intersecting stories of climate change. Climate data often feels distant and technical. What Faisal Anwar’s art does is puts a face, a feeling, or a story to the crisis making it resonate on a human level. From melting glaciers to air pollution many aspects of climate change are not immediately visible. The exhibition makes the Invisible, visible.”
“Climate change doesn’t affect everyone equally. Not everyone reads the climate reports or follows environmental news. We hope this exhibition will bring the message to new audiences and spark an awareness among those who might not engage with traditional scientific reports. We hope the exhibition will make people feel personally connected to the issue and become motivated to change their behavior or even advocate for policy change.”
Works of Note
Important: By downloading images you are agreeing to the following permissions: Images are provided exclusively to the press, and only for purposes of publicity of South Asia Institute's current and upcoming exhibitions, programs, and news announcements. The images must be accompanied by the credit line and any copyright information as it appears above, and the party reproducing the images must not distort or mutilate the images.
Azimuth of Time
Real-Time Immersive Interactive Installation
Photo courtesy of the artist
Azimuth of Time is a living digital forest—an immersive installation that transports audiences through time, from the past with ancient knowledge to a predictive future shaped by climate change. It simulates the pulse of a forest, bringing to life the often-invisible rhythms of nature and showing how subtle shifts in weather and climate constantly reshape our environment. Inspired by navigational tools like the astrolabe—an early astronomical instrument used to determine the time of day, the time of year, and the position of celestial bodies—this work reinterprets those ancient knowledge systems through emerging technologies, linking past wisdom with future awareness. As real-time and predictive conditions evolve, the forest inhales and exhales, offering a deeply sensory experience that explores how we once read the skies and how we might learn to listen to the Earth again, becoming part of the ecological network.
Lines That No Longer Hold
Digital Prints, LED Lightbox Frames
Photo courtesy of the artist
Lines That No Longer Hold is a series of digital artworks created through a layered process that combines scientific research, algorithmic computation, and artistic intuition. Each piece illustrates intricately detailed flocking patterns of migratory birds across North America, including Canada, the United States, and Brazil. These evolving forms are shaped at the crossroads of data and imagination, offering a poetic reflection on movement, ecology, and interconnected systems.