Artist Shahzia Sikander's new animated film, '3 to 12 Nautical Miles,' is being projected onto the digital façade of the M+ museum in Hong Kong. The work uses the historical expansion of territorial waters from 3 to 12 nautical miles as a framework to explore themes of maritime sovereignty, surveillance, and the legacy of colonial trade.
The film critically examines the interconnected histories of the Opium Wars, the British East India Company, and the decline of the Mughal and Qing empires, linking historical extraction to contemporary global power dynamics. Its presentation on M+'s harbor-front facade in Hong Kong—a city shaped by these very forces—transforms the site from a passive backdrop into an active participant in the artwork's commentary on territory, commerce, and cultural authority.