Rhapsody in Four Colours

Rhapsody in Four Colours sits at the heart of the Aga Khan Centre in London’s King’s Cross. Its a 35-metre high sculpture, which celebrates the connection between 20th century geometric abstraction and the achievements of Islamic Civilisation. The work is a response to the building, to the central atrium and to the wall it hangs upon.

The Aga Khan Centre was designed by Maki & Associates led by Fumihiko Maki, one of Japan’s most distinguished contemporary architects. The building, completed and opened in 2018, is influenced by Islamic architectural heritage but has also been designed to be fit into a modern London landscape. Organised around a nine-storey glazed atrium, the building layout reflects traditional courtyards found in Morocco and Egypt, where private rooms surround common spaces.

During the building construction a crane sat in the centre of the atrium. Its structure seemed almost to be a precursor to, even to anticipate, the new work by Rasheed Araeen that was created in response to and that now inhabits the same space.

37m high, 5 m wide, the wall in the atrium of Maki’s new AKDN building is impressive in its scale. Araeens response, part wall hanging, part relief sculpture, part engineering solution recalls Brancusi’s endless column as much as a classical Islamic geometric structure. It works as a counterpoint to as well as in harmony with the building – injecting shots of colour into this sparse white environment. For the visitor, the first encounter allows a view upwards of the whole work from the ground floor. The balustrades on each floor, opening into the central atrium space, allow views of the work from almost every perspective including the side and the top.

The process of creating the work, from concept to fabrication, assembly and installation, was a collective endeavor including site visits and many conversations over plans and drawings of the building and its interior as well as the artist’s proposal. Each section of the work was individually cut from sheet aluminium before being welded to create a series of boxes. These have been powder coated, a robust yet laborious process involving de-greasing, spraying, masking, baking and drying to produce the desired finish. As part of the completion of the work Araeen invited the commissioning team and client to work with him on the selection of final colour options. This generous gesture enabled a real sense of collaboration with the artist that enabled an important sense of knowledge and ownership of the work by the custodians of the building.

About the artist
Rasheed Araeen (Urdu: رشید آرائیں‎; born 1935) is a Karachi born, London-based conceptual artist, sculptor, painter, writer, and curator. He graduated in civil engineering from the NED University of Engineering and Technology in 1962, and has been working as a visual artist bridging life, art and activism since his arrival in London from Pakistan in 1964.

Commissioned by the Aga Khan Development Network