Shahryar Nashat: Downscaled and Overthrown

The works of inventive young Swiss artist Shahryar Nashat pose questions about part of the museum experience that's rarely considered -- the display itself. Whether he's using photography to focus on the plinth supporting an Renaissance sculpture (and chopping off the sculpture itself at ankle or knee), or incongruously pairing a stuntman-gymnast with Baroque frescoes in the Louvre, Nashat has plenty to say about painterly virtuosity, artistic patronage and the artificiality of art exhibitions. ''The pedestal base plates ... in which elegant and erotic rods of brass have been embedded themselves represent the object of desire,'' writes curator Kathleen Rahn. This artist's book based on Nashat's first German solo exhibition includes video installations, sculpture, etchings and photographs.