Shahzia Sikander: The Last Post

A faceless man in a red coat, buttoned waistcoat and tricorn hat stands inside a Mughal interior. Later his head, then his whole body, bursts into hundreds of mosaic-like shards. He is Shahzia Sikander's "Company man", drawn from 18th-century miniatures of British East India Company officials.

The Last Post is a single ten-minute animation from 2010, scored by Pulitzer winner Du Yun, in the third-floor gallery for media installations. It loops, so you walk in whenever and stay until it comes round again. Court architecture, Chinese cut-paper silhouettes and a watercolor map of South Asia dissolve around him, and the wall text ties the Company's tea monopoly to the Boston Tea Party. The firm behind the tea in Boston Harbor gets ten minutes here, more than most school history lessons gave it.

The Washington Post called it "mesmerizing" and said it rewards several viewings. Du Yun's soundtrack moves from wordless singing to clanging, static and distorted beats. Free, no ticket, daily 11:30 to 19:00, until 8 November.