Introducing the drifters
The Dfiters is a complex snap shot of new contemporary Indian artists who work out of (the culture-scape called) Delhi. The show puts together a mix of artists' whose works the city has not quite engaged with (in terms of the dominant gallery structures), and even if they have, there is a certain commitment to the concept-metaphor called 'an artistic journey'. Notions of existence that are focused on journeys are conceptually opposed to an approach towards living and culture that are focused on the destination.
Recent developments in the post modern world has presented us with an unique opportunity to re examine the imagined meaning we associate with the words 'progressive' and 'drifting'.
Traditionally these words have signified a focused socio-politically forward moving tendency and a directionless non radical movement respectively. There is a strong possibility that when progressive becomes the mainstream and obsessive, one of the ways of radical resistance is located in the conceptual domain of drifting.
The roots of this though lie in the notion of Wu Wei - a central concept in Taoism. The literal meaning of wu wei is "without action". It is often expressed by the paradox wei wu wei, meaning "action without action" or "effortless doing". The goal of wu wei is alignment with Tao, revealing the soft and invisible power within all things. It is believed that masters of wu wei can observe and follow this invisible potential, the innate in-action of the Way. In ancient Taoist texts, wu wei is associated with water through its yielding nature. Water is soft and weak, but it can move earth and carve stone.[1].
The sixteen drifters are Megha Joshi, Raj Mohanty, Pratibha Singh, Kumar Kanti Sen, Rabindra Patra, Puja Vaish, Paribartan Mohanty, Shantanu Lodh, Kanak Sashi, Saumya Anant Krishna, Anindita Bhattacharya, Vinita Das Gupta, Rajib Lochan Pani, Nidhi Khurana and Al Said Hassan. They were invited into the show and are curatorial deemed important as artist who have in their art and artistic practice have been resistant to the stylistic fashions of production and consumption, that have/had become dominant (stiflingly hegemonic), thrusting Indian art towards a straight jacketed idea of internationalism. The snapshot claims complexity because it does not fit into the conventional idea of upcoming artists, yet it is constructed out of a curatorial hunch regarding an array of artists who have been working in the city for sometime now and have worked away from the market glare and the all consuming stylistic homogeneity. One key aim of this show is to establish that art exists outside of dominant trends and often such work often reflect a layered sense of artistic practice and a kind of personal engagement with art making which was being rendered unfashionable during the market boom that clouded our taste. (the focus was essentially was on the artwork as a commodity.)
This is a non thematic show; the curatorial enterprise instead chooses to focus on a critical selection and working out display in close collaboration with artists. I have opened a blog at http://weareherenow-take1.blogspot.com/ , as a part of the confirmation, the participating artists are invited to join the blog (separate invites for which are being sent). The blog was proposed as a site where in the participating artist and the curator meet and exchange ideas. It is also a site where in artist are invited to upload the works/concepts being prepared for the show. The blog did not turn out to be what one set it up for; nonetheless it has become a site that stands as an important documentation of the show being conceptualized, and the discursive spirit that informs the display.
Here in India, we take the white cube for granted. Even our museums walls are white and large. Thus art viewing spaces for the contemporary public[2] in post independence India has shaped up in a manner that white walls and eyelevel display are norms that are almost unchallenged. This exists' inspite of us all knowing that this notion is culturally temporal, and our non secular past has left enough archeological evidences to re mind us that viewing has got a lot of different possibilities. Even in euro America (the cultural sphere which largely influences our notion of art, display and criticism), one does not have this over arching domination of the white cube[3]. Boldly coloured walls, and display at various eye levels characterizes displays across Europe, and has informed museum displays across America[4]. This curatorial experiment tries to combine inspirations form London art shops, European museums, churches, cave architecture and temples, working towards a new language of display and rethinking viewing experience.
Through this show there has also been an attempt to engage with the relationships between the wall text and the image. Though one acknowledges the role of a the text as having a critically interpretative value and its function as a context framing device, there was a certain discomfort with how a linear narrative wall text tends to try and explain art works even before they have a chance to 'speak for them selves. In this show we have used broken texts across the walls and ceilings designed in a manner that gives the viewers an abstract framework though which to enter the works without actually speaking for the work. Of course later the catalogue text will carry linear notes of artistic intentionality and curatorial interpretation.
This exhibition is a part of the ten years celebrations of the Art and Deal Magazine. This has been organized as an acknowledgement of the way in which the artists from Delhi have supported us. From that basic premise, this show has changed to become a curatorial project which re thinks the notion of 'up coming' and 'contemporary'. The show was initially tiled 'We are here now-Take 1' as a reaction to the mid recession fantasy for a 'gen- next /up coming contemporary' show'.
.
[1] Jones, Richard H. Mysticism and Morality: a new look at old questions (Lexington Books, 2004)
[2] Contemporary Approaches to the Social Contract, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Principal Editor: Edward N. Zalta, substantive revision Fri Sep 5, 2008
[3] A Cabinet of Critiques - Museum of Modern Art's "The Museum as Muse: Artists Reflect" exhibition
Art in America, Dec, 1999 by Eleanor Heartney http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_12_87/ai_58360975/
[4] Art History and Art Politics: The Museum According to Orsay Daniel J. Sherman
Oxford Art Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2 (1990), Oxford University Press.
rahul bhattacharya
managing editor
Art&Deal Magazine, 23, Hauz Khas Village
New Delhi - 110016. Ph. 011- 26531819
www.artanddealmagazine.com
----------------------------------
Can it be Done in Any Corner You Like?
http://theblackyellowarrow.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment