Dear Drifters
Thanks & Best regards
Art Konsult
23, Hauz Khas Village
New Delhi-110016, Ph: 011- 26531819
M: 9811436878
W: www.artkonsultindia.com
introduction :
Drifting stillis proposed as a continuation of a curatorial urge to propose a new understanding of emerging, invest worthy artists and exhibition display. the show opens on the 15th of september at the art konsult gallery with the lauch of the post show catalouge launch of drifters- delhi+mumbai and a pre show catalouge of drifting still
The notion of investment:
One of the biggest philosophical crises of our times is that the notion of investment is seen only through the prism of financial profit. There is a growing cacophony of laments about art works being reduced to being just commodities. What we are looking for is a shift in framework from 'just commodities' to 'also commodities'. Though institutions like Akshardham have heavily used art as social or cultural investment, (we) the (self-proclaimed) mainstream of contemporary Indian art continue to understand investment mostly in financial terms.
This curation (again) attempts to propose that investment in art should be understand in broader cultural and social terms. An artwork plays many more social roles than transferring financial value. The value generation has to be seen in terms of cultural, political, historical and philosophical (apart from the once dominant but currently out of favor term called aesthetics)
Moving on to the notion of emerging artists:
The prevalent notion of investment casts a long shadow on the notion of emerging artists. The system tends to translate 'emerging' as young invest worthy artist. The artist list of Drifting Still is inspired by the urge to highlight artistic practice, rather than (just) the end product. It reflects the curatorial believe that when progressive becomes the mainstream and obsessive, one of the ways of radical resistance is located in the conceptual domain of drifting.
The selection is of bunch of artists who have unconsciously or ideologically have shown a great investment in the idea of an artistic journey, and produce work, which has enough aesthetic depth to ensure that open up possibilities of redefining the meaning of investment.
On text and display:
'Drifters' in Delhi was my first major curatorial experiment with display and text image relationship. Like most experiments, it was only part successful. In this show, I would like to take the experiment further…learning from the past and exploring current imaginations.
Please refer to http://weareherenow-take1.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html
List of artists:
1. Rabindra Patra
2. Paribartan Mohanty
3. Kanak Sashi
4. Anindita Bhattacharya
5. Shantanu Lodh
6. Vinima Gulati
7. Nidhi Khurana
8. Puja Puri
9. Pratibha Singh
10. Akshay Rathore
11. Surya Singh
12. Megha Joshi
13. Akash Gaur
14. Michal Glikson