Art News: Artist Shubigi Rao to curate Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2020

Singapore-based India-born artist Shubigi Rao to curate Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2020

Singapore-based Indian-origin artist and writer Shubigi Rao, a compulsive archivist and visual artist known for her complex and layered installations, has been named the curator of the fifth edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) that begins on December 12, 2020.

The selection committee, which made the announcement in Venice on Thursday, unanimously decided to appoint Rao for her “exceptional acumens and inventive sensibilities” to curate the upcoming biennale.

The appointment is in keeping with the tradition of an artist helming the contemporary art festival that debuted in 2012. 

Artist Shubigi Rao, Curator, Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2020

Mumbai-born Rao, whose work featured in the fourth edition of the KMB (2018), is also a writer and her myriad interests include archaeology, neuroscience, libraries, archival systems, histories, literature, violence, acts of cultural genocide, anti-censorship, migratory patterns, ecology and natural history.

The decision to choose Rao, 43, was announced at Istituto Europeo di Design, Palazzo Franchetti in Venice—the Italian city that hosted the world’s first biennale (in 1895). The announcement came after lengthy deliberations within a search committee comprising Amrita Jhaveri, Gayatri Sinha, Jitish Kallat, Sunita Choraria and Tasneem Mehta, besides Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) trustees Alex Kuruvilla, Bose Krishnamachari and V Sunil.

Rao expressed happiness about her appointment. “Biennales are sometimes floating cities that are unmoored from their locality/regionality. Kochi-Muziris Biennale is rooted in the intertwined histories and cultural multiplicities of Kochi, while providing a crucial platform for larger discourse of the critical, political, and social in artistic practices,” she said. “To shift the lens through which we read the spectacle of exhibition, we must reposition discourse and practice through acknowledging intersecting contexts. I believe it is possible for the Biennale to retain regional realities and histories through cementing existing affinities and establishing new commons.”

Krishnamachari, who is a co-founder of the 2010-instituted KBF, described Rao as a “brilliant and original” artist. “Responding to the Foundation’s interest in selecting a young curator with varied interests, the section committee chose Rao for her exceptional talent,” he noted.

Secretary Sunil described Rao as a multi-faceted artist with interests in a range of subjects. “We look forward to another exciting edition of the Biennale under her curatorship,” he added.

Besides featuring in the fourth edition of the KMB, Rao participated in the 10th Taipei Biennial (2016), 3rd Pune Biennale (2017), the 2nd Singapore Biennale (2008) and the Singapore Writers Festival (2016, 2013). She was also selected for residency programmes in Singapore, Germany and India.

Since 2014 Shubigi has been visiting public and private collections, libraries and archives globally for Pulp: A Short Biography of the Banished Book, a decade-long film, book and visual art project about the history of book destruction. The first portion of the project, Written in the Margins, won the Juror’s Choice Award at the APB Signature Prize 2018. The first volume from the project was shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize 2018. The project has two of its proposed five volumes released.

*Press release

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Art Review: TEXT AS TEXT II

TEXT AS TEXT II 

By Nikhil J L Purohit

The compulsion of reading textual works is found to be influential for all kind of scripts, with the reader trained to read the text or not. A logical mind is aware that the texts, unlike the visuals, have a relatively higher probability of correct interpretation of the message. Yet the diverse modes of linguistic constructs succeed in maintaining the barrier for direct communication.

The artists grouped together in the exhibition curated by Shubhalakshmi Shukla have congregated from various cities, with their individual responses to the curatorial concept of Pure Text as a point of entry for the viewers. The separation of retinal pleasure (of visuals) is a crucial element followed by most artists succeeding in a rendition of the textual-imagery invoking subtle yet unpoetic assimilations and metaphoric, direct, intriguing array of words striking the visual-readers.

Through an irregular display of works, quick surprises are sought as some works are minimal with a strong punch of socio-political critique, satire, and anecdotes. Perhaps the larger perception relays an insight to the positions of each artist responding to the ideas of ego, presence, inaccessibility, societal disparities, personal associations to city, land, neighbourhood, body, and gender. Perhaps this show is an extension of how art today is blurring the boundaries of different disciplines of arts viz. performing and plastic arts. 

One observes Moutushi Chakravorty’s ‘Home Body Soil’ are the hand-written gestalt images comprised of existential dialogues explaining…immortality, vanity, building, breaking, urban-rural etc relevant to each encapsulating word of home, body, and soil. Mithu Joardar’s works titled ‘ID’ that reads Intra-dermal/ Inner Diameter are allegorical and bold in stating the sexual urge of the beings of pleasure principle and mutual exchanges. Nilesh Shilkars’comment on the violence within oneself has an exciting tactility provoking the viewer of the need to shun the violence within.

Work by Moutushi Chakravorty

The sentences ‘Art without Penance is Dead,’ ‘My grace is sufficient for you,’ by Jeetandar Ojha are subtle, yet intriguing, offering a sense of compatibility and equation. The idea of grace hints at the Gandhian peace movement provoking far-reaching action. Roul Hemanta’s simple handwritten lines on the wall are easy yet satirical pointing to the major banking frauds that have occurred in the recent past of our country. The lines interestingly state ‘Apply lime to the Bank walls, jump over the wall’ (बैंक के दीवार में चुना लगाएं । दीवार के ऊपर छलांग लगाएं।). They incite an amusement of a rural smart humour.

Less emphasized facts of city life where our neighbours are shadows, and we all stay under the same water tank formulates the works highlighting the unobserved by Yashwant Deshmukh. An interesting twist to the show is the inclusion of Marathi rappers’ troupe comprising Mayur and Yugal Waikar, Ankit Hachekar, Ashok Kadam, and Pranav Rajput with their rapping critiquing, a sympathizer of the downtrodden, underdogs and taking a stand against the governmental enactments.

We rely on the medium of textual review to stray into the actual works in anticipation of reducing the communication barrier for an afterlife to the dialogue of the ephemeral nature of words.
The exhibition was held at Gallery Art and Soul, Mumbai

Images provided by the curator

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About: Nikhil Purohit is an artist and a pedagogue working in arts management, writing, arts documentation and archiving. He is also the editor of India Art Journal.

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Art News: apexart International Open Call 2019-20

apexart International Open Call for Exhibition Proposals 2019-20
Curatorial opportunity

Application period: February 1–March 1, 2019

apexart’s International Open Call is soliciting exhibition proposals from February 1-March 1, 2019. The four proposals with the highest scores will be presented by the organizers in the countries specified as part of apexart’s 2019-20 exhibition season. Curators, artists, writers, and creative individuals, regardless of experience level or location, are invited to submit a proposal online for any international (or domestic) location outside of New York City and its metropolitan area.

The submission process
Proposals should describe compact, focused, idea-driven, and original group exhibitions. No biographical information, CVs, links, or images will be accepted. Submissions cannot exceed 500 words and should be submitted in English.

The selection process
Rather than convene a small panel to review hundreds of ideas, apexart’s crowdsourced voting system utilizes many jurors to individually review a small subset of proposals. An international jury composed of 300+ individuals from a wide variety of professional backgrounds rate the proposals based on interest, content, and the organizers’ ability to communicate their ideas. To make the system as fair as possible, proposals are anonymous and randomized for each juror, which ensures that each submission receives the same consideration. apexart does not influence the decisions of the jury in any way.

The results
The organizers/curators of the four highest-ranked proposals will each receive an exhibition budget of up to USD 11,000 and will work closely with the apexart team to turn their ideas into apexart exhibitions. Exhibition organizers are expected and challenged to work within the funding provided to transform their winning proposals into strong, focused, noteworthy, and relevant exhibitions.

To submit an exhibition proposal, visit apexart.org/opencalls.php between from February 1-March 1, 2019.

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‘Real and Ethereal’ by Krishna Setty

Metaphorical Narratives

‘Real and Ethereal’, a solo exhibition of recent works by the senior artist C.S. Krishna Setty is currently on in Bangalore. Exploring notions of desire, sexuality and tradition in context with human experiences and stories, Setty’s works weave a fantastical realm where intensely private worlds are projected unrelentingly. The catalogue text describes, “Profound and powerful, the representations here are vastly metaphorical; yet are still grounded within concepts of politics, literature and the more nuanced understanding of a human life, our basic necessities, livelihoods and our deepest and the most secret desires.”

Untitled, ink and pastel on paper

The works are mostly ink and pastel on paper in a small format, which accentuates the exaggeration and distortion in his imagery. Setty layers multiple motifs to build the narrative, and the contiguous juxtaposition of elements and strong lines results in forceful visuals. There is a latent aggression and anxious tenor which is palpable in many of his works, a comment on contemporary society and emotional turmoil lurking under the surface.

Left deliberately untitled, the works are open to interpretation and manifold readings by the viewer. Reflecting the transitory times, Setty uses a compelling metaphorical language to highlight the existing conflicts, stresses and desires that conjoin, warp and amalgamate on the canvas. Using animal and floral motifs along with geometric patterns, and adopting repetition as a pictorial tool, Setty constructs the narrative. Hybrid creatures - mythical and unreal, emerge, blurring lines of fact, fiction and fantasy. A sense of unreality, which is disturbing, prevails, and lingers on. 

Untitled, ink and pastel on paper

Born in 1952, Setty hails from Thirthahalli, Shivamogga district, Karnataka. He pursued Fine Arts from the University College of Art, Davangere. He is the former Chairman and Administrator of Central Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi, during his tenure he played a key role in vitalizing the art activities at the centre and ensured significant participation and involvement of the art community from Karnataka too. He has also served as the Chairman of Karnataka Lalithakala Academy in the past. He is the third artist from India to be awarded the honorary membership of Russian Academy in Moscow, 2017.

Krishna Setty has been an active contributor to the art scene, this exhibition of his works offers insights into his art practice as well.

The exhibition ‘Real and Ethereal’ is on at Art Houz, Bangalore till January 3

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