Transparent Studio: Interview with Artcodex

Artcodex is a collective of artists who engage in collaborative practices that combine an absurd sense of humor with political content and philosophical exploration. They have exhibited many projects internationally including The War Show in Manila, Philippines, New York, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, Immigration of the Species, for Emergence on Governors Island, NY, and Boomtown as part of Dumbo Arts Festival. In addition, Artcodex participated in the Elsewhere residency in Greensboro, NC. Artcodex was founded in 2006 by Vandana Jain, Mike Estabrook, Glen Einbinder and Brian Higbee. Ghost Modernism will travel to Quartair Gallery in Den Haag, Netherlands in April 2013.

Anita Sharma: When was Artcodex formed and what are the underlying concerns and objectives of this collective?

Artcodex: Artcodex was originally created in 2004 as a website featuring artists whose work dealt with appropriated materials to make political statements. These artists all shared a left-leaning political orientation and a strong sense of the absurd while maintaining diverse artistic aesthetics. By 2005, some of these artists had begun to exhibit and travel together and by 2006, with the first war show in the Philippines, this had developed into the main creative collective of Artcodex. With a concentration on politics, absurdity, the ephemeral, anti-aesthetics and the de-professionialization of art, Artcodex works to create and exhibit a new unified aesthetic outside the usual parameters of the members’ individual practices. Artcodex’s aims include interacting and exchanging with other artistic communities in other places through travel, creating works that engage with the public through interactivity and using humor in their work to defy assumptions about contemporary art pedagogy.

AS: Can you describe your theoretical approach for the program titled Ghost Modernism for the Transparent Studio program?

Artcodex: We are using our residency at Transparent Studio as a way to prepare for our upcoming show at the Hague. As we often do, we are using interactivity, playfulness and a sense of humor to talk about more serious issues, in this case, the relevance of the ideas of utopia and/or failed utopia to our contemporary situation. We often talk about how we see the New York art world as dominated by two main forces, the art market and art academia, (i.e. theory). Through our collective practice, we strive to find a third path, one that is neither elitist nor hierarchical, and allows access to people without regards to economic status or specialized education.

AS: What are some of the processes you are exploring in your critical examination of Modernism, Post-Modernism and Ghost Modernism?

Artcodex: For this project, we are interested in open-ended and experimental processes such as charting, mapping, non-hierarchical video editing, and sculpture created from scavenged materials. Participation and discussion with the audience is also important.

AS: Describe for us the essence of the phase of Ghost Modernism? How is it distinguished from its predecessors?

Artcodex: Ghost Modernism started off as a pun, a funny turn of phrase that seemed to hit an important chord in our creative consciousness. Modernism, though originally rooted in radical thought, has now become a generic corporate aesthetic. And most often, when we think of utopic strivings such as communes (and communism) we think of them as complete failures. The notion of voting with our dollars has overtaken any real political activity, besides the quadrennial casting of votes for red or blue. For us, Ghost Modernism is not the next stage in a linear evolution so much as the creation of a new space to think differently. It is a place where we can reclaim the utopian hopes of Modernism informed by the contextual critiques levied by Post-Modernism.

AS: How has the open studio process aided in your philosophical inquiries? Did it create unexpected opportunities for discussion and
understanding?

Artcodex: The work we’ve created that most literally deals with these inquiries is our venn diagram piece. It is made of three intersecting circles, each representing Modernism, Post-Modernism, and Ghost-Modernism. We created this chart directly on the wall with blackboard paint, and have made both chalk and erasers available. Anyone is invited to list their notions of the characteristics of each, and to erase any previous entries with which they disagree. The most surprising entry was simply “relleño”. Also, just being in the space together allows us to have more of these discussions, as well as to share collective responsibility in creating works.

AS: You are screening films on various subjects throughout the studio program, including a film on Piet Mondrian’s grave in Queens. Can
you talk about this film as well the other films you are showcasing? How do these films address your investigations into these overarching and often contending movements, two of which have come to dominate academic discourse?

Artcodex: Most of the movies we are showcasing are our own. These are unplanned and unscripted, and are an exercise in film as a non-hierarchical collaboration- a kind of de-authoring. Our influences are b-horror movies, cartoons, and a youtube aesthetic. “Visitation”, our film of Mondrian’s grave, is a literal bending of our b-horror aesthetic to the Ghost Modernism theme. It is the first of a two part video in which we visit Mondrian sites. The second will take place while we are in The Netherlands, where we will visit the artist’s hometown of Amersfoort, Netherlands, and film the experience. In addition to our films, we are also screening “Incubus”, the first film made in Esperanto, the utopian language that was designed to be a common tongue. We see Esperanto as a beautiful example of the audacious hopes of Modernism, as well as it’s ultimate failure. We are also programming an evening in which we showcase short films by our contemporaries that we feel embody some of the aesthetic and political ideals that are indicative of Ghost Modernism.

Transparent Studio: Interview with Faranú & Mike Redman

Faranú received her BA in 2008 from Willem de Kooning Academy of Fine Arts, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. She was mentored by several established Dutch artists such as Diet Wiegman and Kiki Lamers. Her work has been exhibited in Amsterdam, New York City, and Beijing. Faranú has been recognized by the Dutch art platform Kunstweek as ‘Talent of the Year 2012.’ She was also nominated as artist of the year 2013. Faranú lives and works in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Mike Redman is a multidisciplinary artist, independent filmmaker, music producer and owner of the record label Redrum Recordz . Redman has won several prestigious international awards for his art documentary ‘Anagram’ (2008). He has also screened his films at internationally renowned film festivals. As a visual artist Redman has exhibited his work at venues such as Museum Boijmans van Beuningen and the World Trade Center Art Gallery, Rotterdam, NL. Redman is also the founder of the long running music project ‘Deformer’ with whom he has collaborated with rap group Public Enemy. His latest film project entitled ‘Sample: not for sale’ features international artists such as Guru, Public Enemy, Amon Tobin, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Madlib and KRS-One. He also lives and works in Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Anita Sharma: Your project for the Transparent Studio program is titled Diagonals Used for Mapping Brooklyn’s Overview. Can you describe your conceptual approach and how you were inspired to look at mapping as a way to examine the DUMBO neighborhood?

Faranú & Mike Redman: We visit New York quite frequently and we are always interested in exploring new areas and the eventual transformation of certain neighborhoods and surroundings. When we first heard of DUMBO years ago, we were immediately attracted to it. The positioning, ambiance and also the history of this area. The architecture of the old warehouses is great and you can also sense the hard labor while walking through the streets of DUMBO. When we came out of York station, we entered DUMBO in an oblique way. That drew our attention right away. At that time we became inspired by the area and knew that we wanted to do something with it. Maybe it is also because it reminded us of Rotterdam city (The Netherlands) a little because it shares a similar working mentality and has one of the largest harbors in the world.

Even though there is much movement within DUMBO, architectonically there is not very much changing. This is what made us look at the apparently unchanging streets and architecture differently. We started to use our first entrance (on Jay St.) as our starting point and went looking for diagonals, especially diagonals that weren’t supposed to be diagonals, like for example skewed poles and traffic signs. I started making photographs of these diagonals and took their picture in a way so that these diagonals became straight. The background automatically distorts and becomes oblique. This resulted in an interesting series of abstract photos. These photos also formed the basis for a huge collage. The diagonals that were initially photographed were located on an actual map of DUMBO.

Later we discarded the actual map and just kept the dots that resembled the exact locations where the photos were taken. This was turned into a large contemporary map by Faranú and me. Actually, both the collage and the ‘new’ map are the same map, but made with a different approach. They both form a contemporary map of DUMBO. D.U.M.B.O. originally stands for: Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, but in this project we corrupted it to: ‘Diagonals Used for Mapping Brooklyn’s Overview’. We are extremely thankful that Bose Pacia gave us the opportunity to develop this project here.

AS: What are your observations of working in an “open studio” environment? How has it enhanced or shaped your art practice?

F & MR: We like the open studio way of working very much, it gives you great interaction with visitors and causes interesting conversations and eventual possibilities for future collaborations. Bose Pacia is a fantastic art space, not only is the space amazing, also the location on Plymouth Street is great. I’m used to public work in contrast to Faranú. For her it was a challenge and very inspiring. This is her first artist-in-residence program and she thinks the concept of developing new work within a short time frame is great. Once you start the program you have to start from scratch without really knowing where it leads you, beside the concept that is already made.  It makes the most of an artist.

AS:  You both come from different art backgrounds. Faranú’s drawing practice incorporates traditional materials such as charcoal to abstract complex ideas related to mythology and figuration and Mike’s multidisciplinary approach combines video, film-making, photography and music production. How does your collaborative work take shape? What is your process?   

F & MR: We used our concept and started looking at possibilities to combine our very different disciplines and mediums. We came up with various ideas within this concept and looked for connections in our way of working. Faranú decided to stick to drawing with charcoal in her recognizable mathematical way of working. I challenged myself with working within a technical border of mostly photography and video. Our charcoal/video work is seamlessly engaged, especially with the work ‘textures’. Here Faranú used ‘found textures’ of DUMBO and translated them into a charcoal drawing in her own interpretation after making photographs of various textures. I added a new layer of observation to it by projecting black and white video on top of it.  Here a combination of charcoal drawings and video reinforce each other. It becomes a playful interaction of textures that are pulled out of the ordinary in which different layers form one piece.

AS: Faranú’s charcoal drawings explore the form and natural topographies of DUMBO. Can you describe the language you see in the multitude of forms that have emerged in your series of immersive drawings?  

F & MR: The forms that you see in these drawings are inspired by the textures of DUMBO that were found in the area. Textures of the street, buildings, rocks, constructions, sky and the water that is surrounding DUMBO. These ingredients were pulled out of context and were also deformed by her imagination. This resulted in a play of dark lines and looked like washed away ancient scriptures or cave drawings almost. It’s almost as if the faded conversations that took place in DUMBO throughout history vaguely arise in her work. Faranú’s visual language can be interpreted by everyone in its own way.

Transparent Studio: Interview with Daniel Ballesteros

Daniel Ballesteros received his MFA from the University of Connecticut and his BA from Webster University in Saint Louis, MO. His work has been exhibited in New York, Chicago, Santa Fe, Saint Louis, Las Vegas, and several academic institutions. He is the recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and was selected to be part of Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward 2012: Emerging Photographers as well as En Foco’s New Works in Photography awards. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Anita Sharma: Can you describe your conceptual approach for Transparent Studio at Bose Pacia, NY?

Daniel Ballesteros: Taking pictures for me is about experience, so I wanted “experience” to be the theme through all the work created in the residency. The pictures of DUMBO are records of my experience exploring the neighborhood with my traveling darkroom. The portrait pictures too, are records of an experience rather than a traditional instantaneous picture. The exposure times for the portraits were around a minute and a half, so the final picture incorporated all the movement of the subject that occurred during that time.

AS: How did your interest in wet-plate photography develop? The technique involved in developing wet plate photographs is quite complex both in terms of the elaborate process and timing. Can you describe the process for our readers who are not familiar with this type of photography?

DB: The palette of wet-plate collodion photography always appealed to me. When I was making traditional silver gelatin prints in a darkroom I would often tone and dye the final prints to mimic the colors of an ambrotype or tintype. However, until two years ago, I had always had some fear regarding the process. I feared that it wouldn’t ultimately be what I wanted or that I wouldn’t be able to make the process work for me. Finally, I was in a place of uncertainty regarding my work and I went to visit a professor of mine from school, who is now one of my dear friends. I expressed my dissatisfaction and uncertainty about my work at the time to him, and without hesitating, he said, “I think you need to think about wet-plate processes.” Immediately, this mental block went away, I stopped thinking about the things I “SHOULD” be doing and started thinking about the things I wanted to be doing. I came home from that meeting and bought all the chemicals I needed to begin the wet-plate journey and haven’t looked back.

Process:

1.     A glass plate (ambrotype) or japanned-metal plate (ferrotype/tintype) is coated with a collodion emulsion

2.     That plate is placed in a bath of silver nitrate where is soaks up silver and becomes sensitive to light.

3.     After 3-4 minutes in the silver the plate is removed and placed in a holder that will go into the camera where the exposure will be made.

4.     Once the plate is exposed it is taken back to the dark box where I cover myself in the dark cloth so that I can remove the plate from the holder and pour the developing chemical over the plate.

5.     After the developer is on the plate for about a minute it is “stopped” by pouring water over the plate

6.     The plate is then placed in a bath of sodium thiosulfate where the unexposed silver is washed away and the image appears.

7.     Once the plate is completely dried it is varnished for its final protective coating

AS: Has working in an open studio environment opened up new challenges or discoveries for your photography practice which is quite a controlled process?

DB: Using the wet-plate process out in the world is a bit of an open studio wherever I set up, so it made the partnership with the Transparent Studio residency ideal. Before building my traveling dark box I was making ambrotypes and tintypes in a studio. It was important for me to spend my first year with the process in private where I could work out my technical and conceptual issues. Taking the process out of the studio began as a practical choice. I wanted to take pictures outside. After my first adventure outdoors it became apparent, with the frequency at which people would approach me to talk about what I was doing, that I enjoy sharing what I’m doing with others much more than I ever thought. I used to avoid people at all costs while making photographs, but this process has helped me to see the value in communicating and connecting with others. People seem interested in this idea that in an age of instant media someone is engaging in a process that is very slow and actually adds more time to the experience of taking a picture.

AS: How does your perception of your subject change or evolve in your portraiture and/or landscape series?

DB: Photographing is a continually evolving process. All of my projects or series have always been about learning something, either about myself, my subject, or, ideally, both. Sometimes I enter a project or series with an idea of where I want it to go, but usually that gets tossed out the window after my first time out photographing. I do best when I relax and allow myself to respond to my environment. Approaching things this way, change and evolution are inevitable.  This is true of both the portraits and landscapes made during the residency. Once I let go of the idea of the pictures I “should” be making and let myself respond to the people coming in for portraits and the environment I was experiencing in DUMBO I started to see new things.

AS: During your residency you set up a mobile darkroom in various locations in DUMBO. What are some of your observations of DUMBO as a cultural landscape as seen through your own photographic exploration?

DB: With the warehouses, the bridges, and the remaining cobblestone streets with rails embedded, there is a strong feeling of history in DUMBO. I wasn’t too familiar with the area before the residency, but it feels like it’s in a significant time of change. It seems to be such a big draw for tourism with the nice views of the bridges and the Manhattan skyline that it’s just a matter of time before some of those nice bits of historic Brooklyn that DUMBO holds are replaced with the new. There is a lot of construction there now and I assume it will continue. In ten years there may be no more cobblestones. I am very pleased to have had this opportunity to photograph around the area before this big change.

In Focus: Kathryn Myers

 The Bose Archives is pleased to launch a new interview series called In Focus, which showcases in-depth features and essays on documentation and research projects that are currently taking place in the field of South Asian contemporary art.

Kathryn Myers has been teaching painting and drawing at the University of Connecticut since 1984. She received an MFA in painting from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a BA in art from St. Xavier College in Chicago. For the past decade her work has been informed by her immersion in the art and culture of India. She has been the recipient of two Fulbright Fellowships to India in 2002 and 2011, other  awards include The Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation, and The Connecticut Commission on the Arts. She has exhibited her paintings widely in the United States and India. Her recent video interview series can be viewed at www.regardingindia.com .

 

Arpita Singh / Regarding India: Conversations with Artists

1) You recently participated in a symposium, Goddess, Lion, Peasant, Priest: Modern and Contemporary Art from the Shelley and Donald Rubin Private Collection where you presented Regarding India: Video Interviews with Contemporary Artists. Can you talk about your presentation for this symposium about the Rubin Private Collection which was held at the College of New Jersey?

I presented three fifteen-minute videos from my new series of videotaped interviews, Regarding India, Conversations With Artists.  Two of the artists I interviewed, Arpita Singh and Arpana Caur are in the exhibition so that was a nice coincidence, but I also included an additional video on the photographer and environmental activist, Ravi Agarwal. Since his career is more recent than either Arpita or Arpana who have been exhibiting their work for decades, and he is not a figurative painter like so many in the exhibition, I thought that including him would give some insight regarding the diversity of mediums in the contemporary Indian art scene now which in prior times was privileged by painting. It also introduces the topic of environmentalism which many artists seem to be very interested in.

The Rubin collection encompasses an important range of work from modern masters to some of the most celebrated contemporary artists working in India. It also includes artists of the Indian diaspora such as Bari Kumar who lives in Los Angeles. It’s a great opportunity for Americans who may not have much opportunity to see art from India to view a significant collection of work.  It was an honor to have an opportunity to show works from my new project to a diverse audience of scholars in South Asian Art, and students and administrators from the college. I was very encouraged by the reception.

Arpana Caur / Regarding India : Conversation with Artists

2) In 2011, you received a Fulbright Fellowship to conduct research on contemporary art practice in India, which culminated in an interview project. What was the impetus behind this research project? Can you describe how it came together?

It goes back to my first Fulbright in 2002 where I was based at the Government College of Art in Chennai.  At that time I had made two prior visits to India in 1999 and 2001 where I attended artist residencies in Ahmedabad, New Delhi and Kerala. I wanted to come back to India not as a tourist, but in a way that would enable me to have greater access to artists, which the Fulbright fellowship provided as well as an extended amount of time.  In addition to the art college in Chennai, I spent a lot of time at Dakshinachitra which is about 20 miles south of Chennai, run by Deborah Thiagarajen, a recognized scholar on Indian folk art and crafts. Through Deborah and the beautiful setting of Dakshinachitra, I learned a great deal about folk and popular art in India. I also visited Cholamandal, one of the most important early art colonies in India. I returned there on my 2011 Fulbright where I recently stayed for about 2 weeks and interviewed some of Cholamandal’s founding members.

During my 2002 Fulbright I had time to travel to many other art colleges, and many of my current connections with artists were initiated at that time.  Through these artists I came to know more about contemporary art in not just Delhi or Mumbai, but all over India. Thus on those first visits I was getting to know about many different types of art in India from folk and popular through modern and contemporary. I continued to return to India nearly every year through research grants from the University of Connecticut where I teach painting, this enabled me to keep my contacts in India and to continue to develop my knowledge of Indian art.

My 2011 Fulbright project was primarily inspired by a course I developed on Indian art for the University of Connecticut’s new India studies program which started in 2004.  Although in India there is a “cannon” of modern and contemporary artists whose work is included in many national and international exhibitions, I realized that like in the US, there are many layers to the art scene, and a huge amount of work being created that I would not see in those galleries or large national or international group exhibitions, but in smaller places, studios and galleries outside of the major urban areas. I valued my access to these more complex layers of what constitutes contemporary Indian art.

The sources for all of the work I presented in my class had been “secondary”, information I put together from many sources, which was also good for the students because in my class lectures I’m constantly quoting from curators and critics, so they start to see who is writing about Indian art.  It took a long time for me to become comfortable enough with Indian art so that I could find my own voice, my own interpretations and ideas. There were often questions I wanted answers to, maybe specific things about a painting or something that I could not find in any of the written sources I had, or that I wanted broader ideas of what about India might have informed a particular work of art. My class is often the only exposure my students have to India, so I felt the need to show work that might also teach them about India. And even more I wanted to create a sense of immediacy, a sense of connection with the artists whose work I was engaged with, akin to the studio visits that I was enjoying as a practicing artist visiting another artist’s studio.

I initially chose artists based on regional diversity but found in the end, that not only have many artists from various regions in India moved to Delhi or Mumbai, but that the work rarely was focused on the particular region they were from. Still, structuring my interviews this way resulted in meeting with artists from diverse regions of India.

My interview project started with artists I was already familiar with and had been teaching about for a long time. Susan Bean, curator of South Asian Art at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, and Peter Nagy, the Director of Nature Morte gallery in New Delhi were very generous in providing contact information. In south India, Suresh Jayaram and B.O. Shailesh were a great help in meeting artists. Although I started with artists I was already familiar with and had already done a lot of research on, while I was in India I also came to know the work of artists such as Ravi Agarwal, Sarnath Banerjee and Paula Sengupta, whose work I did not know of before. There were a lot of suggestions given to me by artists and gallery directors, some of which I was able to interview this time and others, that I can save for another visit, in all, I interviewed 54 artists.

Each interview required substantial commitment and preparation, to know the work well enough to have an interview that would generate appropriate questions and responses, not only to specific bodies of work, but to broader ideas about Indian art and culture and day-to-day life. Because of the advance time needed to prepare, I had to be careful about my schedule and also importantly, how many artists I could reasonably interview in a sequence of days I might be in particular city. Scheduling was an issue, for instance I traveled to Mumbai three times to meet with the artists I wanted to interview there as not everyone was available at the same time.

Krishnaraj Chonat / Regarding India: Conversations with Artists

3) Were artists in India and the art community receptive to your research project? Did you encounter any specific challenges and how were you able to address those?

All of the artists I contacted were very receptive, only two said that they could not meet with me, due to other obligations. Most were very appreciative that I knew so much about their work. Krishnaraj Chonat from Bangalore, I remember, told me that I knew more about his work than he did.  I wanted to make it very clear that I was not a curator or critic, but that it was an educational project, and would not be used for commercial purposes.  For me it was an amazing way to spend several months in India, and to learn an enormous amount about the art world artist by artist, even if nothing ever happens to the videos, it was time very well spent.

I learned to be more realistic about my schedule because each meeting often started with an hour of chai, which made sense as I was often meeting each artist for the first time, it broke the ice as chai always does. Then often I was invited to stay for a meal, and I would feel terrible if I had to run to anther interview. After an initial email, which I sent as an introduction because I have learned my American accent is hard to understand and because I don’t get great reception with my cell phone, I would follow-up by phone to have “real” contact before I met each artist.

I sometimes had challenges in trying to figure out how to get to each artist’s house, to find my way around each place in the short amount of time I was there.  I had a lot of equipment including my laptop in my backpack, but I knew if I took a taxi everywhere, it would cost a fortune. So in Mumbai for instance, I learned how to use the metro, which made me feel very good and I was back and forth on it all the time. I loved being in the women’s car, I was always very well taken care of.  Figuring out how to get there was part of the challenge.

A big challenge were technical aspects of the project as this was the first time I was ever making videos.  I had to set up the laptop so that the artist and myself could see the work I had organized in folders to talk about, so I had to then position the camera and myself so they could look at the laptop and not be looking too far away from the camera. If I didn’t get it right, they would be looking too far away from the camera. I was using a remote microphone with two switches, and was concerned if I neglected to turn one on, I would have a “silent” interview as a result. During my first interview with Amit Ambalal, the battery ran out and I didn’t realize it and I had to re-record quite a bit but he was very kind about it. On two occasions a friend came with me who could be the one to keep track of these things so I could focus on talking with the artist, but most of the time I was on my own. I also felt the conversation might be different if I was not alone with the artist.

4) What were some of the highlights of your interview process? You mentioned earlier that the need for primary source material and more direct sources for information on Indian art is what prompted you to initiate your interview project. What were some theoretical “questions you wanted answers to” in the classroom environment?

Highlights were the “high” I got when I knew an interview went well,  when it became something other than what I expected, when I actually would run out of all of my batteries and memory cards, nobody ever made me feel like I was taking up too much time, I often had a hard time knowing when to stop.  Even though the finished edited interviews are only 15 minutes, I have in some cases well over an hour of material and its valuable to have, but editing it is hard, to make choices about what to include and how to order it, I’m often cutting and pasting audio from different parts of the interview to create a meaningful sequence of thoughts and ideas, sometimes with the artist talking about specific bodies of work and at other times about related issues.  I had prepared questions but the best interviews where when it took on a life of its own.

There was a kind of magic when it went well, not only what the artist said, but the manner in which they spoke, points of emphasis, pauses, reflection, excitement, the cadence or tone of a voice.  At times it was so moving it gave me chills and I’d have to walk away from the computer and at other times I found myself laughing out loud.  I never got tired of hearing anyone in the hours I listened, I felt as if they were living in my studio, I felt an intense sense of connection.  Mayur Gupta for instance was so nervous he asked if I minded if he smoked, but he also told me that I made him feel very comfortable talking about his work and his excitement is palpably present.  Because of the amount of time I predicted I would spend on each interview and the editing process, I only met with artists whose work I had a strong personal response to, but even so everyone knows a conversation can “click” or not. There was only so much control I knew I would have, and I hoped for the best and I am amazed by what I have to work with, even if it takes years to finish. I look forward to those years.

Sarnath Banerjee / Regarding India: Interviews with Artists

I loved it when an artist would get carried away by a description or idea, sometimes as if they forgot I was there, for instance the way Sarnath Banerjee is at often in short sequence, humorous, irritated, upset or responds with a sense of affection to the issues in his work. I was filming in closer proximity to him than the normal polite distance I had with everyone else because the lapel microphone was broken by then (it was my last interview) and I had to use the in-camera microphone. Though the video resolution is a little digitized as a result, the kind of intensity Sarnath embodies is more effective filmed this way so this was a bit serendipitous even if the sound suffers from a bit of echo.

In terms of questions, I was always thinking of what would be most useful for my students. That might be why for instance, I asked Sarnath about both the structure and content of his graphic novels, to include a balance of formal and conceptual aspects of the work and working process.  I tried to keep the same balance with most of the artists.  I asked Sudhir Patwardhan, a painter whose work I talk about in my Indian art as well as my painting courses, quite a bit about how he selects color, structures his compositions, about his use of paint. It might be tempting to just talk about the content of his work because it illuminates many important social, political and cultural aspects of India, but the medium through which he speaks so effectively is paint, and I felt it was important to acknowledge and discuss this as well.  It’s why for instance I appreciate how Ravi Agarwal can be as passionate in the way he talks about the environmental issues he deals with as well as the aesthetic pleasures of being present in the moment of taking the photos.  I wanted to make sure I was capturing that kind of balance as I am an artist myself so the making of works of art, the process and use of materials is an integral part of how works of art resonate.

Ravi Agarwal / Regarding India: Conversations with Artists

With Anupum Sud we were talking about a print she made of people drinking chai and she suddenly jumped up and realized that she had forgotten to serve me chai when I came. I hope that is on the video, it would be an interesting moment and give the feeling of what it was like to be there. As in most, I have edited out my voice so it might be hard to understand that I was in a conversation with each artist and their response is implied by my question. Because I’m not on camera my voice is a bit jarring when it comes in, so in all cases so far, I’ve edited out my part of the conversation.

I didn’t have any consistent set of questions, they were tailored to each artists work. I decided to focus on the work itself and not to ask any general questions about the art scene in India, for instance.  I had an idea that if I asked about specific works of art, larger issues would grow from that discussion, for instance with the Delhi printmaker Savi Sawakar who is a dalit, many stories arose that are very important for my students to understand and they came from a question about a single print. Savi understood that the interview was for American students who knew little about India (which I always stressed in how they might talk about their work) and he talked about these issues with great clarity and with this in mind.

Likewise Ravi Agarwal discusses so many interesting ideas about the personal, social, scientific and of course artistic  aspects of his work that there is a constant flow of rich ideas, but on several occasions he is self-reflective, about how he is uncertain, about how the work is about this uncertainty and that this is what makes him human. For my students, this is what is appealing and accessible about such an impressive artist and thinker, a sense of vulnerability that they were able to relate to. When I work on the videos, particularly in the editing process, I get totally immersed in the world of each artist.

Kathryn Myers in Arpana Caur’s studio / Regarding India: Conversations with Artists

5) Can you talk about your background and how you developed an interest in Indian contemporary art?

Growing up in Chicago and attending college (St. Xavier) and graduate school in the Midwest, (UW-Madison) I had no particular exposure to Indian art and had not traveled at all outside of the Midwest.  My main focus was on the contemporary gallery scene in Chicago which was the closest one to me at the time, and then New York when I moved to the east coast to teach at the University of Connecticut in 1984. As I traveled to Europe on different artist residencies in the 90’s I came to know more about contemporary European art.

I went to India for the first time in 1999 on a sabbatical leave from my university and I stayed at two artist residencies, The Kanoria Centre in Ahmedabad and Sanskriti Kendra in New Delhi, each for a month and traveled for a month between.  I did not know much about India at all, maybe a minimal amount about miniature painting, I had never seen any Indian art in person that I remember, so I was very naïve and uninformed and thus probably also very open to wherever the experience might take me. Everything from activity on the streets, the regional diversity of Indian geography, food, popular culture, religion, architecture and national and local politics was a revelation. I veered between moments of ecstasy and despair and many feelings in-between, nothing had ever in my life produced such strong and constantly shifting emotions.  I came to love the old city of Ahmedabad in particular and have visited many times since to visit close friends.  From Delhi I traveled all over Rajasthan and also to Khajuraho and Varanasi. (Varanasi remains my favorite city in India). I loved seeing art in all of the museums.  Aside from Folk art I was drawn to miniature painting and work that I will describe as “diagrammatic or ritual” from Jain traditions as well as tantric cosmology diagrams etc.

However, it was my visit to the Crafts museum in Delhi that had at that time, the greatest impact. I always say that it was the first day of the rest of my visits to India. I felt powerfully drawn to work I saw there and when I came back I threw myself into research, relying on friends with more knowledge of India than I did who guided my research and eventually encouraged me  to apply for a Fulbright. I was starting from scratch because I wanted to know everything at once, about religion and philosophy and art. (I now have a very substantial library of books on all of these subjects that started then.)

I also had in 2002 an amazing opportunity to curate what turned out to be a very large exhibition of Indian art, titled Masala, Diversity and Democracy in South Asian Art at our university museum, the Benton Museum of Art, I worked on that for several years and it opened in 2004. It was as someone described a “crash course in Indian art” and was reviewed by Holland Cotter in the NY Times and in Art India magazine.  It introduced me to many artists in the Diaspora, including two artists who co-curated two sections of the show, photography, Annu Matthew and art of the Diaspora, Siona Benjamin.  Bose Pacia loaned most of the contemporary work and it was through Bose Pacia that I really came to know and appreciate contemporary Indian art.

To continue the sense of synergy at that time, UConn also started a new India studies program for which I served on the board. It was then that I created my new course Indian Art and Popular Culture. This course allowed me to organize what I had been learning on my own in a form and structure that would allow me to share my love of Indian art with my students.

My interest in contemporary art came later. When I first came to India, aside from hearing about and then meeting with Peter Nagy, from Nature Morte Gallery in Delhi, there was not much that was accessible to me about contemporary art and I was much more interested in miniature painting and folk art, types of art that many artists who travel to India are initially drawn to. My interest in contemporary art started during my Fulbright in 2002 when I was meeting art professors and students and it was through these personal connections that I developed an interest in researching Indian contemporary art.

Transparent Studio: Interview with Priyanka Dasgupta- Part 2

Artist Priyanka Dasgupta talks to Archivist Anita Sharma about the second part of her residency at Bose Pacia’s Transparent Studio. The first interview can be accessed here: http://bosearchivesblog.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/transparent-studio-interview-with-priyanka-dasgupta/

Anita Sharma: Can you talk about some of the challenges and revelations you encountered during the second half of your residency at Bose Pacia’s Transparent Studio?

Priyanka Dasgupta: Though the residency was not without its challenges, every one of them served as a meaningful learning experience.  It was particularly hard on certain days, especially when I was immersed in my process, to be in a public space, required to engage in conversation or answer questions posed by casual visitors. This very same intrusive public quality however, was an essential disciplining tactic, and contributed greatly to my productiveness while at the studio!

Conceiving and executing the varied events for the open studios did pose somewhat of a challenge.  However, these provided crucial learning experiences and opportunities for some very meaningful conversations that are integral, not only to the evolution of the installation, but to my own development and practice as a professional artist as well.

Perhaps the biggest revelation I encountered is the realization of the immense importance for a studio space, even within a practice I had earlier thought was essentially digital.  The opportunity to be an audience to my own process, having it physically visible and accessible in a three-dimensional space, enabled sophisticated, conceptual and structural revisions to the installation, which would have been harder to realize had it been conceived on a primarily digital platform.

AS: I was lucky enough to visit you on site recently and I was struck by the physicality and awesome presence of this “old, spidery-armed female puppet”  and the techniques­­­­­­ you have used to bring her to life. Not unlike a glass-blower or a puppeteer, you have gradually and assiduously brought her to life and imbued her with movement, form and a specific narrative.  In some ways you are both a spectator and a creator. What was this process like and how did you negotiate between these two facets?

PD: For someone who has grown accustomed to conceiving much of her work in a two-dimensional, digital space, the opportunity to be both spectator and creator, as the installation developed in the three-dimensional, physical space of the studio, was a real treat!  I was able, at regular intervals, to physically step back from the process of creation and observe it, while remaining immersed within it, something that it is impossible when negotiating a computer screen!  This opportunity was quite a revelation in many ways, exposing the multiple, physically arduous steps involved in detailing and constructing the puppet for the installation, for the audience and for me as well, not just while I engaged in the process, but also in its sharing, through conversations and descriptions of the work.  This ‘Transparent’ process of creation and reflection has allowed me to better appreciate my own endeavors as well as be repeatedly humbled by the immense patience and generosity of loved ones.

AS: In our previous conversation, you talked about wanting to incorporate a sculptural dimension into your video installations.  In the final presentation of your work at Bose Pacia’s Transparent Studio, video and sculpture merge to create a larger, visceral environment. Can you talk about the interaction between sculpture and video in this context and the significance of this relationship? In terms of theoretical agency, how do you contextualize the interplay of these devices?

PD: My desire to combine the seemingly disparate mediums of video and shadow puppetry within large installations is recent, first explored in my previous installation, ‘Dreams of In-convenience’.  This juxtaposition serves as an engaging device for the audience, allowing them multiple perspectives from which to access the work, allowing its conceptual language to be grounded in something seemingly traditional, even culturally specific.  The puppets, though intricate and carefully crafted in themselves, only come truly ‘alive’ through their projected shadows, when immersed within the digitally conceived environments of light and moving imagery, literally embodying the inter-dependence of conventional and contemporary.  Furthermore, this juxtaposition reflects my own split, living between New York and New Delhi, shuttling between nationalities and histories.

AS: Also, can you recount your experience of filming the fly/spider video and what your initial observations were of this life cycle phenomenon.

PD: One afternoon not too long ago, Chad pointed to the window in our living room, exclaiming, “Look honey, it’s right up your alley!” Suspended outside the window was a large spider web, in the center of which, a spider was devouring a fly!  There was such uninhibited joy in the spider’s movements; I quietly filmed this enactment of nature’s brutal beauty, holding my video camera steady for as long as possible.  I did not know at the time, what I would do with the footage.  Two days later, the spider had died and fallen out of its web onto the top of the air-conditioner in the window.  When I looked out, a fly was eating it!  And so, I filmed this too.  The resulting two-channel video installation is a seamless loop of a spider eating a fly on one screen, and a fly eating the spider on the other – a quiet reminder of the inevitable.

AS: The protagonist in Forgetfulness, the shadow puppet, is based on your grandmother. Did you engage in a dialogue with her at all about your focus and inspiration for the project?

PD: My grandmother, who is the inspiration for Forgetfulness, lives in Kolkata, India.  I have had numerous conversations with her about the project although I am not sure if she fully grasps its details.  She is quite curious about it however, and keeps reminding me that I need to come visit her soon and bring her lots of photographs from the work, so she may see what I am ‘up to’, and she can tell me how to ‘correct’ it!

Part 2- Interview with Beth Citron of the Rubin Museum Art on Modernist Art from India: Approaching Abstraction

Beth Citron, Assistant Curator at the Rubin Museum of Art talks to Archivist Anita Sharma about Approaching Abstraction, the second of three exhibitions on modern Indian art.

Modernist Art from India: Approaching Abstraction, May 4 2012 – October 12, 2012

Maqbool Fida Husain (1915-2011)

Blue Flowers, 1969

Oil on canvas

Collection of Shelley and Donald Rubin

 

Anita Sharma:  The Modernism series on Indian Art at the Rubin Museum is filling a crucial gap in the art historical scholarship of Indian modern and contemporary art. Until now, the format of the survey show has come to dominate the way in which South Asian art is presented to western audiences. Shows that provide an exhaustive historic context for audiences that are mostly unfamiliar with the subject matter are rare, especially in the US. For an art movement that was borne out of complex socio-political factors, it seems imperative to provide a foundation first. Prevailing academic theories, including postcolonial frameworks which are highly jargonistic also complicate the problem. The RMAs three part series on the development of Indian modernist idioms successfully tackles these issues. Can you comment on this?

Beth Citron: Thank you for your thoughtful compliment about how Modernist Art from India has tackled some of the problems presenting modern and contemporary Indian art in the West. The approach I’ve taken in my academic work and in this exhibition series is to begin with the objects and build a narrative from there, which reduces a dependence on postcolonial frameworks and other academic theories that might get grafted on to this material. Additionally, it seemed like a helpful tool to structure this exhibition series around three themes that are foundational globally in art history, so that audiences here in New York would have something familiar to grab on to even if they are not versed in modern Indian history. All three themes were also incredibly important (and interdependent, to an extent) for artists in India after independence, so it was a natural way to structure the exhibition series. It seems to me also that showing the great diversity of art in India after independence is helpful to prevent an artificial “canon’ coming to represent this period — something I noticed in my graduate studies was that scholars working on western art, especially Euro-American modern and contemporary art, are trying furiously to disentangle the conventional canon that has now been taught for at least a generation, maybe more; in working on material that had not yet been studied extensively, I have tried to find a balance between highlighting specific artists/their accomplishments while also paying attention to the broader contexts and collegiality around their work.

Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts

Tyeb Mehta (1925–2009)

The Diagonal, 1974

Oil on canvas

Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts

 

AS: What are some of the highlights of Approaching Abstraction? Can you describe some of the key features that distinguish Indian modernism from its Euro-American counterpart?

BC: Among other works, some of the highlights of the exhibition include  key loans from MoMA: of a luminous V.S. Gaitonde painting from 1962 (which I understand has never been exhibited publicly at their museum) and a suite of Nasreen Mohamedi drawings; a suite of mid 1970s white works by Zarina Hashmi; and an important Diagonal by Tyeb Mehta on loan from the Peabody Essex Museum. One of the main features that distinguishes Indian modernist abstraction from Euro-american modernism is that abstraction in India is not teleological, and it did not replace representation or figuration. Rather, artists in India in the 50s onwards — working some 40 years after the invention of Cubism and experimentation that led to non-representational abstraction — could pick and choose stylistic and other elements (like materials and language) from that discourse and reinterpret them to make them relevant and meaningful in their own contexts. For example, Tyeb Mehta reported that he was inspired by abstract expressionist Barnett Newman’s Onement I in thinking through his own “Diagonal” series; but Mehta’s jagged diagonal forms in fact look nothing like Newman’s sublime “zips,” and Mehta also  includes the figure in his Diagonals, so that he could continue to consider his central subject, the physical and existential fragmentation of the figure, in the series.

Installation View, Rubin Museum of Art, New York

 

AS: Approaching Abstraction includes rarely seen films by the artists M.F. Husain, Tyeb Mehta and Akbar Padamsee. These films provide a critical counterpoint to the show which is painting-focused. Can you describe your selection process and how you learnt about these films?

BC: Showing these films has been a wonderful way to get a sense of the artists’ total creativity, and I was really glad that we could exhibit them centrally within the exhibition, alongside paintings by the artists. I think the films also give a sense of the elasticity of the idea of abstraction that I’m proposing — all of the films are essentially non-narrative and non-diegetic, though beyond that they show an extraordinary variety of ideas that really give a sense of the artists’ interests and thinking. Mehta’s Koodal provides a highly intimate portrait of Bombay — from its chawls to a slaughterhouse, while also introducing important historical footage of Gandhi’s funeral (which also contains the form of the diagonal), while Husain’s Through the Eyes of a Painter is a touristic view of travels in Rajasthan, set to a wonderful, whimsical soundtrack. Padamsee’s Syzygy is a very early animation film, and reveals his experimentation with a particular mathematical and spatial concept. Akbar and Bhanu Padamsee were also generous enough to lend one of only two remaining original copies of the Syzygy programme, which is on view, and we have made a digital facsimile so that audience members can look through the program.
I had studied Mehta’s and Padamsee’s films as part of my Ph.D. research, and I have wanted to return to them since then, so this exhibition provided that opportunity; fortunately, Husain’s and Mehta’s films have been restored to an extent by the Films Division so the quality was good enough to show them in the galleries.

Installation View, Rubin Museum of Art, New York

 

AS:How important was the use of archival material in the planning of this exhibition?  Is archival material relating to South Asian modern and contemporary art easily accessible?

BC: Archival material has been an integral part of my research on modernist Indian art, but resources are very limited and often difficult to find, and they are often not organized. Fortunately, while completing my PhD research, I was able to access important archives in Bombay and Baroda, and I continue to refer back to sources I consulted there. I do very much hope that in the next generation more attention and resources will be placed on archives in India, in order to both discover and preserve more material from the modernist period.

AS:How are you audiences reacting to this show? Does the RMA have any measures in place to record audience feedback?

BC: We’ve been happy with the response to the show. It is a bit of a diversion from the other exhibitions on view right now at the RMA, so I believe Visitor Experience has found that many people who are looking at Approaching Abstraction have come specifically for the show. One of my old college professors Edward Sullivan, who works on Latin American modernism at NYU and whose research has been invaluable to me, wrote to me with positive feedback that he came to see the show on reading the review that ran in the NYTimes in late June. It’s wonderful to have mentors and colleagues find value in the material and in the ideas the show proposes.

Transparent Studio: Interview with Priyanka Dasgupta – Part 1

Born in Kolkata, India in 1979, Priyanka Dasgupta has a MA in Studio Art from NYU/ICP (2003) and a BA in Literature from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi (2000). She has participated in the Aljira Emerge with Creative Capital (2007) and AIM Program (2005). Dasgupta is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts award (2004). Her video installations have been exhibited extensively in the US, Europe and Asia including The International Center of Photography, Wagner Gallery, Galleria di Piazza San Marco,
Shrine Empire, and Seoul Art Space . Dasgupta’s work belongs to several prominent collections. She lives and works in New York, NY.

Anita Sharma: Can you describe the conceptual framework for your residency at Bose Pacia’s Transparent Studio Program? Has working in the space enabled you to explore new dimensions of your drawing, video and sculpture practice?

Priyanka Dasgupta: The privilege of an actual physical space in which to conceive and build my installations was just a pipe dream until I was accepted into Bose Pacia’s Transparent Studio Program. It is an absolutely amazing feeling to be responsible for going somewhere every morning, where one’s sole priority is to focus on making art. I could definitely get used to this!

My first days in the space, I will admit, I was quite nervous and lost, unable to imagine how I would do justice to this opportunity, as I have become so accustomed to working in a corner, editing on my computer by the window in my living room, conceiving of multidisciplinary installations in my head and translating them into tiny drawings in my notebook. The opportunity to physically realize these, if ever, for the first and only time, have been in an exhibit, leaving little or no time for exploration. The Transparent Studio Program at Bose Pacia is ideally suited for my practice, and perfectly timed, as I have a specific project that I am working on and a real need for the space to build it. The residency embodies that perfect balance between private studio and public space – the ‘transparent’ provides a much-needed discipline, and the ‘studio’, a physical, space, to explore, build and experiment with one’s work. Although the idea of having one’s studio in what is essentially a store front, was a bit awkward at first, DUMBO is perhaps an ideal neighborhood for it, as it is quiet and the people that have stopped by and asked questions, have expressed genuine interest in the work and process.

Working in the space has given me, above all, an unparalleled opportunity to actually live with my work, allowing it to emerge from the computer screen while still in its initial stages, and develop in an actual physical space. Along with sharing my process with the public, I too, for the first time, am an audience to it.

AS: What is the inspiration behind your mechanical shadow puppet installation?

PD: Over the years, I have witnessed my grandmother’s failing health cause her to withdraw from her family, replacing us with objects that remain her only close contacts. These objects, which include a transistor radio, saltine crackers, a hand-mirror and a mysterious tin box, each covered carefully with a pristine handkerchief, have been promoted from the dressing table to the bedside table to the actual bed, where they currently remain at all times, by her side.

The large, mechanized, shadow puppet is inspired by my grandmother, and visualizes her dependency on these few precious objects, in order to cope with her deteriorating health. The puppet’s, almost comical, jerky, frantic movements, are attempts to maintain control over these objects, and parallels our own tendency to seek harbor in material attachments, playfully exposing the futility of this popular coping mechanism.

In the course of the residency, I plan to complete the construction and mechanization of the puppet, enabling it to physically interact with its audience, in an immerse environment of video projections, that visualize my grandmother’s memories.

AS: Storytelling and narrative traditions often form the backdrop of your work.  When did you first begin working with the technique of shadow puppetry? 

PD: My parents bought my brother and I our first puppet (that I can remember) when I was ten. I remember playing with it for hours, narrating imagined stories, making it dance, watching my brother manipulate it in a series of very amusing poses, being completely fascinated by how animated and alive it became. I’m pretty sure I’ve been subconsciously obsessed with puppets since then. Even earlier than that, I remember being taken to a puppet show somewhere in Delhi, where a Polish puppeteer cut many puppets out of paper, strung them together and then set them on fire! That memory probably explains the morbid nature of my work, even though, even today, I still find it immensely amusing!

I first began collaborating with puppets, more specifically their shadows, about seven years ago, when I used the shadow of a puppet my brother had given me, in a video titled ‘havaldaar imaandar’ (earnest policeman). Subsequently, I created other videos with shadows as protagonists, most recently in a collaborative work with fellow artist Karla Carballar, titled ‘Not Ungrateful, Just Planning Ahead’, in which we adapted and visualized a scene from the book ‘Damage’ by Amrita Kumar, entirely with shadows.

I have, for quite some time, felt the need to incorporate physical, sculptural objects in my video installations, but did not actually start making puppets myself until last year, for the installation, ‘Dreams of In-convenience’. I created three puppets for this installation. Each, a protagonist in the work, is a physical embodiment of the inner conflicts addressed in it, and guardians of the resulting immersive environment.

AS:  Your characters inhabit liminal spaces which are multi-layered and often reveal complex dialogues. Can you talk about this in relation to the project you are currently working on?

PD: The protagonist in my current work, is an old, spidery-armed female puppet, floating cross-legged, that jerks and twitches away from her audience, possessively clutching at objects she holds dear. Inspired by my grandmother’s frustrations and frantic attempts to cope with her fading memories, the puppet will embody the center of a larger installation involving multiple video projections, that house her memories and incorporate her flailing shadows, within them. Ultimately, I hope to fill the entire space with projections, transforming the studio into an interactive, shadow box, where the audience is inadvertently incorporated into the artwork, their shadows becoming part of the projections, immersed in these constantly evolving, imaginative spaces. The engagement of the audience with the work is essential to it – they become stand-ins for those that my grandmother is rejecting, replacing with her objects, as well as create room for a larger dialogue around our own preference  of material objects, in place of real, unpredictable, often turbulent, human relationships.

AS: Can you tell us about your upcoming collaborative projects?

PD: I believe that every one of my works is the result of a collaboration. My husband, who is immensely patient with me, is a constant source of advice and feedback. In addition, I am hoping to collaborate with a programmer, to write the program that will enable the puppet to react to its audience, to achieve the kind of mechanized movements I am hoping for.

I am also hoping to collaborate with members of the band, Mon Khmer, who will compose music for the completed puppet, and perform this during the Dumbo Arts Festival in September.

Another collaborative project that I am involved in, separate from the puppet, is with performing artist and director, Soriya Chum, of Billy and Company. Our collaboration involves the direction and creation of an immersive, visual environment within which we will stage his adaptation of August Strindberg’s, ‘A Dream Play’. We plan to share the first act of this play with the public in the studio space in early October.