In Context:Public.Art.Ecology April 7, 2010

New Delhi: In continuation with its vision to promote alternative art practices, particularly in the domain of public art, KHOJ International Artists’ Association presents a multi-dimensional art project emerging out of a six-week residency program around the multiple ecologies of the city. The project supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in India entitled In Context:Public.Art.Ecology features artists from India, Germany, Japan and USA. The works will be on view at 3 venues including the Khoj Studios, public spaces at the Select City Walk Mall and 20 Barakhamba Road from 8th April- 16th April 2010.

Apart from the works by the artists in residence at Khoj, the project will also feature a sculpture and a public intervention work at the Pushp Vihar Monday Market by Thukral & Tagra, an innovative sound installation by Aastha Chauhan and Video Works by Sheba Chhachhi, Gigi Scaria and Ravi Agarwal at the Select City Walk, Saket, New Delhi.

Since 2002, Khoj Studios has seen a spate of residencies. Pooja Sood, the Director of Khoj explains: “While both workshops and residencies are process and exchange driven, the intention and outcomes are slightly different. The slower-paced residencies, which generally last six to eight weeks, are limited to a smaller number of participants, at most six, allowing for a sharper interrogation of the city, as well as a more intimate and meaningful exchange between artists and their work processes. So if you happen to hear strange voices while using one of the washrooms at Khoj Studios or meet somebody encouraging you to plant trees at Barakhamba road, it may be time for you to realize the reach and importance of art in the public domain.”

Culminating on April 8, all the projects by the KHOJ artists in residence focus on interventions in the public sphere. The projects range from mapping weather patterns and the effects of climate change to examining the significance of trees in the context of road zones. From designing a tableaux that will interact with people on conservation to building a natural biological water purification system; and from making an interactive video sculpture to an intervention that traces the paths of people and their constitutive objects from Chandni Chowk to Gurgaon.

The participating artists of residency are: Andrea Polli & Chuck Varga (USA), Sylvia Winkler (Austria) & Stephan Koperl (Germany), Sohei Iwata (Japan), Aliya Pabani, Namrata Mehta, Tejas Pande (Bangalore), Sheba Chhachhi (Delhi) and Navjot Altaf (Mumbai).

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