as we become

as we become, curated by Meenakshi Thirukode looks at the notions around a conceptual practice and its placement within the frameworks of different, temporal political conditions. How do we understand Trump’s walls being pushed into popular imagination as a "conceptual practice" or Anish Kapoor's 'Bean' sculpture being co-opted by the National Rifles Association (NRA). How do we think through the aspect of seeing - of how memory, pasts, presents and futures of an image coalesce, get co-opted and how might we maneuver through that as cultural producers.  And as a viewer/ participant/ audience, how would someone who engages with the work produce a certain kind of interpretation that leads to a new set of ‘referents’ outside of known iconographies, symbols and myths.

The show is an attempt at a set of relations, of juxtapositions, with an intention. These intentions are articulated by Annett Busch in her reading of Akomfrah’s essay-films as ones that “create a refusal of producing certain knowledge.” In thinking of a moving away from neoliberal, late capitalistic conditions, that demand an “artwork” to be an illustration of a certain “concept” (co-opted and otherwise), what one encounters in the show is a disconcerting portal to be entered; a seductive Deluzian operation. But disconcerting portals, ones that seem all too obvious and ‘overdone’, could be a first proposition for thinking beyond – as a possibility for something new to emerge from within late capitalism’s ‘cramped spaces’ of articulation and being.  New strategies might allow for a shift from what Ernest Bloch describes as ‘contemplative knowledge’ to a ‘theory-practice’. This might deny say, an imagery of ‘activism’, of ‘identitarian politics’ and produce instead “a reading that has to be invented and contains its own fiction.” How do we think through the co-options of the ‘minoritarians’ that occur today and how do we recognize and place this in current political urgencies and conditions, knowing well that any or many moments of ‘recognition’ are already biased, already corrupted, already co-opted. 

Works in as we become consists of a series of affinities produced between lost object, movement on surfaces, speculation, “somewhere between there and not-there” and the realization that the dead might not be gone. 

as we become is being showcased at Exhibit 320. Conceptualized by Rasika Kajaria, Exhibit 320 is an experimental art space located in the heart of Lado Sarai, New Delhi. Being an adherent admirer, patron and collector herself she is sharing her philosophy and understanding of art with the viewers. Exhibit 320 supports seminars, lectures, talks and discussions that contextualise art within a critical discourse. 

as we become

Curated by Meenakshi Thirukode

Artists: Arshad Hakim, Mariam Ghani, Jaishri Abichandani, Gopi Gajwani, Morehshin Allahyari, Sudarshan Shetty, Amba Sayal-Benette

Opening: August 9th 2018

Exhibition ongoing until 15th September 2018

Venue: Exhibit 320, F-320, Old M B Road, Chatri Wala Kuan, Lado Sarai, New Delhi, Delhi - 110030