Tracking the artistic journey of Desire Machine Collective

From the bewildering Brahmaputra banks, an Indian artist duo has made it to the Venice Biennale. We are referring to Desire Machine Collective.

For artists who claim to stay away from the mainstream gallery and exhibition circuit and are seemingly not so much interested in the ‘mass’ production of popular art ‘objects’ - not in the sense most understand them, at least - the artist group’s selection for the prestigious biennale is significant. Their works are going to be on display at the first ever official India Pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale.

It’s almost seven years that they have pursued their experimental, avant garde practices in the remote areas of Guwahati, far off the maddening rush of Mumbai or New Delhi. And it is exactly this that turned the gaze of renowned curator-art scholar Ranjit Hoskote. He is commissioner of the official Pavilion.

While scouting for artists ‘from a host of unusual locations, backgrounds, economies and histories of art production’, who would jell with the broader theme of cultural citizenship, of ‘what really it means to be an Indian?’, he came across Desire Machine Collective. Their works are woven around the concept that he has kept in mind while curating the works of art for the official pavilion.

The well-known critic has been quoted as saying, regarding his choice of artists’ duo: “Desire Machine Collective pursues a sophisticated, vital art practice. They also share strong regional commitments, and yet they have managed to take their body of work out there to the world. They perfectly embody what I convey, that you don’t exactly need to be metropolitan (in approach or else) to be cosmopolitan. Their artwork is political at its core, highlighting economies that have been silently superseded and also voices that have been muted. But the same is equally nuanced,” he quips.