‘Perception of patterns & complexities demands history, memory plus a computation.’

Prayas Abhinav’s section (This & this) as part of his joint show with Baiju Parthan at The Guild comprises his individual as well as collaborative works tread in the spaces along the follow thought lines as explained in an accompanying note:

“Characters in the global pipelines of information flow are not simple-minded anymore. Multi-faced, holographic personas are now the model. The poetry of this game of smoke and mirrors is performed with a zest shared on all the sides of the fence: the agents and the actors.

Courtship is now a cinematic experience, a kind of biding time for another; a cinema which is performed as much on the screen as in our memory. These times are like any other and also with our capacity to dream things which we cannot understand, tangents of progression can go anywhere. This is a pattern which is not genetic; it is accidental and algorithmic at the same time - generative with a history.

Perception of patterns and complexities demands history, memory and a computation. This processing is a learnt characteristic for our epoch and species. The instruction line is the instant, the moment where dimensions get compiled into our experience. This is where resistance is. What I see is different from what you see. To unravel the onionskins of the apparitions is where the decay starts. That is when the static sets in," Prayas Abhinav emphasizes.

There are two approaches for dealing with perceptual drift in this exhibition. Questions not easily answered, and questions not asked often enough as they inspire the delirium of division by zero. An impossibility.

The prevailing conditions of art requires the vocalization of intent in a way that demands itself to be treated as a singular reality. Besides being a paradox, this is often a too heavy a burden to carry. To escalate a crescendo and then to climb down... as a part of the same performance, is a balancing act.

Perception is trained by illusions. Agreements, negotiations, deals happen between faculties to establish the most basic ways of looking at the world. When this deal-making is challenged in the most radical ways, we experience things that we cherish. In this game, playing by the rules is not playing at all. Not that there are any rules to speak of, really. Every time the smoke clears and the dust settles there is a re-calibration happening.

We are talking of scales which do not have any markings. Scales which are not imposed but are discovered to be existing. The discovery of each such scale is either becoming a part of a weave we call truth or adding to the violence and disarray of our confusion. That is the pendulum we must swing on.

(Information & image courtesy: The Guild)