Curatorial model of Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, the DOCUMENTA (13) artistic director, assembled critical voices from diverse fields like philosophy, eco-architecture, cultural anthropology etc, as well as extends the core life of the ‘exhibition’.
One of the world’s most prestigious and keenly awaited art events, the just concluded dOCUMENTA (13) was dedicated to holistic artistic research and different forms of imagination, which sought to explore commitment, embodiment, matter, things, and active living largely in connection with, yet not totally subordinated to, theory.
‘These are terrains’, an accompanying note elaborated, ‘where politics are inseparable from a sensual, energetic as well as worldly alliance between current research in various artistic and scientific fields and various other knowledge areas, both ancient and contemporary. The art gathering this year was driven by a holistic and non-logocentric vision skeptical of the persisting belief in economic growth. This vision was shared with, and recognized, the shapes and practices of knowing of all the animate and inanimate makers of the world, including people.
As far as India is concerned, Delhi-based Amar Kanwar participated in his third straight Documenta. According to him, even though the personality of the latest exhibit and its artistic vision were different from previous ones, there were certain commonalities as well. Closely tracking this ‘ongoing war against the (local) people and their land’, he has often filmed in contentious zones, assiduously mapping the destruction of Niyamgiri Hills and unsustainable mining in many ecologically sensitive, tribal pockets.
His project ‘The Sovereign Forest’, presented time around, had started with his filming the staunch resistance of many communities in Orissa to rampant industrial interventions. It had varied avatars, continuously reincarnating itself as a work of art – an exhibit, an open call for collecting more ‘evidence’, a public trial, a classroom, a visual archive and a memorial. It was exhibited at dOCUMENTA (13) as a multi-part installation and was also displayed at a grassroots activist media organization based in the capital city of Orissa, Bhubaneswar with which he has collaborated.
One of the world’s most prestigious and keenly awaited art events, the just concluded dOCUMENTA (13) was dedicated to holistic artistic research and different forms of imagination, which sought to explore commitment, embodiment, matter, things, and active living largely in connection with, yet not totally subordinated to, theory.
‘These are terrains’, an accompanying note elaborated, ‘where politics are inseparable from a sensual, energetic as well as worldly alliance between current research in various artistic and scientific fields and various other knowledge areas, both ancient and contemporary. The art gathering this year was driven by a holistic and non-logocentric vision skeptical of the persisting belief in economic growth. This vision was shared with, and recognized, the shapes and practices of knowing of all the animate and inanimate makers of the world, including people.
As far as India is concerned, Delhi-based Amar Kanwar participated in his third straight Documenta. According to him, even though the personality of the latest exhibit and its artistic vision were different from previous ones, there were certain commonalities as well. Closely tracking this ‘ongoing war against the (local) people and their land’, he has often filmed in contentious zones, assiduously mapping the destruction of Niyamgiri Hills and unsustainable mining in many ecologically sensitive, tribal pockets.
His project ‘The Sovereign Forest’, presented time around, had started with his filming the staunch resistance of many communities in Orissa to rampant industrial interventions. It had varied avatars, continuously reincarnating itself as a work of art – an exhibit, an open call for collecting more ‘evidence’, a public trial, a classroom, a visual archive and a memorial. It was exhibited at dOCUMENTA (13) as a multi-part installation and was also displayed at a grassroots activist media organization based in the capital city of Orissa, Bhubaneswar with which he has collaborated.
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