As a collateral event of the India Art Fair, Khoj International Artists' Association is organising an exhibition of experimental art games that have been made by Indian artists from diverse backgrounds - architecture, visual arts, literature, film-making and game development - taking part in the global conversation on independent game development
Titled Level 01, the exhibition seeks to enhance the gaming experience within the structural framework of visual arts. Participating artists are Akshay Raj Singh Rathore, Gayatri Kodikal, Krishnarjun Bhattacharya, Mario D’Souza and Sanket Jadia, Studio Oleomingus, Thukral and Tagra and Vinit Nikumbh.
Speaking about the event, Promona Sengupta, curator, Khoj says the objective of the exhibition is not only to showcase the high quality of work in the field of art games happening within India, but also highlight the ways in which games are playing an important part in creating critical conversations on difficult socio-political topics in a light and playful manner.
The games deal with a range of topics like Akshay Raj Singh Rathore's game, titled ‘The Encyclopaedia of Minor Conflicts’ traces the history of Chutki, a character, from Satyajit Ray's film Ashani Sanket . It is story of a young woman escaping rural Bengal in the wake of the disastrous Bengal famine of 1943. Vinit Nikumbh's digital walking game ‘Khirkee 2027’ imagines a dystopian future of Khirkee village, an urban village in South Delhi and home to Khoj. Mario D'Souza and Sanket Jadia's take on the issue of Kashmir Azadi in their tabletop game ‘Trapezium’ moves radically away from the usual coverage of the conflict in the media.
Artist-duo Thukral and Tagra take tabletop games one notch higher through ‘Walk of Life’, a game board working on the principles of good and bad karma, traversing the ten avatars of Vishnu.
The show is on at Khoj Studios, S-17, Khirkee Extension, New Delhi till February 20.
