Internationally renowned French-Bengali artist Chittrovanu Mazumdar will present a site-specific installation spanning several rooms at Aspinwall House, the prime venue of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
Responding to curator Sudarshan Shetty’s vision for the edition, which draws on mythical accounts of India as a land of seven rivers, Mr. Mazumdar considers the elemental force of water as it appears in the human psyche and surrounding environment.
In the large-scale installation, the viewer exists at the centre of this enquiry, finding himself or herself in the midst of a series of choices. “The backdrop to these choices is a constant, low hum of the unknown. The artist references water as a space of transition, existing in stories and myths as a place of passage: a medium of cleansing, and an instrument for ritual,” a note on the work said.
Set in darkness, the main room contains a black metal tunnel, leading to nowhere in particular. Revelation is in the act of passing – the centre of the bridge is riddled with incandescent lights and errant wires. This sea of electrical accumulation seems at once mesmerising and treacherous, it explained.
Mr. Mazumdar drew on his experience of living in Jharkhand — where light was scarce, electricity was precious and the glow of a single bulb, a miracle — the walls of light in the adjacent room take on a new meaning.
“These lights are votive offering, a wish. But what deity do they serve? The viewer is asked to consider, in the face of modernity, is this where devotion lies? If rivers are gods and goddesses, where do they now reside?” are the questions that they trigger.
The installation is supported by 1x1 Gallery, Dubai. “Kochi has become the most important non-commercial platform in India. It is an honour for an artist to be invited to participate,” said Gallery director Malini Gulrajani.
