“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” The line by Professor Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes to mind when ruminating over the conceptual premise of ‘Apple in Dream Mode’. The show, a curatorial experiment draws the viewer in with the shadowy comfort of an oneiric space, only to illuminate the political within a dream. Objects morph into an archive of ethereal armatures while attempting to navigate imagined memories. Curator John Xaviers “invokes this non-human entity’s right to dream” through conversation with artists Gagan Singh, Mochu, Sonam Chaturvedi and Suvani Suri. A rather strange dialogue is initiated with the works in this project, as the artists explore and expand upon notions of consciousness. If you enter a dream, can anything be real?
Deconstructing the mundane
Singh’s work is an ironic intervention in this montage of distorted realities. In ‘6 drawings’, the surface of the paper is to be seen as a cognitive field. These deceptively spontaneous drawings unfold to be a result of sustained deliberations on perception. As per his distinct oeuvre, Singh uses humour as a tool to dissect a routine by asking us how to climb the stairs.
The absurdity of this exercise is hilarious as he creates a question trapped in its own making, leading to endless possibilities. Singh then generates an algorithm to climb, which can’t be solved — for the solution is redundant. It is the problem, the ridiculous question that aims to deconstruct the mundane that is important.
Xaviers wonders that if computers can go into sleep mode, then can they also dream? Mochu draws a surreal parallel between a psychedelic state and cybernetics in his video work ‘Cool Memories of Remote Gods’. Set in the remnants of hippie trails in India, the artist follows the spiritual trails forged by the 1960s counterculture to capture the residue of a phenomenon that has ceased to exist. One notices the strangeness of these remnants, be it the bright jarred lights or the faded portraits of Jim Morrison. These distortions of a familiar landscape are further activated by Mochu as he distorts them using special effects. The video begins in search of a corpse, as we encounter its cryptic material remains. Mochu alludes the mutations of the lens to an exploration of one’s psyche. Through the undulations of this quiet obscure dream, the viewer is led to a cryonic chamber, resembling a colossal spider’s web. A strikingly unnerving moment is when the sky morphs into this chamber, as fragments in the clouds reveal themselves to be windows - enclosing you in a stimulated reality.
Traces of history
The dreamscape acquires a more delicate texture in Chaturvedi’s works. It feels much like wandering into the inside of memories. The movement of absolute stillness captivates ’Time, Memories Incoherent’, an installation of found objects engulfed in soft light as if they were museum exhibits. Each carries a ghostly trace of an unknown history. The viewer is invited to look into her small artist book, attached to the edge of the wall whilst listening to an eerie acoustic piece, wherein the artist is whispering jumbled bits of words into your ear. This allows for more personal and tactile experience — it is almost hypnotic. The photographs in Chaturvedi’s book are private yet distant, they frame fleeting fragments in her mind. As you enter a complex interior of her memory, the nature of her work proves to be a trigger, seeking to excavate the thoughts hidden in your mind. You can even choose to be a part of ‘Esclapse’, a sleep experiment devised by the artist. This proves to be a surreal and intricately beautiful process, as you receive a call and listen to a recording of words in the gentle voice of a stranger, just before you fall asleep.
One is then taken towards the sound piece ‘Prelude to a Puncture in Listening’ by Suri. She attempts to recreate the moments in-between; an experiment that lingers in the space between spaces, a liminal between wakefulness and sleep. The viewer sits in the corner, experiencing sound waves that seem to have no source. As you give time to this experience, one connects to an unknown element as the room turns into a safe mediative space, allowing you to contemplate all these contrived realities.
Apple in Dream Mode is ongoing at the Mumbai Art Room, Colaba til August 24
