Kochi,
December 14: The evolution of Sudarshan Shetty’s curatorial vision
for Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) 2016 and its relationship to his artistic practice
formed the basis of an erudite conversation between Shetty and eminent
philosopher Sundar Sarukkai here on Tuesday.
Terming his curatorial impulse
– as also the Biennale – a ‘work in progress’, Shetty noted that the twin
processes of ‘gathering’ and ‘erasure’ were the event’s primary agencies and
not his instincts as an artist. “It would be a disaster if I was to introduce
myself into this mix,” he said.
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Kochi Muziris Biennale 2016 Curator Sudarshan Shetty
in conversation with eminent philosopher Sundar Sarukkai
at The Pavilion, Cabral Yard, Fort Kochi.
|
Shetty prefers to see himself
as a facilitator instead, going with the flow as KMB 2016 changes organically
over its duration and perhaps beyond. “I thought to side-step the image of an
artist-curator as a creator or agent of knowledge and culture and become a
presenter, bringing about this conversation between different art streams and
traditions,” he said.
Thus, while he brought the
Biennale’s divergent components together into an inclusive space, it would
gather additional layers of meaning on its own – erasing parts of itself over
time to make space for other things while the residuals would keep changing
with the event. “I envision the Biennale as existing both as transformative
space and experience,” Shetty said.
The evening discussion at the
Biennale Pavilion in Cabral Yard, Fort Kochi, saw Sarukkai probe Shetty on the nature
of his core curatorial premise of ‘multiplicity’. “The Biennale straddles
multiple perspectives, possibilities and positions. It does not seek to question
what is ‘real’ and what is ‘representational’. This layering of multiple viewpoints
on reality informs ‘Forming in the pupil of an eye’, as it attempts to
intertwine the conceptual with the corporeal,” Shetty said.
Riffing on Shetty’s definition
of multiplicity, Sarukkai probed whether the Biennale was then ‘a process’
instead of ‘an occurrence’. Shetty said he preferred to think of it as ‘an attempt’.
“By bringing parallel disparate
narratives into the story of Biennale, like a river fed by its tributaries, it
attempts to negotiate the tensions that come out of the assimilation of these
perspectives. This lets the Biennale accumulate meaning as it unfolds,” he
said.
Coming to terms with his
curatorial responsibility, though, was a long-drawn process, Shetty
acknowledged. “When I was first thinking about my idea for the Biennale, I
thought it would be an extension of my own practice. Over the past year, there
was this need to look outside, to get into new spaces, to bring in new ideas and
also to reflect on who my audience is,” he said.
This ‘need’ compelled Shetty to
search for ways to bring in to the biennale space people, forms and practices
that are seemingly outside it: poetry recitals, mobile lecture tours,
architecture, dance performances and theatre productions, among others.
The result of that search has been
the inclusion of the diverse forms and approaches to art production that has come
to characterise the third edition of India’s only Biennale.
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