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Guide to the
February 5-8, 2016
This painting by Dhaka-based artist Farzana ahmed urmi is a part
of the Samdani art award exhibition. Urmis canvases are full of
human stories. This figurative work complimented by abstraction is
from her Lines in Mood series, which shows mental dysphoria and
self-denial.
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contents
EditorZafar Sobhan
Magazine EditorRumana Habib
Assistant Magazine EditorSabah Rahman
Magazine Team:Promiti ChowdhurySN RasulSyeda Samira SadequeSaqib
Sarker
PhotographersRajib Dhar Mehedi Hasan
Graphics:Mahbub AlamAlamgir HossainTahsin Momin
Colour Specialist:Shekhar Mondal
Advertisement:Shahin AhsanMamitur RahmanMofazzal Hoque
ProductionMasum Billah
CirculationMasud Kabir Pavel
Websitewww.dhakatribune.com/tags/Dhaka Art
Summitfacebook.com/DhakaTribune/
FRIDAY, FebRuARY 5, 2016
8 Maps & Schedule - Everything you need to know to navigate
DAS
9 Solo Projects - Floors G, 1 & 2
Commissioned specifically for DAS, 17 artists create
experiential art in the form of installation, mixed media and
performance pieces. 10 The Missing One - Floor 1
The art is arranged in three broad movements, united by the
visual metaphor of looking up at the sky, and inspired by a Bengali
sci-fi story and a Tagore painting.
11 Mining Warm Data - Floor 1 Sculpture, installation, film and
photography that examine how an individuals profile is defined
subjectively, beyond cold clinical methods and statistical
analyses.
14 architecture in bangladesh - Floor 2 A study of the influence
of the late architect Muzharul Islam on the local work of 19
architects and firms.
15 rewind Floor 2
A historical exhibition showcasing 12 artists from across South
Asia before the late 1980s, illuminating transnational
modernism.
16 Performance art - Floor 2 Eight continuous live performances
from artists across the region relates to the idea of everything
being in a state of becoming or flux.
17 Samdani art award - Floor 2
Showcasing 13 of the the promising young Bangladeshi artists
20 Soul Searching - Floor 3 50 paintings by 50 Bangladeshi
artists tell the story of the quest for self-identity in a new
nation.
First & Third Floor21 Films & Programmes - Floor 1 &
3
Scheduled offerings throughout all 4 days of the summit include
film screenings, lectures, Critical Writing Ensemble workshops, and
book launches.
10
15
17
21
9
Welcome to the Dhaka Tribunes Guide to the Dhaka Art Summit.This
guide contains everything you need to know to navigate the worlds
largest South Asia art event, a four day art extravaganza at the
National Art Gallery at Shilpakala Academy.
We invite you to use this guide as a walkthrough, as it is
organised floor-by-floor and room-by-room. Weve included maps,
artist info, and insights from artists and scholars of each
exhibit, in order to maximise the quality of your experience.
Contained herein are also plenty of beautiful pictures of
arresting artwork, and we hope you will keep
it as a souvenir of this unique and unforgettable event.
The Dhaka Art Summit is brought to you by Co-Founder Nadia
Samdani, the president of the Samdani Art Foundation, and Chief
Curator Diana Campbell Betancourt, the foundations artistic
director. This is the third edition of the biannual event, and with
each outing it expands in vision and scope.
You can look forward to a brilliant selection of a diverse range
of work by nearly 300 leading artists from the region, put together
by some of the finest curators from renowned institutions like the
MoMA, the Tate Modern, and Centre Pompidou.
There are also film screenings,
installations, performances, retrospectives, architecture
exhibits, panel discussions, live radio broadcasts, childrens
workshops,
DAS also serves as a cultural exchange for local artists,
providing a platform connect to the international market.
Bangladeshi work is prominently showcased, and many young artists
have made DAS a launching pad for successful international
careers.
Come see what everyone has been raving about!
Rumana Habib
ps Check out Dhaka Tribune for our extensive daily coverage of
the event.
Editors note
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8Feb 5-82016
Schedule & MapS
Dhaka Art Summit 2016National Art Gallery, Shilpakala
AcademyNovember 5-8, 10am-9pm
Friday, February 512pm - 3pm | auditorium | Film programme |
cluster: III, VII, IX12:30pm - 1:30pm | VIp lounge | Book launch |
anwar Jalal Shemza1:30pm - 2:30pm | VIp lounge | Book launch |
chandigarh is in India and Western artists in India2:30pm - 3:30pm
| VIp lounge | presentation | harvard South asia Institute 3:30pm -
4:30pm | auditorium | panel discussion | cross-Border art
histories: Bangladesh and pakistan5pm - 6pm | auditorium | panel
discussion | art Initiatives off the centre7pm - 9pm | auditorium |
Film programme | cluster: II
Saturday, February 6 10am - 1:30pm | auditorium | Film programme
| cluster: IV, I, VI11:30am - 12:30pm | VIp lounge | Talk |
protecting the past and Building the Future: legacy and estate
Building in South asia 2pm - 7:30pm | The Missing One, Floor 1 |
performance | British council poetry Trail12:30pm - 1:30pm | VIp
lounge | presentation | documenta 14 Reading of South1:30pm - 2pm |
VIp lounge | launch | TaKe on art Magazine photography - The
dematerialising arc 2:30pm - 4:00pm | auditorium | panel discussion
| collecting South asian art in a Non-Western Institutional context
3:30pm - 4:30pm | VIp lounge | panel discussion | can culture
counter4:30pm - 6:00pm | auditorium | panel discussion | Navigating
the uneven Terrain of Regional Group Shows: a Field Guide6pm -
6:30pm | VIp lounge | Book launch | arpita Singh 6pm - 9pm |
auditorium | Film programme | cluster: V, VIII
Sunday, February 7 9pm (all day): childrens Workshops with VaST
Bhutan10am - 4pm | auditorium | Film programme | cluster: II, V,
VII, III, VIII10am - 12pm | VIp lounge | critical Writing ensemble
presentations | The political unconsciousness of art Writing
12:30pm - 1:30pm | auditorium | presentation | artist as activist
by Shakuntala Kulkarni in association with the World Bank2:30pm -
5pm | VIp lounge | critical Writing ensemble presentations | The
political unconsciousness of art Writing 4:30pm - 5:30pm |
auditorium | panel discussion | Bangladeshi architecture 5:30pm -
6:30pm | VIp lounge | Book launch | Vasudeo Gaitonde 5:30pm - 9pm |
auditorium | Film programme | cluster: VI, IX, IV
Monday, February 810am-5pm: childrens Workshops with VaST
Bhutan10am-5pm: Guided Tours for children10am-9pm | auditorium |
Film programme | Full programme cluster I-IX10:30am - 4pm | VIp
lounge | critical Writing ensemble presentations | entangling and
disentangling printed Matter
2nd Floor
Rewind
Performance Pavilion Solo Projects
Samdani Art AwardArchitecture
Film Programme Washroom
1st Floor
Mining Warm Data
The Missing One
Solo Projects
VIP Lounge
Publications at DASWashroom
3rd Floor
Bangladesh Art Spaces
Childrens Programme - Vast Bhutan
Soul Searching
Asia Art Archive
Talks Programme
Film Programme
Washroom
3 Floor
Ground level
Information Desk
Vip Lounge
Solo Projects
Food Court
Solo Projects
Mining Warm Data
The Missing One
VIP Lounge
Rewind
Performance Pavilion
Samdani Art Award
Architecture in Bangladesh
Film Programme
Soul Searching
Talks Programme
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Seventeen solo projects have been specially commissioned for the
dhaka art Summit. The works are mostly new and they break away from
the traditional understanding of rationality. curator diana
Betancourt thinks that curating exhibitions about identity is a
minefield, but it is nevertheless very important to explore the
questions and trying to find out how individuals see their place in
the world.
These artists come from diverse backgrounds. among them, four
are from Bangladesh, four are from Indian, three from the uK, two
from Myanmar, two from the uS, one from Singapore, and one from
pakistan.
lynda Benglis whose work has sold for $1M, is South asian by
association, as she is an american
artist who spent decades living in India.
The 17 projects make use of different mediums to present ideas
and thoughts. Tino Sehgal presents ann lee, developed from a
Japanese manga video game character, who is brought to life, and
must relate with the real world. prabhavathi Meppayil confronts the
viewers with a sculptural work that plays off of the architecture
of Bangladesh Shilpakala academy itself.
Many of these works make quite profound and radical statements,
which may not be kindly received if presented plainly without the
artistic interpretation of reality, such as Shumon ahmeds critique
on torture.
What these look like is difficult to describe in words. They
need to be experienced in person. n
Singular experiencesOnly at Dhaka Art Summit: Custom
installations and performances offer viewers one-of-a-kind
experiencesSaqib Sarker
9Feb 5-8
2016
SOlO pROJecTS DiANA CAMpbell betANCourtchIeF cuRaTOR, daS
in ipso Facto, burmese artists tun Win Aung & Wah Nu
(Myanmar) take the viewers for a walk through a canvas forest, for
an eerie reminder that this experience might soon cease to exist
thanks to climate change.
Mustafa Zamans lost Memory eternalised is an unauthorised
retelling of the past that provides a myriad of lenses to the
viewer through which to view history or historical figures.
Haroon Mirzas the National Apavilion of then and Now features a
triangular room lined with black foam pyramids. light and sound
seem to disappear. Following a period of total darkness, a halo of
of white leD lights get progressively brighter, along with a
buzzing sound, until both abruptly stop.
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10Feb 5-82016
This exhibit is inspired by one of the first Bengali science
fiction stories of the same name, and showcases the work of more
than 20 artists across the region, including Ronni ahmmed, Neha
choksi and Saskia pintelon. They interpreted the theme of looking
toward the sky.
three movements The exhibition is arranged in three broad
movements, represented on the walls of the exhibition by deepening
shades of blue. The first
movement Staring up at the sky is about enchantment, and takes
the Tagore painting as a formal point of departure. The second
movement alienation, is about the complex feelings that can be
evoked be contemplating our place in the universe. The third
movement light Blindness is about dystopia and the possibility of
redemption.
It follows, in some loose sense, the plot of a generic science
fiction novel or film first a happy, innocent world; which is then
interrupted by the hostile appearance of a foreign or extra-
terrestrial being; and finally, at the climax, an apocalyptic
threat emerges with the potential for salvation through faith and
human will.
bengal renaissanceThe name of the exhibition comes from
Nirrudesher Kahani or The Story of The Missing One, written in 1896
by Jagadish chandra Bose. It is considered to be one of the first
tales in the sci-fi genre written in Bengali. Bose, a pioneering
inventor of instruments for wireless technology and the study of
nature, was close to the Tagore family, who were the central
figures in what is known as the Bengal Renaissance.
It would have been against this backdrop that Gaganendranath
Tagore painted Resurrection, which is the other inspiration for
this exhibit. It is an ethereal painting, with a circular vortex of
clouds with a religious icon at the centre, as if the viewer is
staring up at the heavens. I was really struck by this work because
it made me ask why? Why is he painting this religious theme in this
extremely futuristic way? Modernity, religion, rationality and
faith are often perceived as a dichotomy these days, especially
here, especially now, said curator Nada Raza.n
Blue skies, somber thoughts Contemporary art meets spirituality
and Bengali sci-fiNasr Dastgir and Syeda Samira Sadeque
Poetry Trail - Feb 6 six local poets selected through the
British councils MuseMasters Performance Poetry competition, who
will hold individual performances within the exhibition, drawing
inspiration from the work featured here.
2pm - 2:30pm | shazed Ul Hoq Khan Abir and syeda samira
sadeque4pm - 4:30pm | sarwat sameen and sayeeda tahera Ahmad7pm -
7:30pm | sadaat Ruhul and sM Jarif
The MISSING ONeS NADA rAZAaSSISTaNT cuRaTOR, TaTe MOdeRN
Neha Choksi picks up the infinite variations of sky blue. These
are cyanograms, referring to early scientific experiments with
light and
representation. Based on a photograph of the landing of a space
ball or junk from decaying spacecraft and satellites, pressure
Sphere Recovered in South africa 2001-2002 is a drawing from
choksis series Space debris.
pHoto: Neha choksi, Skyfold 8, 2013
MOVeMeNT 1Staring up at the sky
Mehreen Murtaza investigates concepts such as authenticity
and objectivity, challenging the division between the
realms of memory and experience. her work
addresses the forcefully forgotten legacy of dr abdus Salam, the
first pakistani to
win a Nobel prize in physics. dr Salam, despite being an icon of
pride for the nation, was forgotten over time due
to his identity of an ahmadiya Muslim, a persecuted minority
in current day pakistan.
pHoto: Mehreen Murtaza, comet Bennet over delhi,
humayuns Tomb March 1970
MOVeMeNT 2Alienation
Firoze Mahmud experiments with a wide range of media
and materials to address contemporary concerns. his
roles shift and conspire between artist as activist engaging
within
the politics of a nation in flux. In these images, he
creates
cyborg-like images out of regular Bangladeshi families by
placing
eyeglasses made out of everyday materials. The final image
is
absurd yet showing hope as the subjects stare upwards at the
sky.
pHoto: Firoz Mahmud, Soaked dream and Future Families
MOVeMeNT 3light blindness
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11Feb 5-8
2016
This exhibition will feature works that have roots in the South
asian region including Bangladesh, Sri lanka, pakistan, Myanmar,
India, Nepal and Tibet. In this age of globalization, when most
information is represented through statistics and numbers, this
exhibition will portray information profiles beyond the traditional
and critical methods.
The exhibition will look at the role of fantasy and subjectivity
in creating a profile of a person, beyond the traditional and
clinical methods applied by statistical
analyses, government data agencies, economic interests,
community interests, or even dictatorial censorship, curator diana
Betancourt said.
While the next door exhibition, The Missing One, looks to the
sky for answers, this emotional exhibition requires delving into
the dark crevices of the contemporary human condition, which is
expected to help the audience interpret multiple meanings.
Warm bodies, cold bodies, and metamorphic bodies transitioning
between these states challenge the viewer in this exhibition.
It seeks to give agency to the spectators imagination rather
than reduce the artworks to their often disturbing and sometimes
political implications. In the spirit of this agency, said
diana.
I leave the viewer with the words of artists, rather than my
own, as non-forensic cues to rethink what we consider evidence and
the importance of fiction as we consider, she said.
One of the interesting pieces in this exhibition is the Ghana
versus Getty exhibition by Maryam Jafri, who juxtaposes stories
behind photos provided by Getty Images
as well as the Ghanian government. Jafri was inspired to do this
when she recently found several photos of Ghanian Independence day
on Getty Images, with their copyright over these photos. upon
checking data with both sources, it turned out that facts and
details werent consistent.
Getty vs Ghanatakes the overlapping images in both image banks
and posits them not to speculate on the past but to tap into
contemporary concerns about copyright, digitization, and the
foreign ownership of national heritage, Jafri says on her website.
n
Dont you know who I am?South Asian artists grapple with official
markers of identity versus the subjective experience of the
self
Syeda Samira Sadeque
MINING WaRM daTaDiANA CAMpbell betANCourtchIeF cuRaTOR, daS
Hasan elahiIn this age of state paranoia post-9/11 america,
elahi leaped into an era of self-surveillance. his work depicts a
collage of 32,000 photos that he sent to the FBI during that time
period.
Hitman GurungGurung uses art to address the issue of migration
from Nepal, which has increased exponentially since the civil war,
and has left a generational gap that affects a sense of
community.
lida Abdul abdul, an afghani who has lived as a refugee in
Germany and India, uses performance art to scream out her story
except, the scream is silent. In Speaking and hearing (1999-2001),
her mouth opens to depict stories of what shes lost in the conflict
in afghanistan.
NortseNortse uses mixed-media works, using traditional Tibetan
imagery, to address issues such as global warming, environmental
degradation, over-population, alcoholism, the erosion of culture
and tradition, and the desire to establish ones own identity in a
world of mass media.
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To find a common cultural identityThe legacy of Mazharul Islam
on the architects of BangladeshPromiti Prova Chowdhury
tALK: Architecture in BangladeshFebruary 7 at 4:30-5:30pm3rd
floor auditorium
14Feb 5-82016
aRchITecTuRe AurelieN leMoNiercuRaTOR OF aRchITecTuRe aT The
ceNTRe pOMpIdOu, paRIS
Rafiq Azams work focuses mainly on collective housing or
individual residences and explores the dialogue between
architecture, geography and the natural elements surrounding their
environment.
SA Residence, Gulshan, Dhaka
In the current era of globalisation, the primary challenge of
architecture in Bangladesh is to find a common cultural identity.
This exhibition, The legacy of Mazharul Islam, pays tribute to the
late architect (1923-2012) responsible for inviting louis Kahn to
create Bangladeshs parliament building. he had a great influence on
other architects of the nation.
This exhibition is a journey through modern and contemporary
Bangladeshi architecture, showcasing 3d models, blueprints,
sketches and photos, some signature works, as well as videos of the
architects presenting their projects.
The participating architects are: Bashirul haq. Shamsul Wares
Raziul ahsan, Saif ul haque, Jalal ahmad, uttam Kumar Saha Nahas
ahmed Khalil, Rafiq azam, ehsan Khan, Nurur Rahman Khan Mustapha
Khalid palash enamul Karim Nirjhar, Kashef Mahboob chowdhury Marina
Tabassum, Salauddin ahmed and Stephane paumier.
From Independence, Muzharul Islam singlehandedly innovated a
modernist language in his buildings, said Bangladeshi architect
Kazi Khaleed ashraf in an interview with the curator.
he tried to establish ... a norm for a modern culture in
architecture, which is about discourse and investigation, rational
practices and finally being aware of the contribution of architects
in society, said ashraf, who is the current director general of
Bengal Institute of architecture, landscapes and Settlements in
dhaka.
he did not copy any kind of elements from tradition, added
ashraf. he was strongly devoted to the spirit of the place, its
political history, and its cultural legacy.
Regarding dhakas architecture, ashraf said: It is not enough to
note what is wrong in our city, the traffic, social inequality,
lack of public facilities. We know these. The challenge is
elsewhere. To me it is how a city like dhaka is going to be
reorganised with the landscape. n
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This exhitibition is a unique opportunity to view and experience
art history and historic arts. The project assembles works from
public and private collections in europe, South and Southeast asia,
and the united States that chart the diverse manifestations of
abstraction in pre-1980s South asia.
on displayRewind features more than 90 works by 13 artists
associated with Bangladesh, Burma, India, pakistan, and Sri lanka.
These are abstract depictions by notable artists.
The exhibition explores how three generations of artists
have
responded to shifting cultural, political, and social contexts
with experiments in abstraction, or the relationship between
representation and abstraction even when some of their primary
practices are or were firmly rooted in figuration.
time machineThe majority of the works on view were produced
between the late 1940s and the late 1970s, a period that witnessed
the Independence of India and pakistan from Britain and the
devastating partition of the subcontinent, followed by several
major conflicts including the liberation War of Bangladesh.
Border crossingA journey through South Asian art, post-Partition
and pre-IndependenceSaqib Sarker
Safiuddin ahmed (Bangladesh)Zahoor ul akhlaq (pakistan)Rashid
choudhury (Bangladesh)Monika correa (India)Germaine Krull
(Myanmar)Nalini Malani (India)akbar padamsee (India)Krishna Reddy
(India)anwar Jalal Shemza (pakistan)
arpita Singh (India)Bagyi aung Soe (Myanmar)SM Sultan
(Bangladesh)lionel Wendt (Sri lanka)
advised by asia art archive Senior Researcher Sabih AhmedRewind
is generously supported by Amrita Jhaveri
Participating Artists
The extreme political and social upheaval of that time created
impressions on these artists that could not possibly have escaped
the work done at that time. With that perception or presumption,
the artworks are now unique pieces of history that are
extraordinary windows into the past.
transcending bordersThe unique voices and visions of these
artists enable the spectators to see through borders and get a
sense of the role that modernity played in
our collective consciousness. From the pared-down
calligraphic scrawls of aung Soe, Shemza, and Singh; and the
distillations of natural and human form undertaken by Reddy, ahmed,
Sultan, and Krull; to the experiments with light, pattern, and
flatness of choudhury, Malani, padamsee; the works in Rewind embody
some of the ways in which modernism has played out within and
beyond the region, the curators said. n
15Feb 5-8
2016
ReWINdBeTh cITRON, cuRaTOR, MOdeRN aNd cONTeMpORaRy aRT, RuBIN
MuSeuMaMaRa aNTIlla, aSSISTaNT cuRaTOR, SOlOMON R GuGGeNheIM
MuSeuMdIaNa caMpBell BeTaNcOuRT, chIeF cuRaTOR, daS
Rashid Choudhury, Adam, Courtesy of the Bangladesh Shilpakala
Academy
Safiuddin Ahmed, In Memory of 71
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16Feb 5-82016
peRFORMaNce paVIllION
For the uninitiated, performance art can seem like a strange
experience, and that is often the goal. An artist might venture
into performance art as a way to explore different forms of
expression, to reach out to people, and tread into a completely new
territory, using their bodies as the crucial instrument to get
their particular messages across.
Performance art is a non-traditional artform that combines
visual art with dramatic performance, poetry, music, dance, or
painting. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random
or carefully orchestrated, spontaneous or otherwise carefully
planned, with or without audience participation.
Shifting Sands, Sifting Hands is a continuously running
exhibition at the Performance Pavilion of the Dhaka Art Summit. It
relates to the idea of everything being in a state of becoming or
flux, especially the human body, where movement and change are with
us from the moment of birth until death. This exhibition aims to
reapproach the current critiques surrounding performance art within
both the institution and in an object orientated art world.
Stop by and engage all five senses at the pavillion, which will
be open to all everyday from 10am-9pm.
Ali Asgar (Dhaka, bangladesh), inside the Zone, outside your
ConscienceAli will create an interactive non-gender biased
area/gender free zone wherein audiences can transform the artists
appearance using the installed gender-objectified props, or by
sending him instant text messages with performance
recommendations.
His objective is to help people understand their assumptions of
gender stereotyping based on social codes of dress and attire.
Sanad Kumar biswas (Dhaka, bangladesh), me & MeEncased in a
plastic bag, Biswas will use his own breath to survive. Using the
translucent walls of the ballooned bag as a surface, he will make
notations and records using a marker to write and draw his visceral
experience of being/existing in the bag.
This is an un-deciphered endless poem ... made of taste, smell,
touch, and feelings, said Sanad. I am seeking another me, who is
gradually metamorphosing in endless ways.
Kabir Ahmed Masum Chisty (Dhaka, bangladesh), Dialogue
NegotiationIn the persona of a sportsman, Chisty will play tennis
with his reflection in the mirror. He uses the sport and the idea
of playing with his own image
as a metaphor for the alienation postmodern technologies have
created.
Technology cannot exist without the biological body, so why then
are we competing with our virtual body? he asks.
Manmeet Devgun (New Delhi, india) tiMe HAS A StArt AND AN eND-Do
i belieVe tHAt NotioN?Devgun will use matchsticks to construct
words, and words to construct sentences, which will snake through
the various spaces of the Dhaka Art Summit. I will devise a note on
time to understand time/duration/memories with certain situations
and incidents in my life, Devgun says.
Her work has consistently questioned the role imposed on women
in a predominantly patriarchal world.
Sajan Mani (Kochi, india), #Makeinindia Mani will perform an act
of resistance through a black Dalit body to draw attention to
historical and current injustice.
He will carry the bodies of Dalit grandfathers who were used as
cows beasts of burden in the fields and killed. The performance is
part of a larger body of work where Mani is looking at the cow and
its relationship to food, religion, and politics.
Yasmin Jahan Nupur (Dhaka, bangladesh), Another Crazy thing i
can Do; Dance!Nupur will move in dance, ie in non-dance motions and
movements imitating dance. In doing so, she will deal with the
body, mind, and the various emotional states that she will pass
through during her performance.
Nupur says the focus of her work is the joy of creating, and not
being afraid of creating, the willingness to do something, having
an idea, and doing it, without being overly analytical.
Venuri perera (Colombo, Sri lanka), entry/No entry 1.2Different
types of passports have varying degrees of power. The inequality
and undignified processes and rituals many have to face before and
during entering another country are addressed in this durational
performance installation consisting of a series of short,
individual, intimate encounters, says Venuri, a dancer known for
challenging political and social issues.
Atish Saha (Dhaka, bangladesh), Memories of my Mothers WombAtish
will spend 53 hours confined to an 8x8ft box. For the entire
duration, I will wait and wait in different corners of the box; I
will be sitting, lying, staring at the ceiling said Saha, a maker
of images, working between photography and performance. l
Class acts at the DASSabah Rahman
Bodywork, Nikhil Chopra, Bangladesh CouRteSy: SAMdANI ARt
FouNdAtIoN
NiKHil CHoprA, MADHAVi Gore AND JANA prepeluH
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The Samdani art award is a crucial part of the dhaka art Summit.
Fresh local talent from the artist community between the ages of
20-40 are selected and featured in an exhibit at the summit.
What the winner gains is quite the prize, to say the least a
three month residency at the delphina Foundation, an independent,
non-profit foundation dedicated to facilitating artistic exchange
and developing creative practice through residencies, partnerships
and public programming.
The collection on display at this exhibition showcases singular
examples in painting, printmaking, film, photography, performances
and sculptures. you can expect a reflection of developing, local
contemporary art.
Narrowed down from 300 applicants, curator daniel Baumann, was
asked to pick only 10 candidates, but ended up insisting on 13, as
he was positively overwhelmed by the
high quality of the work. When choosing the shortlist, the
curator said looked for individuals who had something to say and
the courage and conviction to develop and use a language of their
own. his advice to emerging artists is to organise themselves by
delving into the history and languages of art without feeling
intimidated by both.
Being an artist is a tough thing, but I dont know of any other
place where there is as much space for freedom, Baumann told the
dhaka Tribune.
New wealth has been created in many parts of the world,
including South asia. The Western art market is most probably
overrated, so people are looking for new territories to invest.
This may sound a bit cynical, but it is probably true. I do believe
that more and more people realize that there is more interesting
art than those coming from paris, Berlin, london, and New york. We
live in a rich world, so lets expand our horizons! n
Samdani Art AwardsSpotlight on the up-and-coming artists of
BangladeshSabah Rahman
Ashit Mitra Where there is No title: a series of etchings that
express the hidden resilience of the spirit of life.
Atish SahaWater: portraits of people in the water of the
Buriganga River.
Farzana Ahmed urmilines in Mood: a series that represents
self-denial and mental dysphoria.
Gazi Nafis Ahmedinner Face: photographs based on the collective
denial about sexual diversity in Bangladesh.
Muhammad rafiqul islam ShuvoCommunal Aliention and Faster
Satiation, but only for Nevertheless behavior: photographs that
reflect random situations with dramatic sound and pauses, creating
a curious aftermath.
palash battacharjeeFilter: Video installation work inspired by
daily life events which are used in a repetitive way to
re-emphasise the meaning of our mundane acts.
rasel Chowdhuryrailway longings: a contemplative approach to the
railroad.
Salma Abedin prithiDear love: a monologue of ordinary people who
express thoughts about their intimate relationships with families
and loved ones on camera.
Shumon AhmedWhen Dead Ships travel: From the Metal Graves
photographic series, a journey through one of the worlds largest
ship graveyards in chittagong, Bangladesh.
Shimul Saharebirth: exploring the metaphor for the two lives the
artist lived, in this world and in his mothers womb.
Zihan KarimHabitat: Film projections that hope to create a
dialogue between the real and the virtual.
Samsul Alam Helalopen Stage: an ongoing series of work that
engages the people from the Sweeper colony from Old dhaka.
Participating artists
17Feb 5-8
2016
SaMdaNI aRT aWaRdSDANiel bAuMANNdIRecTOR OF The KuNSThalle,
ZuRIch
Photo: AtISh SAhA
Photo: SAMSul AlAM helAl
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every artistic piece, be it painting, literature or film, can be
considered an attempt of the creator to reach his roots. In line
with that practice, 50 pieces by 50 Bangladeshi artists are being
presented in this exhibition.
Soul Searching aims to look into the roots of the modern era of
Bangladeshi art, which sprang from the influence of Shilpacharya
Zainul abedin, SM Sultan, Qamrul hassan and Safiuddin ahmed. To
discover their own identity within a newly formed nation, they
eventually relied on the cultural and environmental heritage of
Bangladesh.
The river is my master, Shilpacharya Zainul abedin famously
said, and he always identified the river of Brahmaputra as the muse
of his artistic exploration. after many explorations across South
asia and the globe, he mastered his artistic identity by returning
to nature back to the riverbank where he was born.
even as the urban entity grew prominent in contemporary
Bangladesh, the artists of that generation sought their own
identity through the local vernacular, be it urban or rural.
The work exhibited will portray elements like soil, nature and
different aspects of the nation. Most of the work is done with oil
and acrylics.
each of the paintings has a language. however, the
interpretation depends on the spectator, how they choose to analyse
it, Md Muniruzzaman, the curator of the exhibition, told the dhaka
Tribune.
Muniruzzaman said he believes these prominent artists created
something new in order to reach back to their past, be it culture,
country or ones existence. however, every artist tries to bring out
their best on the canvas, but only a few of them can become
immortal, he opined.
The exhibition incorporates both the internationally acclaimed
legends as well as the subsequent generation of artists who learned
from them.
This collection will allow viewers to see how these influences
directly or indirectly affected the next generation of
artists.n
The river is my masterBangladeshi painters in their quest for
identityPromiti Prova Chowdhury
Sheikh afzalJamal ahmedKazi Salahuddin ahmed Shahabuddin ahmed
Najma akhterabul Barq alviRashid amin anisuzzamanatia Islam
anneMurtaja BaseerGolam Faruque Bebul Kanak chanpa chakma Samarjit
Roy chowdhury Ranjit das
chandra Shekhar dey Mohammad eunusTarun GhoshBishwajit Goswami
Mahmudul haque Mustafizul haqueNaima haqueGulshan hossainNisar
hossain Mohammad Iqbal Monirul IslamSyed JahangirFareha JebaTejosh
halder Josh Saidul haque Juis Shahid KabirKalidas Karmakar hashem
Khan
hamiduzzaman Khan hasan Mahmuddhali al Mamoon Nazlee laila
Mansur Khalid Mahmud Mithu Rafiqun Nabiahmed NazirMaksuda Iqbal
Nipa Imran hossain piplu KMa Quayyum Wakilur Rahmandilruba latif
Rosy Shyamal chandra Sarkar abdus Shakoor Shah ahmed Shamsuddoha
Biren ShomeRokeya SultanaFarida Zaman
Participating artists
20Feb 5-82016
SOul SeaRchING MD MuNiruZZAMANeXecuTIVe dIRecTOR, GalleRy
chITRaK
Madonna - Nizar hossain
Sheikh Afzal-Childhood Memory
Self Analysis - Ranjit das Photos: Mehedi hasan
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21Feb 5-8
2016
PassagesThe South Asian experience on the silver screen
Promiti Prova Chowdhury
The film programme aims to give the spectators an exploration of
certain colonial and postcolonial conditions, like belonging,
differences, exile, and displacement all parts of the regions,
history and present day reality. But of course, with a resolutely
transnational perspective, in the words of Shanay Jhaveri, the
curator of the film programme at the dhaka art Summit.
The line up includes films with a literal understanding and
consideration of travel. One that might focus exclusively on works
made by travelling artists and consequently devotes a section to
those films that relate the journeys made by objects across
differing contexts and scenarios.
For example, it pairs chris Marker and alain Resnaiss Statues
also die
(1953) that reflects on african tribal objects that have been
gathered by ethnographic museums in the West, with Bahman
Kiarostamis The Treasure cave (2009), where the story of the Museum
of contemporary art in Tehran and its comprehensive collection of
modern western art is told.
On the other hand, it also makes room for work like lisl pongers
phantom Foreign Vienna (2004) in
which ponger does not leave Vienna, but films over 70 different
cultures and nations, simply by visiting different neighbourhoods
in the city. Through pongers film Vienna becomes global, so to
speak.
It also projects landscapes that hold emotions, particularly
those scarred by violence in a cluster of films that comprises Mani
Kauls rarely seen but stunning film on Kashmir Before My eyes
(1989), Soon
Mi yoos dangerous Supplement (2005) assembled from found footage
shot by american soldiers during the Korean war.
In a nutshell, the film programme consciously eschews a regional
focus, and presents films from across the world, hoping to manifest
as an expansive constellation of shared affinities and empathies,
but one where each work still retains its own specificity. n
SuppleMeNTaRy pROGRaMMeS
FIlM pROGRaMMeSSHANAY JHAVeriaSSISTaNT cuRaTOR, SOuTh aSIa,
MOdeRN aNd cONTeMpORaRy aRT
Asia Art Archive an ongoing project that maps the rich history
of 20th century art writing across the different languages of South
asia. It will host its first live Feed Station on-site as daS,
where visitors can find a host of publications, art magazines,
books, and catalogues.
Safina Radio ProjectBringing together the discussions of
belonging and home, the Safina Radio project will broadcast
conversations and performance pieces created with the artists,
writers and curators of the dhaka art Summit for the duration of
the summit, documenting their experiences in the city. check out
their booth on the third floor, or tune in at
safinaradioproject.org.
VAST BhutanVaST Bhutan, a childrens NGO in Bhutan, will bring
the the pressing issue of climate change to the attention of the
youth by holding a workshop on the last two days of the Summit. On
Sunday and Monday, the NGO will work with dhakas youth to make an
immersive installation from waste products. They will place a
specific focus on aquatic life and fish, a dietary staple of the
country as well as a central element in the Bengali identity.
Critical Writing Ensemble Bringing together peers from South
asia and across the globe to share writing histories and knowledge
with each other, experiment together, and produce new critical
impulses regarding art writing. cWe will conduct 4 sessions from
February 3-8.
Floor 3
Ayisha Abrahim, I Saw A God dance
VASt Bhutan
Sarker Protik, Work in Progress