EXHIBITION

Between The Pages

Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kerala, Kochi, 12/12/2014 - 03/29/2015

1 Kunnumpuram Fort Kochi PO Kerala 682001

ABOUT

APT artist Sumakshi Singh’s interactive installations, presented on the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, play with perspective to create ‘illusions’ that allow viewers to inhabit and alter her imagery through their movements. In, Between The Pages (2014) is an installation with references to history of Kerala, both as a protagonist in the maritime voyages of the 14-17 centuries, and as a vibrant centre where early astronomer-mathematicians were fiercely pursuing the problems of locating themselves and the earth within the cosmos.

Close to the entry to the gallery is a table where audiences get their first glimpse of the illusion: The projected view of two manuscript pages where the various elements – birds, whirling planets and viewers such as themselves – are in motion. Turning away from it, they enter a 70 feet-long maze made of hanging paper scrolls that align from one angle to form the elusive manuscript book. These scrolls feature paintings, delicate collages and projected animations that bring to life a range of narratives: The cosmology of Surya Siddhanta, a Sanskrit treatise to astronomy dates to as far back as 4CE;illustrations from the Hortus Malabaricus, a 17th century Dutch east India Company-initiated compendium on Kerala’s flora; and the mythology surrounding Vasco da Gama’s arrival in Callicut, poetically represented here by a star map of the sky as it appeared on the night he disembarked.

At the other end of the galaxy, a second projection ties together these fragments of history through yet another aligned view of the illusion where viewers find themselves reflected back as a part of the image, transformed into one of the characters in the pastiche manuscript.

According to Singh, she has always considered voyages in the external world to be reflections of the inner journeys through which we seek to locate ourselves in ‘space, time, cultural history and simply in our own stories.’

Media: 12ft scrolls of paper, installed over 70ft X 30ft of space (with hand painted elements and projected stop-motion animations which reference Kerala’s astronomers, its history with the Portuguese and its native vegetation) all align from 1 vantage point to create this illusory book.

 

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