On Taking Flight

The exhibition is the public program of ‘Exchange’: A Peer Learning Fellowship that started in first week of May. It showcases works of three artist duos and three writers, who explore the theme of ‘Time and Society’.

Artist Statements

A/ The Classroom: Ryan and Nirvik
If we take a few plant cuttings of various types and put them in water, most of them may root in a couple of weeks or months. However, some will not be able to take root in water no matter how hard you try. This is a metaphor for how our education system puts all kinds of different individuals into one system that does not work the same for everyone. Our installation revolves around this metaphor between plants and people.

We had an understanding that we wanted to make something experiential from the beginning as we wanted to push ourselves to explore new materials, tools and experiment because that is the way we learn things. As we had more personal conversations and discussions, we found that we both had interesting school experiences that have affected us deeply and felt the need to put things out in order to process and heal from these experiences. 

In the video, Ryan expresses himself being in the system through his performance which is composed with various visuals and sounds which completes our installation. We hope this work lets the viewer experience school from our worlds and sparks meaningful conversations and emotions.

Domesticated Nature: Leo and Shubhekshya
As human beings fill their homes with modern gadgets and disposable materials, indoor plants have surprisingly found their way into becoming a part of modern decor. People have found a way to be closer to nature by domesticating parts of it into their home. They have started migrating these plants indoors for aesthetic purposes and this practice has created a new bond like never before. Taking aloe vera as the representative of nature, we are trying to explore this relation of humans with plants and the memories made with them. The plant is specifically chosen for its diverse purpose.

To show this relation, we reached out to people of different age groups and collected the memories they have with the plant at different points in their lifetime. After listening to these stories and memories, it arouses a question, ‘At what cost are these memories being made?’

Don’t Forget Me: Kripa and Zubbin
Memories fade but letters are forever. In an effort to visit the past, we have gathered a large trove of archival conversations in the forms of letters, postcards, notebooks and analyzed how these mediums have evolved before and after the advent of the internet. Were we more disconnected before the internet? OR were those conversations more special?

Juxtaposing the two, we have tried to showcase how digital conversations have a different frequency, tone, feeling and imagery. Our work studies and interprets this continuous transition in a personal way, dealing with the nostalgia of family histories and friendships forged along the way.