My experience with Khoj was great. I knew Khoj only via its website, and was curious to be part of it. Peer’s was a good opportunity for me. Khoj studio, I felt it’s a place to live inside out.
Initial days were like all exploring the place and project ideas with six different points of views. There was lot of energy in the studios. The discussions, which started in the studios, lasted to the hostel. The presentation of our previous work was useful further as we all got to know each other’s background and also had a dialogue with our art critic in residence Jayashree and other artists who attended the presentations. The artist studio visits to some extend were successful.
During the residence it was also an opportunity to explore Delhi. It was interesting to go around the old markets exploring different local materials, traveling on a cycle rickshaw, visiting the old Delhi lanes altogether an exciting event. It was a good platform for me to explore and experiment with fun element. We got complete freedom to work in the way we wanted which I was looking for. The enthusiasm was at its zenith as the open day approached. I did an installation for the first time on my topic of Noise, Space and Time.
The project I undertook at residency was an installation about noise, space and space-time constants depicting violence and otherwise in relation to Einstein’s theory of relativity E=mc2, where space= space-time= silence.
I decided to try out my vision with installation purposely as I am from painting background and had experimented on two-dimensional and wanted to explore it into three-dimensional expression. With this installation Inhale and Exhale I wanted to create an experience of the impact of noise with the proportion of space and the pace of time. Initially while starting with the structure of installation I wanted five sections with eight slots for television sets in total where first time I worked with welders. It was a new experience for me to get the desired work done from the people. I had designed a path to travel from a space symbolizing drudgery, where four television sets with four different channels airing on them were fixed depicting the words, Obiviation, Conquest, Hegemony and Surveillance. Followed by this section was a space of dominance – symbolizing Flux and Chaos where two television sets with bar-code signal were fixed and tracked by was a space of white noise on two television sets symbolizing Block. Further the path traveled through a white space without sound –Inhale symbolizing individual space and finally a black space - Exhale the imposed noises symbolizing Silence and exit. At the end I was not satisfied with the structure but the concept worked from a thought in to an installation.
Simultaneously I was as well attracted by the exterior ambience of the Studio and was looking forward to interact with that gap. I had made varied size boxes of paper with color code White –Inhale and Black –Exhale and fixed all over the lane outside Khoj. I wanted to capture the expression and interaction of these spaces, which exists, which we see but fail to notice. I enjoyed these spaces outside with camera, which were later used in the photo-installation. During this I actually had conversations on work of art with the migrant society outside. It was a different experience.
Altogether for me it was handling different mediums, exploring own thoughts, discussing and knowing other fellows, exposing to diverse views and situations and the treatment given by the Khoj authorities was splendid. The best part of this residency was to experiment and the result was not botheration that is what young artists needs. Further I look forward to be part of many such Khoj probabilities.
- Aditi Kulkarni.