Reterritorializing Ecologies - Event, New Delhi for the MALDIVES PAVILION DISAPPEARANCE AS WORK IN PROGRESS - APPROACHES TO ECOLOGICAL ROMANTICISM (contribution) 55, Venice Biennale - June 2013

Ravi Agarwal, Camilla Boemio and Khoj Artists Workshops present a collaborative event to contribute to the Maldives Pavilion

  Ecology has been presented as an homogeneous term with the image of our fragile planet portrayed as a uniform sphere of action and activity. However the current ecological crises, which encompasses forests, biodiversity, climate change, toxicity, land use, GM foods etc., have roots in the histories of colonization, progress and development. Local knowledges, cultures, and relationships have often been submerged in dominant ideas which have shaped community relationships and geographies. Eco aesthetics, a response to this, has linkages in social political landscapes, anthropogenic and animistic concerns, and could even challenge the category of ‘nature’ itself. Engaging with these ideas through artistic practices can help recover multiple ecologies,  and possibly rethink ideas of ‘progress’ and even reshape them. An evening of art and discussion with  Navjot Altaf Amar Kanwar Ravi Agarwal Prof. Vikram Soni Ravi Sundaram (moderator) From Roma via Skype – Camilla Boemio Date and Venue May 8^th, 6-9 pm Khoj Rooftop, Khirkee Village, New Delhi Contributory event for the Maldives Pavilion Venice 2013 Ravi Agarwal in association with Khoj (www.khojworkshop.org) New Delhi, India PANEL DETAILS NAVJOT ALTAF Navjot Altaf has been engaged with interactive / cooperative / collaborative installation art practice with Indian and international artists, classical vocalists, documentary filmmakers, activists, students and technicians since 1992. Simultaneously, she has been engaged with projects in public spaces (inclusive of people’s participation) in metro cities and ongoing site oriented projects with Adivasi artists in Bastar, Central India. The process deals with the questions related to collaborative processes as a negotiated strategy, representation, identity, gender, and discourse regarding what is contemporary in contemporary art. AMAR KANWAR Amar Kanwar lives and works from New Delhi. His films and installations are multi-layered, contemporary experiences connecting intimate personal histories with the wider politics of power, violence, sexuality, and justice. Kanwar’s meditative film essays do not aim to represent trauma or political situations as much as to find ways through them to a more contemplative space. Characterized by a distinctly poetic approach to the social and political, Kanwar’s work has been presented in several film festivals and museums. Recent solo exhibitions have been at the Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, Stediljk Museum, Amsterdam and the Haus der Kunst, Munich. He has participated in Documenta 11, Documenta 12, and Documenta 13, Kassel, Germany and is also the recipient of the 1st Edvard Munch Award for Contemporary Art, Norway. RAVI AGARWAL Ravi Agarwal is a photographer, artist, writer, curator and environmentalist. He explores issues of urban space, ecology, capital in an interrelated way, working with photographs, video, on-site installations, and public art.. Agarwal has participated in several international curated shows including Sharjah Biennial 11 (2013), Document XI (Kassel 2002), Horn Please (Berne 2007), Indian Highway, Serpentine Gallery, London and various venues (2009-2013), Indian Critical Mass (Tel Aviv, 2012), Newtopia (Brussels, 2012), as well as several solo shows. He co-curated the twin city Yamuna Elbe public art project (2012), and has authored/edited books and writes extensively on ecological issues. He is also the founder director of the leading Indian environmental NGO, Toxics Link. PROF. VIKRAM SONI Professor Vikram Soni is an astrophysicist by profession. Simultaneously he has been deeply engaged in issues concerning environmental degradation and the irreversible harm being caused to the planet. He has authored many papers on environmental issues – many of them have been published in reputed journals – and has also supported and led campaigns for environmental protection. RAVI SUNDARAM (MODERATOR) Ravi Sundaram is a Fellow of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi, and one of the initiators of Sarai. He coordinates the The Social and Material Life of Media Piracy project at Sarai in collaboration with the Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore. He is the author of PirateModernity: Media Urbanism in Delhi (Routledge, 2009, London). ABOUT KHOJ Khoj began as a proposition: a space for artists, run by artists. From its modest beginnings in 1997 as an annual workshop, it has built an international reputation for outstanding alternative arts incubation. It plays a central role in the development of experimental, interdisciplinary and critical contemporary art practice in India, constantly challenging the established thinking about art. With a focus on building networks, developing alternative pedagogies and learning through collaboration and exchange, Khoj programmes have nurtured vibrant imaginations and created unconventional synapses between art and disciplines such as science, architecture and fashion. Moreover, Khoj facilitates change by encouraging artists and audiences to engage with vital concerns such as ecology, sustainability and community participation. CAMILLA BOEMIO Boemio is an Italian writer, a University consultant for special projects in Art/Science (eg. the ISWA European Project), and a curator. She focuses between disciplines: how science, architecture and political science relate to art. The exhibitions she has curated include MNEMOSYNE – L’ Atlante delle immagini (group show) Centro Arti Visive Pescheria 2009, CITIES – Places Visionaires (group show) Auditorium Arte Parco della Musica preview of the Festa dell’ Architettura Rome 2009, ISWA European Project of Art – Science – ‘After the Crash’ (group show) Orto Botanico Museum, Rome 2011 and ‘Before the Crash’ (group show) Exeter UK 2011, “CITIES” TAM, CA.