Many Acts of Reading | Critical Reflections on the Agrarian
A display in conjunction with the AgriForum
at DakshinaChitra Heritage Museum, Chennai
We presented Many Acts of Reading: Critical Reflections on the Agrarian—a display mapping various discursive tangents of our ongoing programme, the AgriForum—at DakshinaChitra Museum in Chennai, as part of Bhin Bhini: Changing Climate, Uncertain Livelihoods, an exhibition curated by Chennai-based artist and cultural producer CP Krishnapriya.
Sited within this exhibition, Many Acts of Reading extended several dialogues from within the expanse of the agrarian, speaking to the intertextual nature of how the agrarian is mapped and preserved, and how different interlocutors converse and negotiate with its immensities.
The display was ongoing from September 1 - October 31, 2023 at Varija Art Gallery, DakshinaChitra Heritage Museum in Chennai.
Drawing on the years of coverage and research carried out by the multimedia digital platform People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI) on the rural, Bhin Bhini drew attention to our state of flux and precarity, through testimonies and expressions reflecting the resilience of vulnerable populations and landscapes combating climate change on the daily.
The exhibition ‘Changing Climate, Uncertain Livelihoods’ attempted to bring together multiple testimonies and expressions to initiate multiple conversations. To ask if there is indeed more than one ‘center’ and in turn numerous possibilities to address the collective concerns about our drastically changing climate? And by voicing these, can we reimagine how we perceive labour, our shared resources, responsibilities and actions?
The exhibition attempted to address these questions by presenting visual and sensorial material. The curation also attempted to shift perceptions about life in rural India. With growing uncertainties around the ways in which our lives are changing, due to unregulated ‘development’ and loss of livelihoods, this exhibition looked at practices that have persisted and adapted to centuries of change, but are today in perilous conditions. It presented multiple narratives to encourage sensitive audiences coming from different backgrounds to the realities of rural India, particularly in the context of the looming threat of climate change.
With Many Acts of Reading showcased as part of Bhin Bhini, we were glad to have been able to continue our explorations of the agrarian, arising from our participants’ on-site instigations and experiences. This iteration of the display was constituted of works, writings and inputs from Anga Art Collective, Ankan Dutta, Arun Kumar HG, Blaise Joseph, C F John, Gopa Roy, Gram Art Project, Gyanwant Yadav, Maksud Ali Mondal, Rashmi Kaleka, Sujit Mallik, Umesh Singh, Stuti Bhavsar and Vidya Shivadas. The display was curated by Annalisa Mansukhani.
The show culminated with a very exciting two-day bilingual open symposium on 27-28 October 2023. We were very happy to be able to share more about the AgriForum as part of the same with a presentation on 'Thinking with the Field' by Annalisa from the FICA team.
