The Artists Declare

 Conceptualised by writer Himali Singh Soin,the exhibition comprises 27 manifestos by 27 contemporary artists of our generation. Artists such as Bharti Kher,Neha Choksi,Vishar Dar,Kiran Subbaiah,Hema Upadhyay and Surabhi Saraf interpret the term ‘manifesto’,tugging at its literal meaning in the form of A4-sized sheets,to suit their own conceptual and philosophical leanings. The exhibition was initially slated to be held at Jantar Mantar,“against a road that marks protest and a geometrical structure that tells time through the heavens,via the mathematics of the stars”. 

 Manifestos,known to emerge out of a “political or more intimate anxiety,doubt or urgency”,take the shape of different kinds of turmoil here,or even coda (conclusion). “The form of manifestos is somewhat antiquated,and the conception invites both a return and a rejection of this idea. Let the work be both an object of art as well as a comment on it. Let it remember its own history,” says Soin. 

There’s the historical perspective in Saraf’s usage of Futurist,Surrealist and Dadaist manifestos in a video format,while Rajorshi Ghosh’s The Narcissist Manifesto (After Roy Stryker) literally translates into a cut-out mirror. Its tag reads,“You are being absorbed by what you reflect”. Subbaiah’s Manifesto for the Sustainable Art Ecology,at the same time,uses industry standard paper stapled on a tree. “I simply imagined the work — which has the constraint of the A4 sheet of paper — to call into question the present (the instant),” says Soin. After Delhi,the show will continue at Mumbai’s Clark House till the end of January. 

The exhibition is on at Khoj Studios,S-17 Khirkee Extension,till

December 17 at 11 am to 7 pm