Amar Kanwar
Exhibitions
Amar Kanwar’s works relate to political, social, economic, and ecological subjects in relation to the Indian subcontinent synthesizing documentary, travelogue, and essayistic formats into poetic films and multi-channel installations. The Sovereign Forest is Amar Kanwar’s on-going research project in Orissa, exploring the social and environmental impact of mining on the local community in Orissa. A part of the project, on display in dOCUMENTA (13), will be the single-channel projection The Scene of Crime, which premiered at the Centre Pompidou in 2011 and has been co-produced by TBA21.
“I have been filming the resistance of local communities in Orissa to the industrial interventions taking place since 1999. It is hard to understand the meaning and scale of destruction there. Over a period of time, I began to feel that we were not looking anymore, the process of seeing, interpreting and understanding had become too fast, too seamless and too automatic. Strangely this seemed to slow and numb the mind. I felt that I had to learn to begin to look again. In 2010, I returned again to Orissa, but this time to film in particular the terrain of this devastating conflict. Almost every image in this film lies within specific territories that are proposed industrial sites and are in the process of being acquired by government and corporations. Almost everything that you see in the film is destined to not exist anymore. In this ‘war against the people and their land’ The Scene of Crime is an experience of the battle-ground in Orissa.” (Amar Kanwar)
Amar Kanwar was born in 1964 in New Dehli, India, where he still lives. Solo shows have included the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2008), the Haus der Kunst, Munich (2008), Whitechapel Gallery, London (2007), the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo (2006), and the Renaissance Society, Chicago (2003). He has participated in the Bienal de Sao Paulo (2011) and in documenta 11 and 12 (2002, 2007).
“I have been filming the resistance of local communities in Orissa to the industrial interventions taking place since 1999. It is hard to understand the meaning and scale of destruction there. Over a period of time, I began to feel that we were not looking anymore, the process of seeing, interpreting and understanding had become too fast, too seamless and too automatic. Strangely this seemed to slow and numb the mind. I felt that I had to learn to begin to look again. In 2010, I returned again to Orissa, but this time to film in particular the terrain of this devastating conflict. Almost every image in this film lies within specific territories that are proposed industrial sites and are in the process of being acquired by government and corporations. Almost everything that you see in the film is destined to not exist anymore. In this ‘war against the people and their land’ The Scene of Crime is an experience of the battle-ground in Orissa.” (Amar Kanwar)
Amar Kanwar was born in 1964 in New Dehli, India, where he still lives. Solo shows have included the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2008), the Haus der Kunst, Munich (2008), Whitechapel Gallery, London (2007), the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo (2006), and the Renaissance Society, Chicago (2003). He has participated in the Bienal de Sao Paulo (2011) and in documenta 11 and 12 (2002, 2007).
Amar Kanwar
The Sovereign Forrest, A work-in process since 2010
Mixed-media installation, including films, books and seeds
Courtesy the artist, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, Paris
Produced in collaboration with Samadrusti, Orissa; Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna; Yorkshire Sculpture Park; The School of the Art Institute of Chicago; dOCUMENTA(13).
The Sovereign Forrest, A work-in process since 2010
Mixed-media installation, including films, books and seeds
Courtesy the artist, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, Paris
Produced in collaboration with Samadrusti, Orissa; Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna; Yorkshire Sculpture Park; The School of the Art Institute of Chicago; dOCUMENTA(13).