Narrating War / Pripovedovanje vojne: Ali Akbar Mehta

23.11.2018 19:00 - 22:00

♦ O lokaciji

Carinarnica

Erjavčeva 53
Nova Gorica

Opis dogodka

———————————————— English below
Pripovedovanje vojne
Ali Akbar Mehta

Vojno prezremo sedeč kilometre stran — pogledamo vstran, prestavimo program. Vojne predalčkamo, jih priročno porazdelimo v civilizacije, časovna obdobija, regije in religije in narodnosti. S sprejemanjem vojne kot normale postanemo vsi pasivni udeleženci le-te. A vojna natrga in raztrga. Vojna predre, razčrevesi.

Vojna tli.

Vojna ražčetveri.

Vojna uniči.

Vojna je Pekel.

Umetnik Ali Akbar Mehta skuša to prikazati s pomočjo umetniškega raziskovanja, pričetega leta 2014, kjer zbira ‘vsako vojno, bitko, revolt, revolucijo, obleganje, opustošenje, upor, bombardiranje in vstajo’ zvrščeno se od leta 3000 p.n.š. do danes. Ta nikoli popolna baza podatkov je temelj projekta in služi kot ključni scenarij multimedijskega performansa naslovljenega ‘Pripovedovanje Vojne’. ‘Pripovedovanje Vojne’ je vzdržljivostni performans, trajajoč ure, lahko tudi dneve, kjer je branje, podobno litaniji, zasnovano kot dejanje žalovanja, dejanje spominjanja in dejanje zavračanja nenehnega nasilja, ter konflikta vojne. Le ko smo soočeni z vojno v njeni celoti, kot neprekinjenemu pojavu obsegajočemu 5018 let, imamo možnost biti presunjeni in se zdramiti iz naše omame in pasivne privolitve.

Projekt je bil predhodno predstavljen v:
Museum of Impossible Forms, Helsinki, 2018
TIFA Working Studios, Pune 2018
Memory of War, Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki, 2017
Clark House, Mumbai, 2017
Where does poetry nest? curated by Giovanna Esposito Yussif, Prispala Memorial, Tampere 2016
null.void, Chimurenga Collective – Pan-African Space Station, Kallio Public Library, Helsinki, 2016

Kratka biografija: Ali Akbar Mehta
(rojen 1983, Mumbaj, Indija)

Ali Akbar Mehta je transmedijski umetnik. Skozi svojo transmedijsko umetniško prakso, ki temelji na raziskavi, ustvarja imerzivno kiber-arhive ki raziskujejo kolektivno memetično zgodovino, narative spomina, identitete, nasilja in konflikta. Svoje projekte je razstavljal v galerijah in alterativnih prostorih v mestih New Delhi, Mumbaj, Pune, Helsinki in Tampere.

Je ustanovitveni član in eden od treh sedanjih umetniških vodij umetniškega prostora Museum of Impossible Forms v Helsinkih. Poseduje diplomo (BFA) iz Drawing and Painitng, univerze Sir J.J.
School of Art, Mumbaj in magisterij (MA) iz Visual Culture and Contemporary Art iz univerze Aalto v Helsinkih, kjer je šolanje dokončal z magistrsko nalogo ‘Cyber Archive: Being and Doing Knowledge’.

Poleg ‘Narrating War/Pripovedovanje Vojne’ so njegovi projekti še ‘256 Million Colours of Violence’, ‘Contemporary Ruins of Kruunuvuori’, War Room Echo – Regarding the pain of Other Cyborgs’, ‘New Frontiers: Critical enquiries for archives as Artistic Praxis’ in ‘Non-Alignment as Resistance: Towards Cyber Archives as counter-hegemonic practice’.

Živi in deluje v Helsinkih in Mumbaju.

ENGLISH ——————————-

Narrating War

Ali Akbar Mehta
Violence & the culture it consumes/perpetuates is a fundamental condition lodged in the core of human experience. It is simultaneously private, public, self-intimating & collective. War is an easy thing to look away from, if we are sitting miles away – we
change the channel, we compartmentalise them, sort and neatly fold them into civilizations, time periods, regions and nationalities. By accepting war as normal we have become passive participants.

War tears, rends.

War rips open, eviscerates.

War scorches.

War dismembers.

War ruins.

War is actually Hell.

To make visible this phenomena, I began research in 2014 to compile a timeline of ‘every war, battle, revolt, revolution, siege, sacking, rebellion, bombing & insurgency’, from 3000 BC to the present. This ongoing timeline/database is the foundation of the project, and forms the key ‘script’ for an ongoing multimedia performance-reading of this list, titled ‘Narrating War’.

As an endurance performance designed to last for hours & often days conducted in sites of violence, and sites of knowledge production, the act of reading, almost like a litany, is imagined as an act of mourning, of remembrance, & deterrence from continued violence & conflict: only when we are confronted with war in its entirety as a whole, as a continuous, singular event encompassing 5018 years, is there a possibility to be jolted out of our stupor & shed our complacence.

Previously, Narrating War has been performed in its evolving iterations, at:
• Museum of Impossible Forms, Helsinki, 2018;
• TIFA Working Studios, Pune, 2018;
• Memory of War, in Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki, 2017;
• Clark House, Mumbai, 2017
• Where does poetry nest?, curated by Giovanna Esposito Yussif, Pispala Memorial,
Tampere, 2016
• null.void, Chimurenga Collective – Pan-African Space Station, Kallio Public
Library, Helsinki, 2016

Short Biography: Ali Akbar Mehta
(b. 1983, Mumbai, India)

Through his research-based transmedia practice, he creates immersive cyber archives that explore collective memetic history, narratives of memory, identity, violence, and conflict. He has exhibited his projects in galleries and alternate spaces in New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Helsinki, and Tampere.

He is a founder member and one of the three current Artistic Directors of Museum of Impossible Forms, Helsinki. He holds a BFA in Drawing and Painting from Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai, and an MA in Visual Culture, Curating, and Contemporary Art from Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland, where he completed a thesis text titled ‘Cyber Archive: Being and Doing Knowledge’.

Some of his ongoing projects are ‘256 Million Colours of Violence’, ‘Contemporary Ruins of Kruunuvuori’, ‘War Room Echo – Regarding the pain of Other Cyborgs’, ‘New Frontiers: Critical enquiries for archives as Artistic Praxis’, and ‘Non-Alignment as Resistance: Towards Cyber Archives as counter-hegemonic practice’.

He lives and works in Helsinki and Mumbai.