Elevator from the Subcontinent, by Gigi Scaria

The urban and the rural, class and caste, religion and practice and the endless list of eccentric and idiosyncratic exchanges of different social groups shape any urban space in India. For us ‘modernity’ is a big claim, which has to be contextualized at every stage. On the other hand, an economically booming India stands with millions of middle classes on its side, which constantly erases and redraws the map of India with new set of tools and calculations. The repercussions and resonances of these new voices has also been woven into the urban fabric with variety of architectural and cultural forms. Many of these observations have been a catalyst for the making of the Elevator from the Subcontinent. The elevator travels through different levels, each one displaying different living spaces. These living spaces can be identified as different stratas and hierarchies of society.

GIGI SCARIA

Special Credit: Kiran Nadar Museum of Art,
Assembly: Sayantan Maitra ‘Boka’

Born in 1973 in Kothanalloor in Kerala, India, Gigi Scaria completed his Bachelor’s degree at the College of Fine Arts in Trivandrum. In 1995, he moved to Delhi where he completed a Master’s degree at Jamia Milia Islamia University and began his artistic career as an illustrator of children’s books and a teacher at an experimental school. Scaria’s artistic repertoire includes paintings, photography, installation, sculpture and especially video art, of which he is a pioneer in India. His work is exemplary of what Rosalind Krauss has hailed as the post-medium condition. His art has been exhibited across India and the globe, including numerous solo shows. In 2010, Scaria participated in the West Heavens project in Shanghai, the first major artistic collaboration between artists from China and India. In 2011, he represented India along with four others in the 54th Venice Biennale in a project titled ‘Everyone Agrees: It’s About to Explode.’ He was also the 2012 University of Melbourne Macgeorge Fellow with a major solo show at the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne. Iconic Interruptions is the exhibition of his recent works to be shown in an American university.

Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur

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