Abstract
This paper analyses the mediation of contemporary art produced through community-immersive processes in preserving intangible cultural heritage and argues that such productions can potentially act as a theoretical bridge across the gulf between the relational aesthetic of carnival and museum. The paper conducts case studies of the process and product of visual anthropological study of communities, space, and architecture of Fort Kochi-Mattanchery, Kerala, India, using photography, conducted by Biju Ibrahim for the Kochi Muziris Biennale, from 2017 to 2023 and the ethno-architectural study conducted by Sahil Naik on the submerged village of Kurdi, Goa, India, using multimedia art production technique to produce his installation work, All is Water and to Water We Must Return (2022) in the fifth edition of Kochi Muziris Biennale. The paper uses three part structure. In the first part, the social events, Cochin Carnival and annual gathering at Curdi are analysed on the ground of Bhaktin’s concept of carnivalesque aesthetics. In its second part, the paper uses the theories of relational aesthetics to analyse the process of community immersive production of art employed by Biju Ibrahim and Sahil Naik in studying and representing the communities of Fort Kochi and Curdi as objects of archaeological, as well as artistic interest, respectively. The third part of the paper, by placing these productions as museum objects within the dichotomy of ocular-centric and phenomenological engagement in museum objects, as articulated by Rene Descartes, and Merleau-Ponty respectively, analyses the spectator interaction and accessibility associated with the medium used by the artists.
Presenters
Athira ManoharanResearch Scholar, Humanities and Social Sciences, BITS K K Birla Goa Campus, India, Goa, India
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
RELATIONAL AESTHETICS, BIENNALE, CARNIVELESQUE, COMMUNITY IMMERSIVE ART PRODUCTION
