Guernica for the Siri-ocene by Indian artist Raghava KK.
Mohammad Yusuf, Feature Writer
Volte Art Projects is currently hosting multidisciplinary artist and storyteller Raghava KK’s The Guernica Project (February 16 – April 16).
Presented in the main space of the Alserkal Avenue gallery of Volte Art Projects, Raghava’s 2021 work titled “Guernica for the Siri-ocene”, is a monumental 3.5 x 8 meter long painting that combines a wide range of inspirations, including the artist’s personal research, his encounter with Picasso’s original 1937 masterpiece, and a wide range of his lived experiences. For this phygital (physical + digital) project, Raghava KK draws on his rich digital background which earned him a record sale of $94,500 NFT at Sotheby’s last year.
A constantly growing series, The Guernica Project includes paintings, digital prints and a wide selection of NFTs, which tell Indian history through cartoon characters and memes. Harnessing the historical and the ultra-contemporary, a gripping story that rejects binary classifications of conflict and harmony is told. The gallery features Raghava’s painting alongside prints of 69 NFT works created from characters in the painting. Additionally, an on-screen iteration of the Guernica project will be showcased at the Volte Art Projects booth during the inaugural digital section of Art Dubai 2022, held at Madinat Jumeirah (March 11-13).
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Raghava KK has pioneered a groundbreaking body of diverse works that explore transcendence through the lens of today’s digital age. Featured on CNN’s list of Ten Fascinating Thinkers, Authors and Provocateurs in 2010, her work crosses traditional forms of painting, installation and performance, while her practice embraces new media (artificial intelligence, neuro-feedback , biohacking, board and video games, cryptocurrencies, etc.), to express contemporary post-human realities.
His talks, including five TED Talks, are known for inspiring audiences to develop their social and psychological selves, through art. Last year, Netflix launched an episode about him in the Creative Indians series.
The artist’s storytelling migrates between his various disciplines through 50-foot live paintings, interactive books on the Apple iPad (Pop-it won a Kirkus Book Award and won Best of Singapore Art Fair) and music-inspired art for Erykah Badu and Paul Simon.
Raghava co-founded and chaired The INK Fellowship (The TED of India), the world’s leading multidisciplinary fellowship program in India in 2010. He was inducted into the National Geographic Society in 2013 as an Explorer, for pushing the boundaries of scientific exploration through art. In 2015, he created a new composition process, part human and part algorithm-based, through his collaborative project SOZO – a painting machine, developed for him by Artmatr, an offshoot of the MIT Media lab. In 2017 he was invited by Jeff Bezos to lead an art workshop for leading creative minds around the world. In the same year, as a partner, he helped set up the vision and strategy of India’s largest welfare venture capital fund.
He co-founded 64/1 in 2018, an art collective dedicated to blurring the lines between art, art criticism and art education. In 2021, he was the first Indian artist to launch an NFT at Sotheby’s, New York, in partnership with BurningMan – a collaborative artwork created using brainwaves, AI and hand-painting robots. Boundless Space. Raghava has also worked on a collaborative AI artwork created with Harshit Agrawal and 64/1, titled Strange Genders; the piece was shortlisted for the 2021 Lumen Prize. He currently lives and works in New York and Bangalore.
Founded by Tushar Jiwarajka in 2009, Volte Art Projects represents and works on projects with renowned and celebrated international contemporary artists and collectives including Sheba Chhachhi, Francesco Clemente, Wim Delvoye, Ranbir Kaleka, William Kentridge, Mario Klingemann, Nalini Malani, Humans since 1982, SMACK, James Turrell and Based on. Over the past 12 years, it has distinguished itself as one of the most important artistic initiatives in the Indian subcontinent. Today, following a move to the United Arab Emirates, she envisions becoming a leading gallery in the Middle East and fostering and evoking an experiential and creative milieu within the contemporary art scene.
The curatorial program will help showcase and realize large-scale, monumental projects by artists recognized for their pioneering spirit of innovation, pushing boundaries and harnessing the latest technologies. The UAE space is the gallery’s headquarters, adding to its roots in Mumbai and its projects internationally. Jiwarajka says: “I have seen the region’s art scene grow exponentially over the past decade – hubs of contemporary art organizations have emerged, major institutional projects have come to fruition and a community of collectors has grown. is developed.
“Combined with the UAE’s proximity to Europe, Asia and the Americas, so a gallery here seemed like the next logical step to us. Thanks to a permanent space and a dedicated program in Dubai, we have the opportunity to share with a cosmopolitan public immersive works by artists new to this market, and to cultivate greater notoriety through public and private artistic commissions. ambitious. Vilma Jurkute, Executive Director of Alserkal, said: “Alserkal has become a model for the region’s cultural economy, with Alserkal Avenue at the epicenter of the UAE’s art scene, home to the galleries of most important art featuring lists of local and international artists. “As Dubai’s art scene continues to mature, our artistic community is also evolving and growing. Volte Art Projects will contribute to this growth through its ambitious program, further strengthening the artistic ecosystem as a whole.