With its title inspired by and featuring one of the most ancient raags known in Hindustani classical music, the film follows a journey across the landscape of Goa, South West India. The work alludes to historical and cultural shifts on the sub-continent, as well as the timeless cycles between day and night; birth and rebirth; the spiritual and the earth; the journey of mankind. Bhairav is a poetic tribute to Goa itself, as well as a subtle commentary on some of the issues facing India historically and today such as the marginalisation of certain communities and the position of women, offering a multitude of interpretations when the works are viewed together.
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Bhairav is a co-commission by New Art Exchange and Chatterjee and Lal. It is presented as part of Here, There and Everywhere, and supported by Re:Imagine India, Arts Council, England and the British Council. On the year which coincides with the seventieth anniversary of Independence in India from British colonial rule, this time in history is known to be one of great turmoil. The partition of India, at this time signalling the birth of Pakistan and later Bangladesh, meant migration and human losses on a massive scale. This project explores these journeys, taking us to contemporary India and exploring the country’s relationship with the UK today.
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Here, There and Everywhere is a Midlands-London consortium led by New Art Exchange with Delfina Foundation, QUAD/FORMAT, Primary and mac Birmingham as core UK partners. Indian partners include: Art India, Chatterjee & Lal, HH Art Spaces, Mumbai Art Room, What About Art?, Indian Memory Archive, Quicksand, Unbox, Jaaga.
BHAI RAV MUNIR KABANI & NIKHIL CHOPRA
MAIN GALLERY 16 JULY – 24 SEPTEMBER 2017
New Art Exchange presents Bhairav, an immersive installation bringing together the worlds of film, large scale drawing and live performance. The exhibition interweaves narratives of spirituality, and pre-colonial and post-colonial society in India. On the eve of the exhibition opening, the gallery was the site of a durational live performance by artist, Nikhil Chopra. He transformed the space from blank canvas to an immersive landscape, realised through a series of drawings created over the course of a number of hours. After its completion, and for the rest of this exhibition season, the work was reconfigured to reveal a second chamber housing the film, co-directed by Munir Kabani and Nikhil Chopra, Bhairav.