‘Futures Beyond the Self’ underway at Kala Kendra

An art exhibition titled 'Futures Beyond the Self', a multidisciplinary artiste engagement is currently underway at Kala Kendra in Mohammadpur. The exhibition was inaugurated on March 10.

Goethe-Institut Bangladesh, in partnership with Kala Kendra, arranged the exhibition, featuring eleven multidisciplinary artiste' works. 'Futures Beyond the Self 2020' project, initiated by Goethe-Institute Bangladesh, invited artistes of Bangladesh to present their perspectives and ideas about the future they envision for the world. The participants applied for funding in late September and after a rigorous selection process, eleven awardees were selected to exhibit their work.

Photos: Sheikh MehediMorshed

Tayeba Begum Lipi, visual artist and Trustee/ Founder of Britto Arts Trust, Dr Meghna Guhathakurta, Executive Director, Research Initiatives Bangladesh, Tanzim Wahab, Chief curator, Bengal Arts Programme & Bengal Foundation and Wakilur Rahman, curator, Kalakendra, along with Dr Kirsten Hackenbroch, and K Md Mahmud Hassan from Goethe-Institut Bangladesh served in the jury panel.

The exhibition portrays and reflects on individual and collective engagement in society; envisioning the future world relating to others and self. The ongoing pandemic has changed and reshaped our individual and collective approach to life, questioning our deep-rooted beliefs, creating awareness about the present world at large and challenging to build a better sustainable future. The eleven exhibits reflect the thoughts of these artistes, as they look beyond themselves and explore different thoughts and ideas.

"The participants are multidisciplinary artistes, some of them are researcher, musicians, performance artiste and many more," shares Wakilur Rahman, curator, Kala Kendra. "To transform these works into a visual form was quite challenging, nonetheless it was enjoyable, and these experiments of portraying anything in a visual form presented us with a learning opportunity."

Samsul Alam Helal's photography collage exhibit, 'Strange Space', explores the artiste's imaginative world as he investigates the relationship between politics and pandemic, raising questions about future threats. Tahia Farhin Haque's visual art exhibit, 'Duality in Reality' portrays the hard facts about our disconnection with reality.

Priyanka Chowdhury's 'Pandemonium Chronicles', along with Pranabesh Das and Toukir Ahmed Tanvee, explores the relationship between different elements of our society, questioning our ability to participate in the cruel, inhumane practices around us. The exhibit features the woes and struggles of garment workers during the pandemic, also as a whole, along with other elements of inhumane behavior in our society. Sumana Akter's performance art, 'Gloomy Kantha', portrays the artiste's anguish and despair during the pandemic, weaved into the intricate designs of the Kantha.

Other installations feature Tehai Interdisciplinary Art Initiative's 'Agni Mangal' by Akramul Momen, 'Food as Community, Food as Praxis' by Parsa Sanjana Sajid, Aungmakhai Chak and Zakaria Hossain, '2020 Decode Moments' by Murshed Jahangir, Arifur Rahman's video installation, 'Haghore- an Era of Homelessness', 'Screenlife Film' by Shahla Islam, Emran Sohel's visual installation and Karkhana Collective.

The exhibition features several artiste' talks as well and is open for all every day from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm till April 08.