Two channel video installation with sound, 2015,
Two minutes twenty nine seconds,loop,
Samdani Art Award Exhibition at Dhaka Art Summit,
Curated by Daniel Baumann
National Art Gallery, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka, 2016.
The videos are inspired by some common events linked to everyday life which are used in a repetitive way to re-emphasize the meaning of our mundane acts. One of the videos disorganizingly brings to the fore falling dusty books at the time of reorganizing them. Another one shows relentless flicking of hands like a rhythmic clapping. These activities hover over the idea of self-inquiry and transpose the two set of physical actions with the intention to build a narrative which neither has a beginning nor an end. Though ambiguous in their expression, the two experiences are an enactment of a subtext which lies underneath the particular mundane actions they bring into view.
Text edited by Mustafa Zaman
Photo credit: Mizanur Rahman Sakib and Mohidul Haque
Two channel video installation with sound, Samdani Art award Exhibition at Dhaka Art Summit, National Art Gallery, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, 2016.
Video Sample
Filter, two channel video installation from Palash Bhattacharjee on Vimeo.
Palash Bhattacharjee's performative prank
The two channel video playing two separate yet interlinked footages set on a repetitive mode in the installation Palash Bhattachrjee has conceived for this edition of DAS takes sound as an integral element. So this complex of a work commences first as a site to project a slice-of-life only to initiate further unfolding of layers, thereby plunging the viewers into the abyss of an existential inquiry – is the end a new beginning?
As a witness one experiences the experiencing of a simple act of discarding old books. Some even lie on the floor as an extension of the 'reel' into the 'real'. The work is a reenactment of an event in life sliced into pieces – the dusting hands on the right channel tentatively liaise with the left panel where books are showered on the floor to imply the act of disowning. Thematically the videos represent two consecutive sequences of the same act. However, in the final iteration their avoidance of any affectation – visual qualities generated through digital means – they candidly forward a double bill of an idea. The work makes one look at 'time' as an arbiter of life and also delineates its rhythm in the represented end of a chapter in the life of a book lover.
Though there is no apparent dilemma visible in the video works about the disposal of books, through the rhythms of the moving hands and pouring books there emerge ambiguity – though the sense of urgency for renewal, too, is something that never escapes the mind.
In the Indian tradition of thoughts time is circular – never-ending, as such the end is always perceived as a new beginning. The Greek word 'telos' also variously stands for end-goal-purpose. In Palash's presentation perhaps purposefulness is evoked by a seemingly purposeless performance of dumping one's collection of books.
Depart's pick from the Samdani Art Award
Depart Magazine, page 78, Issue 21, Volume 7, July-December, 2016, ISSN 2310-6832
Two minutes twenty nine seconds,loop,
Samdani Art Award Exhibition at Dhaka Art Summit,
Curated by Daniel Baumann
National Art Gallery, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka, 2016.
The videos are inspired by some common events linked to everyday life which are used in a repetitive way to re-emphasize the meaning of our mundane acts. One of the videos disorganizingly brings to the fore falling dusty books at the time of reorganizing them. Another one shows relentless flicking of hands like a rhythmic clapping. These activities hover over the idea of self-inquiry and transpose the two set of physical actions with the intention to build a narrative which neither has a beginning nor an end. Though ambiguous in their expression, the two experiences are an enactment of a subtext which lies underneath the particular mundane actions they bring into view.
Text edited by Mustafa Zaman
Photo credit: Mizanur Rahman Sakib and Mohidul Haque
Two channel video installation with sound, Samdani Art award Exhibition at Dhaka Art Summit, National Art Gallery, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, 2016.
Video Sample
Filter, two channel video installation from Palash Bhattacharjee on Vimeo.
Palash Bhattacharjee's performative prank
The two channel video playing two separate yet interlinked footages set on a repetitive mode in the installation Palash Bhattachrjee has conceived for this edition of DAS takes sound as an integral element. So this complex of a work commences first as a site to project a slice-of-life only to initiate further unfolding of layers, thereby plunging the viewers into the abyss of an existential inquiry – is the end a new beginning?
As a witness one experiences the experiencing of a simple act of discarding old books. Some even lie on the floor as an extension of the 'reel' into the 'real'. The work is a reenactment of an event in life sliced into pieces – the dusting hands on the right channel tentatively liaise with the left panel where books are showered on the floor to imply the act of disowning. Thematically the videos represent two consecutive sequences of the same act. However, in the final iteration their avoidance of any affectation – visual qualities generated through digital means – they candidly forward a double bill of an idea. The work makes one look at 'time' as an arbiter of life and also delineates its rhythm in the represented end of a chapter in the life of a book lover.
Though there is no apparent dilemma visible in the video works about the disposal of books, through the rhythms of the moving hands and pouring books there emerge ambiguity – though the sense of urgency for renewal, too, is something that never escapes the mind.
In the Indian tradition of thoughts time is circular – never-ending, as such the end is always perceived as a new beginning. The Greek word 'telos' also variously stands for end-goal-purpose. In Palash's presentation perhaps purposefulness is evoked by a seemingly purposeless performance of dumping one's collection of books.
Depart's pick from the Samdani Art Award
Depart Magazine, page 78, Issue 21, Volume 7, July-December, 2016, ISSN 2310-6832
