Morni Hills India Art and Performance Residency 2017: December 2017

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Week 4: Chandigarh performance week 16th December Government Museum

Week 3 into 4 began with opening the new studio being built at the residency which is absolutely gorgeous. With all 20 artists now arrived (last 2 picked up on the day the studio opened) it was the first rainy day at the residency so it was super dark and wet, with electricity cutting in and out. Harpreet thanked the workers and people who created the studio, whom we watched finish it over the past 3 weeks and thanked myself and the artists for being there. I facilitated a lying down in the space in the dark together without light/electricity to arrive in the space together, which then morphed into beautiful sounds and voices echoing in the dark, which was haunting and also beautiful. Ada played songs from Sami culture and told us stories from her indigenous Norwegian culture for coming into Christmas, Jazmine sang a beautiful son and I read some edgy (lol) and satirical poetry inspired by the residency and by India.

The artists prepare for a gallery show in Chandigarh on the 16th at the Government Museum Gallery and while workshops continue and morning classes with evening talks, the artists are consumed with their processes toward presentation.

The performance exhibition "Mother Tongue" in Chandigarh at the Government Museum Exhibition Hall fell coincidentally on the day which is a 5 year anniversary of a famous rape / murder case in Delhi which was also globally in the news, which a female reporter tells me on the day of our exhibition, the 16th of December 2017. So we begin the day with 17 works from 20 artists either durational, installation, performance, or sound works one on one, throughout the day which are attended by public in surges and also journalists interviewing us. The works are charged with feminism and socio-political or mystical, deconstructive content with a range of tones and voices. It is a powerful day, miraculously beginning and ending on time (I am used to organising chaos with 20 years experience). We have our first article in The Indian Express which is a nationwide newspaper, interviewed by Parul, who focuses on the feminist and socio-political content of the works and curatorial concept.