Sheba Chhachhi, Robes from Winged Pilgrims: A Chronicle from Asia, 2006-7, mixed media (silk, iron armature, wood, moving image lamps with digital image duratrans), dimensions variable. |
Sheba Chhachhi, Winged Pilgrims (Robes) #1, 2007, moving image lightbox, edition 2/3, 18 x 54 x4 1/4". |
Migration: Another View of Globalization |
Bose Pacia Winged Pilgrims: A Chronicle from Asia is a multi-part installation including sculptures, lightboxes, and a recorded soundtrack which plays throughout the gallery space. The combined works present various iconographies (such as birds, landscapes, and robed figures) whose interplay conveys a history of migration. The migration in question is personal, theoretical, cultural, and philosophical. The series can be seen as a meditation on the expanse and intricacies of globalization. Perhaps the most poignant element in this installation, Chhachhi's lightboxes imitate the "Plasma Action Electronic TV toy." This object is a Chinese-made toy that is sold in many small Indian markets. The toy in a low-tech impersonation of an electronic plasma television. An image-on-roller continuously loops to give the impression of a moving-image television. Chhachhi has referred to these objects as "a metaphor for current forms of globalized exchange that enact mediated shifts from the artisanal to the inexpensive electronic assembly." Chhachhi's Winged Pilgrims series is an innovative take on the questions of new media and globalization. Images of migrating birds, the robes of Buddhist pilgrims, and the exchange of technological aesthetics create a platform for these questions. By exploring the sort of reverse evolution of digital technology and migration the artist makes space for a discussion of globalization where traditional trajectories of advancement are can be destabilized and opened for discussion. Originally created for the Singapore Biennale in September 2006, the work has also been exhibited at the ZKM Center for Art & Media in Karlsruhe, Germany as part of the exhibition Thermocline of Art: New Asian Wave (June 15-October 21, 2007), at the Hangar Biccoca in Milan, Italy as part of the exhibition Urban Manners (October 9, 2007-January 6, 2008), and at Nature Morte in New Delhi (December 22, 2007-January 19, 2008). Sheba Chhachhi was born in Harar (Ethiopia) and studied at Delhi University and the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. She has exhibited widely in India, Europe, Japan, South America and the United States. This is Chhachhi's first solo exhibition with Bose Pacia. She has published writings, given talks and conducted workshops, research, and projects relating to women, conflict, urban technologies, visual culture, and contemporary practice in India and South Asia and is an active member of the women's movement in India. She lives and works in Delhi. Artist's Statement The last is a Chinese-made toy T.V. sold in large numbers in small Indian markets and bought primarily by middle class and lower middle class consumers as a novelty decorative item for display in homes and shops. This low cost facsimile of a plasma screen monitor uses an ingenious system of an electronically operated roller to create the illusion of a moving image which repeats itself in an endless loop. The images in the box are most often idealized views of nature, utopian landscapes both urban and pastoral. The objects in the screen move with a sort of hypnotic, slow repetition. Images can move in one or two layers with a slight time lag between each layer so that viewers feel as though they were watching a mobile landscape. This object is a metaphor for current forms of globalized exchange that enact mediated shifts from the artisanal to the inexpensive electronic assembly. The object evokes the notion of simulacra. The item mimics a TV, the landscapes displayed on the screen are fake, and the movement an illusionary trick .The particular nature of this movement, however, generates a special experience of time, a quality of attention. |
Sheba Chhachhi, Conference of Birds from Winged Pilgrims: A Chronicle from Asia, 2006-7, moving image lightbox with soundtrack, edition 3/3, 20 x 40 x 3".
Sheba Chhachhi, Crow-Mughal from Winged Pilgrims: A Chronicle from Asia, 2006-7, moving image lightbox with soundtrack, edition 3/3, 20 x 40 x 3".
Sheba Chhachhi, Kaha Bird from Winged Pilgrims: A Chronicle from Asia, 2006-7, moving image light box, 20 x 40 x 3".
Sheba Chhachhi, Peacock-Lute from Winged Pilgrims: A Chronicle from Asia, 2006-7, moving image lightbox with soundtrack, edition 3/3, 20 x 40 x 3".
Sheba Chhachhi, Rati-Parrots from Winged Pilgrims: A Chronicle from Asia, 2006-7, moving image lightbox with soundtrack, edition 3/3, 20 x 40 x 3".
Sheba Chhachhi, Simurgh-Phoenix from Winged Pilgrims: A Chronicle from Asia, 2006-7, moving image lightbox with soundtrack, edition 3/3, 20 x 40 x 3". |
Sheba Chhachhi, Winged Pilgrims (Robes) #2, 2007, moving image lightbox, edition 1/3, 18 x 54 x4 1/4". |
Sheba Chhachhi, Hamsa-Swan from Winged Pilgrims: A Chronicle from Asia, 2006-7, moving image lightbox with soundtrack, edition 3/3, 20 x 40 x 3". |
