Site-specific at NCBS archives, nine documents piles, 20cm x 30cm
Installation view, 2022
The exhibition is a two-part ‘circumstance’ that takes on the form of a constantly changing reading room.
The making-of and the access to a document in the archive is codified and performed in certain standardised
ways specific to the archive. My work intervenes into this structure at an institution, and brings the intimacy of
reading that occurs in a domestic space, making different kinds of reading possible. I annotate and write on the
field notes of Ravi Sankaran that take on the form of intimate diaries and lose their identity as an archival object
that inherently asks for distance. The work was part of a residency at the archives at National Center for
Biological Sciences, Bangalore, India.
Installation view, 2022
The exhibition is a two-part ‘circumstance’ that takes on the form of a constantly changing reading room.
The making-of and the access to a document in the archive is codified and performed in certain standardised
ways specific to the archive. My work intervenes into this structure at an institution, and brings the intimacy of
reading that occurs in a domestic space, making different kinds of reading possible. I annotate and write on the
field notes of Ravi Sankaran that take on the form of intimate diaries and lose their identity as an archival object
that inherently asks for distance. The work was part of a residency at the archives at National Center for
Biological Sciences, Bangalore, India.
(Photo credit: Ravi K.B.)
The first image shows one of the annotations left by someone in audience. I invited people to co-read with me
in an asynchronous manner, and leave re-annotations upon my annotations on Sankaran’s field notes. The
reading room was open for 10 days, where I was adding new pages to the document piles everyday, and the
room would shift its meaning, with a three-note conversation that was happening between Sankaran, me
and the audience. The room could accommodate only two people at a time, which made for a close experience.
in an asynchronous manner, and leave re-annotations upon my annotations on Sankaran’s field notes. The
reading room was open for 10 days, where I was adding new pages to the document piles everyday, and the
room would shift its meaning, with a three-note conversation that was happening between Sankaran, me
and the audience. The room could accommodate only two people at a time, which made for a close experience.