Monica Narula, Jeebesh Bagchi and Shuddhabrata Sengupta form the Raqs Media Collective, which has been appointed as the Artistic Director of The Yokohama Triennale that is opening to the public in mid-July 2020. “As the world begins to emerge, in different ways from different kinds of lockdown, we all have to test new ways of publicness, new ways of approaching culture, and sociality. The opening of the Yokohama Triennale at such a juncture needs to be seen as one of the first major public moves made to step into a new time,” says the trio. They further add, “…the Triennale, like all public processes that open up in this time, will have to ask: ‘how near or far to be with each other?’ and ‘how contagious or contained to be in relation to the world?’. These are very real, very concrete questions that will shape the logistics of the presence of works and people in the Triennale. At the same time, they are metaphorical and philosophical questions that foreground how art is changing, and will change, in response to our rapidly changing time”.
Raqs Media Collective offers a unique vision as the Curator of Yokohama Triennale 2020
STIR speaks to the trio of New Delhi-based Raqs Media Collective about the forthcoming Triennale in Japan, focusing on its curatorial framework and relevance in current times.
Rahul Kumar, STIR World, June 17, 2020
