[Reader-list] CIS Event | Abhishek Hazra: Inheritance of Alphanumeric Characters

[Pranesh Prakash]

Dear All,
CIS and Abhishek Hazra welcome you to a talk on 'Inheritance of
Alphanumeric Characters', Abhishek's recent body of work currently on
display at Gallery SKE, Bangalore. These works attempt to engage with
the social history of science and the way the practice of science is
deeply contextualised within the larger discourse of power and
knowledge systems. It is also about negotiating with the 'inheritance'
of discourses like Orientalism or Stalinism and finding ways of
engaging critically with that legacy.

At one level, the title, 'Inheritance of Alphanumeric Characters' can
be parsed as an allusion to the centrality of language in this entire
process. It is also a reference to the phrase 'Inheritance of Acquired
Characters', a popular one-liner on Lamarkism, an influential early
19th century theory of evolution that was discredited by the
Darwinian-Mendelian paradigm. Abhishek uses multiple modalities -
video and spoken word performance to artist's books and large-scale
digital prints – to articulate his ongoing explorations.

Date and Time: Saturday, 24 January 2009, 5.00 pm - 6.00 pm
Venue: Centre for Internet and Society, No. D2, 3rd Floor, Sheriff
Chambers, 14, Cunningham Road, Bangalore - 560052
Phone: +91 80 4092 6283

Artist Profile:

Abhishek Hazra is a visual artist based in Bangalore. His work
explores the intersections between technology and culture through the
narrative device of a 'visual fable'. He is also interested in the
social history of scientific practices, and his current, ongoing
project attempts to explore the history of science research in
colonial India. Abhishek works with animated shorts and digital
slideshows that often integrate textual fragments drawn from fictional
scenarios. He is also interested in the way in which the languages of
science journalism and information visualisation participate in the
complex dynamics of 'knowledge dissemination' and 'translation'.
Recent shows include First Left, Second Right, a 3 person show at
Thomas Erben Gallery, New York with Yamini Nayar and Kiran Subbaiah;
Horn Please. Narratives in Contemporary Indian Art (Curated by
Bernhard Fibicher and Suman Gopinath), Kunstmuseum Bern and Ghosts in
the Machine and other Fables: an exhibition of video, sound and
interactive works at Apeejay Media Gallery, New Delhi (Curated by
Pooja Sood). A brief overview of some of his works can be found here:
http://abhishekhazra.blogspot.com/


Regards,
Pranesh

-- 
Pranesh Prakash
Programme Manager
Centre for Internet and Society

T: +91 80 40926283
W: http://cis-india.org