Amar Kanwar

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Amar Kanwar
Amar Kanwar in 2012
Born1964 (age 59–60)
New Delhi, India
Alma mater
OccupationFilmmaker

Amar Kanwar (born 1964) is an Indian filmmaker. His work challenges the limits of the medium in order to create complex narratives traversing several terrains such as labour and

religious fundamentalism and ecology
.

Early life and career

Kanwar was born in

Delhi University (1982-1985), and at the Mass Communication Research Center, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi (1985–87). After making a few films, Kanwar joined the People's Science Institute in 1988 as a researcher on occupational health and safety in the coal-mining belt of Madhya Pradesh in central India. He returned to filmmaking in 1990, and his films were then shown primarily in public campaigns, community spaces and film festivals in India and across the world. In 2002, Kanwar was invited to exhibit at Documenta 11 in Kassel whereupon his work has also been presented in several art exhibitions and museums. Connecting with diverse audiences, in multiple public spaces, Kanwar also participated in the next three editions of the Documenta exhibition in 2007, 2012 and 2017. He has been an eminent voice in film and art for the past two decades.[1] Kanwar was one of the three curators for Istanbul Biennial 2021.[2]

Key works

His key works have been A Season Outside, a reflective essay on violence; A Night of Prophecy on the poetry of resistance; the multiple projection installations The Lightning Testimonies about sexual violence in public conflicts; and The Torn First Pages on the Burmese democracy movement. Kanwar's recent work, The Sovereign Forest (2012 – ongoing) is a profound interrogation of the politics of violence and justice. Initiating a creative response to our understanding of crime, human rights, and ecology, it engages viewers in manifold ways of seeing and comprehending as it presents a set of propositions that investigates the notion of "poetry as evidence";[3] and Such a Morning, a modern parable about two people’s quiet engagement with truth.

In 2018, Kanwar was part of the selection committee that nominated Ruangrupa as artistic director of Documenta fifteen.[4]

The Sovereign Forest

Kanwar addresses the overtaking and destruction of indigenous land in his most extensive mixed media installation "The Sovereign Forest," including films, projections on handmade books, seeds, and photographs. He tells the story from the perspective of farmers, fishermen, citizens, and victims of violence: what did they lose with the land during the industrial and governmental overtaking of Odisha, India? In one section of his installation, he arranges 272 varieties of indigenous rice seeds, collected and preserved by a local farmer of Odisha. Kanwar acknowledges that the agriculture on the land was not used just for survival, but that the seeds had different personalities, flavors, meanings to the farmers and people who lived there. He writes: "Farmers have always named their seeds. They have people names. Often of loved ones. Like children."[5] Kanwar highlights the landscape of Odisha just before it began to be erased, showing the beauty and value of what was unjustly taken away.

Awards

Kanwar has received several awards for his work as a filmmaker and artist, including the IHME Helsinki Commission (2022);

Antalya International Film Festival, Turkey (1999) and the Golden Conch Award at Mumbai International Film Festival
, India (1998).

Exhibitions

Recent solo exhibitions of Kanwar's work have been held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2022); Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai (2020); NYUAD Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi (2020); Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid (2019); Tate Modern, London (2018); Bildmuseet, Umea University, Sweden (2017 - 2018);[9] Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai (2016)[10] and at the Assam State Museum in collaboration with Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and North East Network, India (2015).[11] In 2013 and 2014 at the Art Institute of Chicago, USA;[12] the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, U.K.;[13] Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA 21), Vienna, Austria[14] and at the Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (2012).[15]

Recent group exhibitions have been presented at

Bristol Museum, U.K. (2013).[25] Kanwar has also participated in Documenta 11, 12 and 13 in Kassel, Germany (2002, 2007, 2012).[26]

Other solo exhibitions have been at the

National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway (2006) and the Renaissance Society, Chicago, USA (2004).[30]

Retrospectives

Retrospectives of his films have been held at film festivals including the 5th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, Kerala State (2012); the 13th Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival (2011); the Documentary Dream Show, Tokyo (2010); the Parallel Perspectives Film Festival, Hyderabad (2008); and the 9th International Short Film Festival, Bangladesh (2005).

Selected works

  • Such a Morning (2017)
  • The Sovereign Forest (2011-2015) which includes films ‘A Love Story’, (2010) and ‘The Scene of Crime’ (2011)
  • The Commons (2011)
  • The Torn First Pages Part I, II and III (2004-2008) which includes films 'The Face' (2004) ‘Thet Win Aung’ (2004) ‘Ma Win Maw Oo’ (2004) ‘The Bodhi Tree’ (2004) and ‘Somewhere in May’ (2005)
  • The Lightning Testimonies (2007)
  • Henningsvaer (2006)
  • To Remember (2003)
  • A Night of Prophecy (2002)
  • Azaadi/ Freedom (2002)
  • King of Dreams (2001)
  • Baphlimali 173 (2001)
  • The Many Faces of Madness (2000)
  • A Season Outside (1997)
  • Marubhumi (1996)
  • Earth as Witness (1994)
  • Talash (1993)
  • The Leather Trilogy (1992)
  • Lal Hara Lehrake (1992)

References

  1. ^ "Amar Kanwar: From the fault lines". The Indian Express. 11 February 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  2. ^ Greenberger, Alex (9 December 2020). "Istanbul Biennial Picks Curators for Ecologically-Minded 2021 Edition". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  3. ^ "Art AsiaPacific 5 +1.pdf".
  4. ^ Catherine Hickley (16 July 2018), Documenta to name new artistic director by early 2019 The Art Newspaper.
  5. ^ Amar Kanwar (2012), [1]When you step inside you see that it is filled with seeds.
  6. ^ "Amar Kanwar to make IHME Helsinki Commission 2022". IHME. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  7. ^ "Edward Munch Award for Contemporary Art 2005 - Announcements - e-flux". www.e-flux.com.
  8. ^ "Amar Kanwar receives the 2014 Leonore Annenberg Prize For Art And Social Change - Announcements - e-flux". www.e-flux.com.
  9. ^ "NILS FORSBERG: Bildmuseet är skäl nog för en Umeåresa".
  10. ^ "The Lightning Testimonies by Amar Kanwar - Goethe-Institut Indien". www.goethe.de.
  11. ^ "Short Film and Art Competitions – NEN" Archived 18 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine. www.northeastnetwork.org.
  12. ^ "Amar Kanwar: The Lightning Testimonies | The Art Institute of Chicago". The Art Institute of Chicago.
  13. ^ "Amar Kanwar: The Sovereign Forest + Other Stories".
  14. ^ "Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary". www.tba21.org.
  15. ^ "Amar Kanwar – Evidence - Exhibitions - Explore - Fotomuseum Winterthur". www.fotomuseum.ch.
  16. ^ "Invitado". MDE15.
  17. ^ "Amar Kanwar | 2013 Carnegie International". ci13.cmoa.org.
  18. ^ "Being Singular Plural". Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  19. ^ "13th Istanbul biennial" Archived 2 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine. 13b.iksv.org.
  20. ^ "The Fifth Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art". Archived from the original on 20 March 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  21. ^ https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/sharjah-biennial-2023-artist-list-1234625481/
  22. ^ "Sharjah Art Foundation - Kanwar". Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  23. ^ "Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2012 Artists - Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018".
  24. ^ "Animate / Inanimate". 6 August 2014.
  25. ^ "Bristol Museum & Art Gallery presents: No Borders". Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  26. ^ "DOCUMENTA (13) - dOCUMENTA (13)". d13.documenta.de. Archived from the original on 6 March 2015.
  27. ^ "Amar kanwar - the torn first pages (Part I) - Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam". Archived from the original on 24 April 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  28. ^ "Calendar".
  29. ^ "Whitechapel Art Gallery, London". white.cyberporte.net.
  30. ^ "Renaissance Society presents Amar Kanwar". www-news.uchicago.edu.

http://indianexpress.com/article/express-sunday-eye/amar-kanwar-5058699/

Further reading

  • The Sovereign Forest. Vienna and Berlin: Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary and Sternberg Press, 2015.[2]
  • Evidence. Stahel, Urs and Daniela Janser. Göttingen: Steidl, 2012. [3]
  • Pal, Deepanjana. "Art Always Remembers," The Hindu, 25 February 2016. [4]
  • Bailey, Stephanie. "On Sovereignty: Amar Kanwar in Conversation with Stephanie Bailey," Ibraaz Platform 008, December 2014. [5]
  • Lissoni, Andrea. "The Inner Sound of Waiting," Mousse 42, February 2014.
  • Terracciano, Emilia. "Amar Kanwar on the Disappearing Landscapes of ‘The Sovereign Forest’", December 2013 [6]
  • Cotter, Holland. "Amar Kanwar," New York Times, 1 April 2010.[7]
  • Jhaveri, Shanay. "In Conversation," Marg, March 2010. [8]
  • Shrivastava, Aseem. "Lightning Rarely Leaves a Trace", 2007 [9][usurped]
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