The art of subtext

Bengal Arts Programme's latest show “Subtext” - featuring art books, text-based art and a temporary reading room opened on February 4. The display of almost 150 books on art is the heart of the event while video, drawing and installation works by nine artists highlight the theme of perceiving texts as forms of art and beyond their meaning.

The participating artists are Abir Shome, Bishwajit Goswami, Emran Sohel, Marzia Farhana, Mustafa Zaman, Palash Bhattacharjee, Razib Datta, Wakilur Rahman and Zihan Karim. Books from across the world covering topics like history, biography, theories, manifestos and more that have been inspiring the artists for ages are on display at “Subtext”.

Curator of the show Tanzim Wahab says, “Subtext is a culmination of texts, symbols and images to re-explore the relationship of text and image. A white cube is temporarily transformed into a reading room with an overlap between text-based art and art-based-text. It is an imaginary library formed for the artists and art audience to test the symbiosis of form and meaning.”

The exhibit is open to all and will continue till February 24 from 11am to 7pm at Abdur Razzaq Bidyapeeth in Dhanmondi.