ADRIÁN VILLAR ROJAS’ works under spotlight
The fifth edition of the Dhaka Art Summit, to take place from February 7-15, explores the movements that have brought us to the world we live in today. Through geological, linguistic, political and artistic movements, there has been a radical upheaval of reconsidering the history that we have come to know. The participating artists in this year’s show explore these themes of how these thoughts can be presented.
An unforgettable spectacle amongst a journey of art and exploration is Adrián Villar Rojas’s immersive floor based installation. As one of the first things you see when you enter the vicinity, the materiality of the 400-million-year-old ammonite and orthoceras fossils transports oneself through a journey of humanity. Made up of the now-extinct species of undersea creatures that thrived for 300 million years, swam across the super-ocean Panthalassa and witnessed the creation and breakup of the single continent, Pangaea. Paintings of burned-out fireplaces emerge from the rammed-earth walls that rise from the fossil floor, tracing the seismic shift that occurred in the evolution of humanity and our planet when we learned to control fire, invented agriculture, and began to settle and build civilisations. This work serves as a metaphor to think outside of human-bound time, and to consider common ground on which to come together.
Villar Rojas creates site-specific installations using both organic and inorganic materials that undergo change over time. Tied to their exhibiting context, they generate irreproducible experiences relying on a “parasite-host” relation. His team-based projects that extend over open-ended periods allow him to question the aftermath of the normalised production of art in the Capitalocene era.
This comes after the success of the 2018 Dhaka Art Summit with 368,000 people in attendance throughout the Biennial. As the momentum builds for the upcoming 2020 Dhaka Art Summit in February, the development of Srihatta Sculpture park and its artist residencies in sylhet is under way to open its doors to the public soon after. Bangladesh has already become a budding art scene, thanks to the Samdani Art Foundation at the centre of its success.
Nadia Samdani is the Co-Founder and President of the Samdani Art Foundation and the Director of Dhaka Art Summit.
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