Abstract
In view of the growing concerns and innate creative potential of waste, reconsidering the role of waste materials and materiality as active components in the conception, making, and interpretation of art becomes imperative. Dialogues related to re-contextualization and recuperation of trash in the art are no longer radical, at least considering the early twentieth century’s preoccupation with trash, which profoundly impacted the evolution of art. However, dominant scholarships paying heed to the representational and conceptual analysis of waste in art calls for equally nuanced attention to think of material (trash in this case) as an active agent in a work of art. The intention is to understand the works of art as the result of multiple factors involved, including human and non-human, from a new materialist perspective. The study offers a re-reading of the art practice of twenty-first-century Indian artists by exploring all facets of how trash operates conceptually and physically. It intends to do so by discussing the position of trash in Indian contemporary art within the context of three approaches, namely Relics, Metaphor/symbol, and Substance/physical matter. The qualitative method of case studies is implemented to analyze the practice of selected artists and consequently deduce general principles. Multiple sources of evidence support each case study, including personal interviews, concept notes, and artist statements from artists’ blogs and websites, research papers, printed interviews, art magazine essays, and exhibition catalogs. The study offers an extended interpretation of materials and objects in art where meaning and material are mutually constructive.
Presenters
Tanvi JainResearch Scholar, Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, India Shatarupa Thakurta Roy
Associate Professor, Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Uttar Pradesh, India
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Trash in Art, Indian Art, New Materialism, Material Agency
