Abstract
The research primarily focuses on rickshaw art practice and its internalization in the institutionalized project Rongbaaz (2020). This project was formulated by Britto Arts Trust in collaboration with rickshaw and cinema banner painters, venturing a new direction for institutional art by incorporating the visual vocabulary of non-institutional practices. Despite the previous exclusionary attitude, a continuing growth of interest in the rickshaw art practice is now noticeable through collaborations in the institutional art domain. Taking Rongbaaz as a case study, the paper intends to understand the function and outcome of such collaborations. It will illustrate how artistic collaborations between mainstream and “traditional” artists disintegrate rickshaw arts and artists from their original contexts, eventually offering an unintentional critique of the institutional art practices in Bangladesh. The exhibition Rongbaaz is examined here with reference to the production and exhibition system of rickshaw art practice. The study will discuss how the collaboration in this exhibition results in differentiation despite its intention to seek an association between two different art practices, which revalidates the power dynamic between these two entities.
Presenters
Mohammad Zaki RezwanSenior Lecturer, English and Humanities, Brac University, Bangladesh
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Rickshaw Art, Bangladesh, Collaboration, Britto Arts Trust, Institutional Critique
