Residency programmes for international artists at Cittadellarte – Spring/Summer 2017

When:
02 May / 02 Jul, 2017
Where:
Cittadellarte, Biella
Language:
English
Outline

Residency programmes for international artists at Cittadellare have been conceived with the aim to educate (through modules, lectures, experts’ studio visits, meetings etc) and to produce (from exhibitions to talks to final publications) cultural projects related to a responsible social transformation. The residencies are developed in collaboration with institutional partners, such as RESO' network, Qattan A. M. Foundation (Palestine), Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation (India).


Spring/Summer 2017

Renewing its collaboration with Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation for the year 2017, UNIDEE – University of Ideas has welcomed the Indian artist Murari Jha for a two-month residency at Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto (2nd May - 2nd July, 2017).

MURARI JHA - OPEN STUDIO
UNIDEE-University of Ideas, during Arte al Centro 20th edition
23rd June 2017, 6.30 pm, at Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto

 

 

Murari Jha (1988, Bihar, India), Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation grant, is a young Indian artist whose artistic practice is based on performance, the exploration of the politics of the body and the possibilities of inhabiting space, carried out according to personal and political narratives. His works are often immaterial, long lasting actions entailing the use of his body within spaces reconfigured through his presence in a certain span of time.
His research project, presented at Cittadellarte as a work in progress in an Open Studio on the occasion of the exhibition "Arte al Centro XX", is a long lasting performance divided in two phases: the first has been expanded into ten days in which Jha has continually lived within his studio, the second has consisted in three consecutive days spent in a little room.

“The way I want to perform is connected with the history of the space, migration and revolution. At the same time, it relates to the anxiety of the body’s labour, desire and meditation. The transformation of the space and the body consists of cultural, social and visual activity. Through my performance I want to explore many layers of the politics of the body.” (Murari Jha)

During his stay in Cittadellarte (May-June 2017), the artist has had the opportunity to get to know different local realities and to develop his research thanks to the participation in two weekly modules of the UNIDEE programme, curated by prominent artists like Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri (“Proposal for Schizoanalytical Seminar II”, 8th-12th May), and Diego Del Pozo Barriuso (“Touch, Don’t Dominate”, 5th-9th June).
Jha has also had the chance to experience the Italian artistic scene in Turin, Milan and Venice, following his interests and dialoguing with participatory projects like the “Workshop of self-construction” held by Mattia Paco Rizzi with a group of asylum seekers and Italians residing in Biella.
The dialogue opened with different mentors, guests, artists and curators has led Jha to question the knowledge acquired and the embedded cultural processes, and widen his horizons.