Always Wanting to Break with Geography: Remembering Kanishka Raja (1969-2018) (original) (raw)

Embodying the Antique in the early 19th century: Ballet Masters' Drawing Practices

In early 19th century ballet, drawing seems to be a relevant skill for a successful European ballet master. The lack of structured dance notation systems represents an obstacle for current embodiment of ancient dance styles and techniques, but sketches by Jean Aumer (1774-1833), Carlo Blasis (1795-1878), and André Jean-Jacques Deshayes (1777-1846) enable us to depict some specific choreographic processes of the time. Following connoisseurship trends, the dancer’s body is arranged in space according to specific principles of placement, based on several references, artworks or popular antiques: the limbs’ setting shows a refined reference to a classical art piece or sometimes hides a subtler and implicit evocation, in the vein of “being a living collection”. This is attained when dance artists combine physical and perceptual parameters, such as symmetry, balance, grouping, allround effects and contrapposto. How and why do these ballet masters forge their drawing skills? Can we define their style as a quest of an “archeological corporeality”? Moreover, how can we retrace the scopic regime of the dance culture in the early nineteenth century? The proposal aims to reconsider the relevance of drawing practices in the development of body techniques, in the context of the growing ballet industry and the social consumption of art works.

Unlearning from Europe: Notes on Documenta14

Eyeline (journal), 2018

A critical exploration of the quinquennial exhibition Documenta 14, staged in Athens, Greece and Kassel, Germany in 2017. It includes a range of contextualised views from diverse writers and critics, drawn from numerous sources, as well as reflections and opinions by the author. Reproduced courtesy Eyeline journal #88: Eyeline Publishing, Brisbane Australia, 2018.

Transnational Curation: Countering Exclusionary Practices in the Art World

Written at Metropolitan State University of Denver, 2019

In contemporary art, curators have risen to a place of prominence, and many are attempting to overcome the impact of Colonialism on the art world, by using curation to create a more transnational practice of art and exhibition. Previously, international exhibitions consisted of primarily white male European and American artists, with a few token women and non-Western artists. Starting in the late 1980s, there was a shift towards transnational exhibitions; this shift aligned with a larger shift in global politics. Transnational at its simplest is defined as “extending or operating past national boundaries.” In art, transnationalism is a postcolonial strategy of inclusion, seeking to present a multiplicity of voices in art. Transnational curatorial practice has been a catalyst to change the narrative of art history towards a more inclusive art canon. Using Magiciens de La Terre (1989) the Third Havana Biennial (1989), Documenta 11 (2002) and All the World’ Futures, the Vienna Biennale (2015) as case studies, I follow a line of inquiry about how curatorial practice can be used to correct the exclusionary nature of art history. I use postcolonial theory to critically analyze these exhibitions, and trace their impact on the art world.