singapore art biennale 2011: gigi scaria

image © designboom

indian artist gigi scaria’s work explores the impact of the recent growth boom in the cities of his home country. through his painting, sculpture, photographs, and video works, scaria creates absurdist environments of the future, challenging the human psyche and its relationship with modern progress.

constructing imaginary architectures, maps calling for the reorganization of cities, surreal landscapes, and humor ridden scenarios where people are trapped inside or excluded from these fascinating interpretations of our possible future.

image © designboom

‘steps of predicaments’, 2011 detail aluminium fabricated sheet, mirror glass, steel, paint image © designboom

seen at the singapore art biennale 2011, ‘steps of predicaments’ investigates how people relate to one another in the urban space, and how architecture and city planning dictates social hierarchies. the winding staircase of composed of architectural units measures 510 x 150 x 150 cm.

‘steps of predicaments’, 2011 on show at the singapore art biennale 2011 image © designboom

gigi scaria (b. 1973) lives and works in kothanalloor, india.

— in its third edition, the singapore biennale (SB2011) is led by artistic director matthew ngui and curators russell storer and trevor smith, and is organized by the singapore art museum (SAM) of the national heritage board and supported by the national arts council, singapore. open to the public from march 13 to may 15, 2011.

as the leading biennale in southeast asia, SB2011 situates contemporary art from singapore and southeast asia within a broad international conversation. the title ‘open house’ is conceived not as a theme but as an invitation or ‘open doors’ onto contemporary artistic practice. artists’ practices are not simply grounded in describing or portraying subjects in the world, but are often actual attempts to exchange information, translate experiences and trade places and perspectives. ‘open house’ suggests the crossing of thresholds between public and private, where boundaries and borders are made permeable. it is in this fluid space that contemporary art often emerges, out of a need to bridge the gaps between the experiential and the psychological, and between social and political hierarchies.