6 minute read
Last Word: Claire Jackson
from Sullivan+Strumpf Contemporary Art Gallery Sydney & Melbourne, Australia & Singapore – Sep-Nov 2023
Claire Jackson, Curator at Tramway (Glasgow, Scotland) chats with Claire Summers about Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran’s ambitious upcoming exhibition, Idols of Mud and Water.
Interview with Claire Summers
Claire Summers / Tramway is devoted to showing works of innovation and ambition. Idols of Mud and Water will indeed be a work of immense scale and intricate engineering. What unique qualities of this work define it amongst the history of curation at Tramway?
Claire Jackson / Tramway is one of the largest galleries in Europe and is a beautiful, cavernous space described as an ‘Industrial Cathedral’. The venue was originally built in 1893 as a Tramway depot and the gallery has retained many unique architectural features such as several sets of Tramlines criss-crossing the space and vast skylights, so you experience weather and light conditions in the space - it feels like an indoor/outdoor space like a botanical glasshouse or a huge train station. It is the antithesis of a classical white cube gallery, and we very rarely hang any works on the walls as artists tend to imagine proposals for our huge void! Tramway’s unique architecture really lends itself to large scale, experiential installations and artist’s practices who are exploring ideas of worldbuilding and site-specifity. Over the years Tramway has commissioned major works of scale, supporting artists to realise immersive and interactive works of scale that respond to these qualities, working collaboratively with artists to support the production of major new bodies of works.
CS / Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran’s work mediates on idolatry, worship and religious symbolism through a lens that considers both their impact going back millennia as well as their place in our current cultural psyche. How did your approach to curating this work handle or observe the interplay of the ancient imbedded in a contemporary context?
CJ / The ideas behind this work and Ramesh’s previous work seem to reflect the ways in which the past, present, and future fold in on each other. At Tramway, Ramesh will dramatically populate our vast gallery with a giant, omnipresent Guardian figure and an ambitious architectural structure resembling a temple or ruin filled with terracotta figures. The performative aspect of the sculptures will be heightened by the introduction of a fountain, water pools and mist into the space creating an ephemeral space which evokes an archaeological dig or a flooded ruin. Read together as an installation, these works explore ideas of history, idolatry, imagery and culture that are non-linear and syncretic, in Ramesh’s own words, creating ‘a buzzing mythological playground’.
In this way Ramesh’s work could be seen to present a counter-narrative to dominant, Euro-centric and colonial narratives which often present history from a fixed, linear position, reflecting ideas that are nonlinear and polyphonic, allowing for new readings and perspectives. His work champions non-centric, nonconforming positions and diasporic identities which feels very urgent to our present moment.
CS / Art is a crucial tool tasked with expressing and provoking with the most urgent ideas of our time. Ramesh’s work is known for bringing life to issues of social, political and cultural importance. What are the most vital ideas propelled by Idols of Mud and Water?
CJ / Ramesh’s wider practice make me think about the way art can picture other possibilities for being in the world through its speculative and imaginative potential. Idols of Mud and Water manages to be both optimistic and speculative, whilst also tracing problematic relationships between climate change and colonialism. At Tramway Ramesh will present transfigurations of mud and water, re-imagining the vast main gallery as an immersive sculptural installation which takes the flood as a motif in various mythologies as its premise. Natural disasters related to the mixing of earth and water are common occurrences with the impact of climate change, and the installation looks to symbolic and mythological instances related to these elements. In this sense, the space will feel both apocalyptic and optimistic.
CS / Idols of Mud and Water is comprised of a vast number of elements, both in terms of concept and craft, making it the most ambitious project Ramesh has undertaken to date. What is the greatest challenge in curating so many elements to create one cohesive work? What is the greatest reward?
CJ / There are lots of different, layered processes running in tandem across the studio and in Glasgow, from how to build a 21ft mud spewing deity sculpture, to the precision of material choices of a scaffold, theatrical lighting, a step or a display detail. The details of everything that goes into realising an exhibition that is both spectacular and otherworldly but also authentic and tangible.
CS / What is the greatest reward?
CJ / The thrill of realising Ramesh’s audacious vison for his exhibition’s at Tramway and also thinking through the audiences encounter with the exhibition. Ramesh thinks like a curator and wants to explore different possibilities for audience interaction with the work. The larger sculptures will be kinetic, with simple gestures such as lighting and mist activated by motion sensor. Audiences will be invited into playful choreographies which encourage them to explore, inhabit and interact with the exhibition.
CS / At the time of this interview, you are a few months out from the realisation of this project. The entire process of realisation stands before you, following a lengthy period of conceptualisation and (ongoing) creation of the many elements of the work. What excites you most about where you currently stand in the course of the project?
CJ / In many ways this is the point in the exhibition process where we can best apply our curatorial care and craft. Where we reward the trust and faith that Ramesh has placed in us as temporary custodians of his insightful, curious and thrillingly ambitious ideas and artworks, and begin to tailor the materials, research production, find space for ideas, look at scale, positioning and begin to imagine the experience of the visitors to the gallery. Mapping all these elements onto the physical realities of the space of the gallery and collaborating closely with Ramesh to think about the audience journey – it’s a really exciting moment in the process.
