Exhibition; Immersion into Dharavi
[TEAM] Casey Nolan, Alex White Mazzarella, Arne de Knegt
[EXHIBITON PARTNER] Mercy Corps
[COLLABORATING ARTISTS]
[DATES] AUG 23rd, 2011 - SEPT 24th, 2011
Artefacting Mumbai’s IMMERSION exhibition is being exhibited for the first time ever in Portland, Oregon at Mercy Corps’ Action Center Gallery. Exhibition runs from August 23rd through September 24th.
Paintings, photos, and video from Artefacting’s three month inaugural project in Dharavi, Mumbai are all on display. With wine donated by South Park Seafood Restaurant and beer provided by Bridgeport Brewery, the opening reception on August 23rd went off with great celebration. The exhibition was well received by Mercy Corps employees, friends of Artefacting, and random visitors. Numerous comments were made about the synergy of all the pieces coming together in the gallery to create a powerful show.
As the first of many Artefacting exhibitions to come, we are excited at how IMMERSION turned out and eager to share it with people across the country. Take a look at the photos below, and catch an online glimpse of the project in Dharavi HERE.
Beehive installation in progress.
Building the Buzzing Dharavi installation with the help of Artefacting volunteer Valarie Cooley.
Laying out all of the pieces for IMMERSION.
Determining what to hang where... with the help of curator Logan McClain.
Abandoned TVs resurface for a new purpose... COMPUTER MAN.
Slowly but surely everything comes together for the opening reception.
Valarie breaking electronics for the Computer Man installation.
Completed Beehive installation for the Buzzing Dharavi seriers.Big shout out to Valarie Cooley for putting in so much time on this piece.
The Dharavi Menswear Collection.
Chicken Wallah series.
Throwing Into The Corner photo and video installation.
Computer Man!
The Wall of Interventions.
I've been to Dharavi and this "Artefacting" exhibit that non-artists like Casey Nolan created in the slums looks very patronizing. I could understand if they were also helping to create jobs or improve healthcare of the slum residents, but: All they did was build a shoddy installation in the middle of a slum while self-fellating in the name of "art" and "solutions". This smacks of western entitlement and the 3 months they spent there did nothing to elevate the residents even remotely from poverty, as seen by the subsequent demolition of the slum.