International Studio & Curatorial Program 2023: Akshay Sethi
Akshay Sethi is the 2023 recipient of the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP). He is a Delhi-based artist whose practice explores the complex relationship between the personal and political. He contemplates the ordinary and delves into the vast reservoir of normally unnoticed, trivial, repetitive actions and the uneventful in everyday life, through his drawings, zines, graphic narratives and installations.
In this week’s post he shares his experiences and learnings from during his time at ISCP.
Akshay’s Studio at ISCP
My three-month artist residency at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), Brooklyn, New York started in the month of April 2023. The weather was pleasant and the streets were full of cherry blossoms. ISCP is located in East Williamsburg, a neighbourhood which is home to old printing factories, automobile repair shops along with hidden cafes and coffee shops that run along Grand Street.
ISCP, like its neighbourhood, offered me many diverse and interesting interactions. Within my first few weeks, I went on a group visit to Wangechi Mutu’s retrospective at New Museum with ISCP. I was amazed by the powerful collage drawings of the artist. However, the thing I enjoyed the most was the group discussion at the end of the visit. It was refreshing to listen to everyone in the group speak about their opinions on Mutu’s art practice. I also visited the permanent collections of museums like MOMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art as well the ongoing exhibitions at the Guggenheim, Whitney Museum, MOMAPS1, Brooklyn Museum and Queens Museum.
I would spend my mornings in the New York Public library skimming through their vast picture collection where I stumbled upon various anthropological and popular images of a very banal, everyday object ‘the lathi or the cane stick’, it was fruitful in my ongoing project ‘Situational Irony of a Stick’. My project examines the question of ‘when and how a tool becomes a weapon’ and looks into the multiple uses, history and evolution of the lathi or the cane stick.
Akshay with his fellow residents at ISCP
As a part of the monthly artist studio visit program at ISCP, I got the chance to share my practice in detail with various curators and art historians. I was introduced to the collection of Jim Crow Museum of Racist Imagery which initiated a series of conversations for me on how oppressive structures like caste and race are materialized in our popular culture and how the politics of choice and privilege works within the dynamics. Questions like what is the difference between ‘speaking for’ and ‘speaking up’ bothered me throughout. Many times these thoughts extended into long thought provoking conversations with fellow artist residents.
Such interactions were an integral part of my experience at ISCP. The opportunities to meet, discuss and share my thoughts and practice with various artists, craftsmen, curators, librarians and the public opened up new possibilities for me in my art practice.
I must admit that more than anything New York itself left the biggest impression on me. The city was overwhelming at first with the house hunting, complex subway network and fast paced life. However, gradually I found my footing in the city. Every day on my way to the studio, I used to observe people interacting or ignoring the small and curious metal sculptures by Tom Otters called ‘Life Underground’ at Union Square Subway station prompting me to think about the relationship between art and public spaces. Spaces like public parks, public washrooms and subway/metro stations have always fascinated me. People from different cultural backgrounds and nationalities interacted in these public spaces in a city which in itself is complicated yet a very beautiful cultural flux. The world around us is almost completely constructed for an individual's purposes. Who that individual is and why they needed that structure tends to reveal deep seeded privilege and power. I pondered upon these thoughts constantly as I walked through the sidewalks of Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan.
Still from a stop motion animation video, Situational Irony of a Stick.
New York City is very walkable. It enables you to walk through it at your own pace. The mundane and insignificant walks to and from subway stations, parks, museums libraries, art galleries and my studio space were essential in shaping the trajectory of my thought process during the period of my residency at ISCP. Between entangled complex thoughts I found my refuge in spending my time walking on the sidewalks observing the city. I documented chewing gums on the sidewalks. I lost many chess games from veterans in Bryant park. I made friends while documenting kids playing basketball in the community park, Chinatown. I embarrassed myself, I made mistakes, I made memories.
The residency concluded with a public presentation of my work followed by a discussion in the last week of June. I am grateful to the Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation and ISCP for the wonderful opportunity and support.
Cover Image: Akshay in his studio at ISCP
