Indian art takes a bow at Norway’s triennial
Artist Ravi Agarwal, author Adania Shibli and Bergen School of Architecture have convened the 5th Bergen Assembly
Surrounded by verdant mountains and deep fjords, the town of Bergen on Norway’s west coast is famous for Bryggen, a series of Hanseatic heritage buildings lining its harbour. Lesser known, perhaps, is that this charming city also plays host to the Bergen Assembly, a triennial that supports artistic exploration and public engagement, bringing together artists, thinkers and communities alike. While the duration of the Assembly is three months, concluding on 9 November, it unfolds beyond that period. For instance, a series of ‘cross courses’ were organised between February 2024 to February earlier this year involving various artists and practitioners across disciplines. All in all, the Assembly is meant to be experiential: a communal process that emphasises sharing rather than merely exhibiting.
The fifth edition of the Assembly, titled ‘across, with, nearby’, has been convened by Indian artist-activist Ravi Agarwal, Palestinian author Adania Shibli and the Bergen School of Architecture (BAS). The first edition of the Assembly took place in 2013 and the convenors are chosen by an advisory and executive board. Outlining some of his preoccupations in a curatorial note, Agarwal wrote, “How is it possible to create new conversations from near and far between practices that are in fact similar despite having seemingly dissimilar conceptions? Can we create common grounds of love, empathy and cultural tolerance as modes that allow these different formations to prosper?"
The responses to some of these questions can be teased out in the Bergen Kunsthall, which faces the serene Lille Lungegårdsvannet lake. Entering the building, one is drawn to artist Vikrant Bhise’s arresting Memory, Resistance, and Consciousness. Rendered in a muted palette, the large-format painting is a complex interweaving of episodes of Dalit resistance movements. In the museum’s bookstore, a selection of Bhise’s postcard-sized series Archival Historicity/Dalit Panthers pays homage to the Dalit Panthers and their role in the anti-caste movement. Nearby, Karan Shreshta’s a flow disrupted: realigns deploys the format of a 17th century Newari manuscript to create awareness about water woes in Nepal. While historically such manuscripts contained information on droughts and rain patterns, Shreshta’s drawings, combined with essays, oral myths and testimonies, paint a picture of current day issues.
One of the large rooms at the Kunsthall is dedicated to Indian collective Agriforum’s project, Acts of Re/Collection. Agriforum is a platform that brings together artists, researchers and creative practitioners to engage with agrarian ecologies and regenerative practices. Taking the shape of a library, the collective’s project offers a space to read, reflect and interact with artworks on agrarian issues. Spread out on a large circular table in the centre of the room are artist books, stories and sculptural works. Among them, Umesh Singh’s People with sprouted bodies carrying seeds for tomorrow consists of clay sculptures, which recall the kothila, a structure in the Bhojpur region of Bihar used to store both dry grains and wet produce. Suspended from the ceiling, a colourful, newly-commissioned Landscape Shamiana by Sanchayan Ghosh sports words drawn from an agrarian context in various Indian languages.
Around this table, a plethora of artworks highlight pressing social and ecological issues. Gyanwant Yadav’s moving performative video, Tools of Yamuna Landscape: Changing from Green to Barren, highlights the predicament of migrant farmers along Delhi’s Yamuna. A similar engagement with the river can be observed in Blaise Joseph’s installation, Puzha Ozhukatte (Let the River Flow), which traces memories of nurture and neglect of the Vempuzha river in Kerala through a painting, artist books and audio recordings. Ankan Dutta’s Uruli uses jute sacks to interrogate histories of rice production in his home state Assam’s Brahmaputra Valley. Niroj Sathpathy also returns to his roots in his poignant assemblage, My modest village, created with dried grass, flowers and leaves. It speaks about the exploitation of land, displacement, farmer suicides and caste violence in his native Odisha.
A focus on seeds is visible in The Drilling Dance, an interactive work by the Gram Art Project, a collective of farmers, artists and women who live and work around Paradsinga village in Madhya Pradesh. The visitors are encouraged to pick up a bottle and spray water on embroidered spear grass seeds on canvas. Watching them dance in contact with water makes the audience aware of the seeds’ potential for life.
A fruitful collaboration between the Norwegian group Matskogen (food forest) and the Gram Art Project on seed-saving, growing and foraging has resulted in a co-authored seed-zine, Borrow, Sow, Return. Fashioned from handmade paper, crafted from invasive grasses from their respective locales, it consists of recipes, plant stories, even pages one could grow, thanks to the seeds embedded in them. A temporary seed library encourages visitors to take seeds, plant them, harvest and return them to the library. Since most seeds used for growing food in Norway are imported, the initiative encourages local cultivation and biodiversity. Gram Art Project’s Shweta Bhattad notes, “You walk through the beautiful city, pass by cloudy mountains, waters, dramatic skies and reach a very sensitive curated space talking about the most difficult issues."
Many of the other artistic explorations can be spotted in unusual venues throughout the city. A small 12th century Benedictine nunnery, Nonneseter, is the site of two compelling video works. Meghalaya-based performance artist Lapdiang Syiem’s Laitiam has its roots in Khasi oral tradition and puts a spotlight on the non-human—in this case a deer—to essay themes of displacement, grief and mourning. Swiss artist Monica Ursina Jäger’s poetic Phytofutures. States of Planetary Being is a beacon of hope showcasing the evolution of life forms in the wake of melting and retreating glaciers.
The Bergen School of Architecture serves not just as a co-convenor but also as a venue for several artworks. Perched on the edge of a fjord it houses, among others, Prabhakar Pachpute’s imposing painting Stolen Horizon III that deals with issues of mining and labour. Another unique venue, the Epos Literature boat, plays host to several installations and a residency programme for thinkers and writers. On the opening weekend, it docked at Bryggen, inviting visitors to listen to readings by Christine Otten and Mohamedou Ould Slahi. Part of the opening week’s programme also included Sajan Mani’s performance, (Yamandan) — Eruptions from Where You Buried Us, at the Kunsthall, which attracted a packed audience. Spread over several hours it revolved around caste and colonial histories in India, especially those linked to rubber. By highlighting overlooked narratives, systems of knowledge and marginalised communities, the Bergen Assembly succeeds in opening up new lines of inquiry to address the social, ecological, economic, and political injustices of our time.
The Bergen Assembly is underway in Bergen, Norway, till 9 November.
Meera Menezes is a Delhi-based art critic, writer and curator.
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