Reena Saini Kallat Indian, b. 1973
Chorus, 2017
Painted FRP, metal, speakers, single channel audio
107 x 119 x 75 inches
271.8 x 302.3 x 190.5 cm
271.8 x 302.3 x 190.5 cm
Copyright The Artist
Further images
The set of sculptures collectively titled Chorus are modeled on pre-radar listening devices used during the Second World War to pick up sounds of enemy aircrafts. Called acoustic mirrors, such...
The set of sculptures collectively titled Chorus are modeled on pre-radar listening devices used during the Second World War to pick up sounds of enemy aircrafts. Called acoustic mirrors, such devices were utilised by armies on both sides of the conflict as early warning systems. In an act of radical yet playful subversion, the artist has replaced the sounds of war machines with bird songs. A visitor stepping into the sculptures will hear the national birds of various border-sharing countries singing in unison; such as the Peacock (India) with the Chukar (Pakistan) or the Palestinian sun bird (Palestine) with the hoopoe (Israel), the Robin (UK) with the Lapwing (Ireland) or the Crested Caracara (Mexico) with the Eagle (USA). Though appropriated as national symbols by one or the other nation, these bird species inhabit both, being citizens only of a particular terrain and climate that no country can claim ownership to.
As the artist points out, while national symbols were meant to unite people of a particular country or region, they frequently become points of contestation and conflict between countries which cannot look beyond narrow nationalism. “The interlaced chorus of freely drifting birds in Chorus alludes to nature's defiance of artificially imposed, man-made divisions”
As the artist points out, while national symbols were meant to unite people of a particular country or region, they frequently become points of contestation and conflict between countries which cannot look beyond narrow nationalism. “The interlaced chorus of freely drifting birds in Chorus alludes to nature's defiance of artificially imposed, man-made divisions”
Exhibitions
2018 Sculpture Park at Madhavendra Palace, Curated by Peter Nagy, Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur | 2018 Facing India, curated by Dr. Uta Ruhkamp, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany | 2017 Earth Families, Manchester Museum, United Kingdom
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