Structures of Memory: Modern Bengal — Changing Dress-Codes

Installation titled Structures of Memory: Modern Bengal by Indian artist Vivan Sundaram (b.1943, Simla), site-specifically installed at Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta, India, in 1998. 

Hosted in the colonial monument located in the center of Calcutta, the multimedia installation includes several elements brought together in a single standing historical structure. The installation uses historical textual and visual references to draw parallels both conceptually and visually. Using the original space as a platform, it functions as a site-specific interactive and participatory work.

Changing Dress-Codes
is a section of Structures of Memory: Modern Bengal which consists of photographs of Bengali couples and professional women, floating on a glass vitrine containing Queen Alexandria's gown (made in Bengal in 1903), an item from the collection of the Victoria Memorial.  

Other credits:
Photographs from the collection of Sidhartha Ghosh; text selection and translation: Indira Chaudhury

Exhibition history: ‘Structures of Memory: Modern Bengal,’ site-specific installation at Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta, 1998. 

Alternative title

Structures of Memory | The History Project

Access level

Online

practitioner
Publication/Creation date

1998

Creation place

India

Medium

Site-specific installation

Dimension

243.84cm x 76.2cm x 91.44cm

Content type

artwork documentation

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Structures of Memory: Modern Bengal — Changing Dress-Codes