Under the Influence: Books that Inspire Artists is a travelling library comprised of one hundred titles ranging from novels, poetry, classics, and science fiction. The library started with Asia Art Archive’s invitation to one hundred artists to choose a book that informed their practice, and to share personal stories related to their selection.
AAA in India will host Under the Influence from December 2022 onwards, and will organise talks and workshops that investigate the role of artist-led libraries and archival projects in the contemporary art field.
Under the Influence debuted at AAA’s 2017 exhibition in the non-profit section of Art Basel Hong Kong. In 2018, it visited secondary schools in Hong Kong and other arts institutions throughout Asia, accompanied by events engaging with the book selection. The library then travelled to AAA in America, where it was activated through artist-led workshops and book-reading sessions.
Under the Influence at AAA in India’s Reading Room
5 Jul–6 Oct 2023
11am–5pm
Venue: Asia Art Archive in India, L14-A, Ground Floor, Kailash Colony, New Delhi, 110048. On Google Maps
Under the Influence is on view at AAA in India’s Reading Room in New Delhi. Visitors are invited to walk in and browse the annotated books at their leisure. Programmes including artist-led workshops, screenings, a reading session, and gatherings with university students will be held during this period.
Please stay tuned for upcoming announcements.
Past programmes:
Under the Influence at Serendipity Arts Festival 2022
15–23 December 2022
12pm–12am
Venue: Old GMC Complex
Under the Influence will be on view at the Serendipity Arts Festival—one of the largest multidisciplinary arts initiatives in the South Asian region. It will act as a space for reading and conversation, with daily walkthroughs and artist-led workshops developed in collaboration with projects at the festival, including Future Landing curated by Veerangana Solanki and Goa Familia curated by Lina Vincent and Akshay Mahajan.
Workshop | Grain of the Voice with Farah Mulla and Abhinay Khoparzi
18 Dec 2022
12–3pm
In collaboration with Future Landing
Taking Roland Barthes’ book Image-Music-Text as a starting point, this workshop features a series of deep listening exercises for participants to attune to microsounds in their environment. Drawing on “granular synthesis”—a method that operates on the microsound time scale—the workshop explores possibilities at the intersection of sound, spoken words, and abstraction. The workshop is developed by artist Farah Mulla and creative technologist Abhinay Khoparzi.
The workshop is free of charge and open to the public with registration, on a first-come, first-served basis. Register here.
Workshop | Constructing Narratives: Appropriation Art and Zine-Making with Kaamna Patel
19 Dec 2022
12–5pm
In collaboration with Goa Familia
Led by artist and independent publisher Kaamna Patel, this workshop explores the possibilities of “appropriation art” to construct narratives in books and zines. The workshop traces the evolution of appropriation in art and photography and features an editing and bookbinding session where participants work with materials from newspaper archives in Goa to create a zine.
The workshop is free of charge and open to the public with registration, on a first-come, first-served basis. Register here.
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Abhinay Khoparzi is a multidisciplinary creative technologist who maintains a practice across film, music, and web technologies. Khoparzi co-founded the pioneering artist collective netlabel and publishing company 3rd Thought Entertainment in the early 2000s, during which he organised collaborative performances with experimental IDM artists. He now organises coding workshops in collaboration with various artist collectives across India, and has been advancing the Algorave and computational arts scene in the country.
Farah Mulla is a multimedia artist based in Goa. Her background in science is reflected in her art practice that explores the perception of sound and its effects on human neurology and subjectivity. Often investigating different media, she uses the human voice, field recordings, and other modes of inquiry to explore aspects of aural experience and the invisible agency of sound via multiple modes of perception.
Kaamna Patel is a visual artist and independent publisher currently based in Mumbai. She founded the publishing imprint Editions JOJO in 2019, where she self-published several titles, including In Today’s News: Alpha Males & Women Power, now held in the Martin Parr Collection at the Tate Modern in London. As an artist-led platform for contemporary visual culture in India, Editions JOJO also features a publicly accessible photobook library. Patel’s work has been exhibited in solo and group shows at Project88 in Mumbai and the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa.
This is part of the AAA Learning & Participation Programme, supported by the S. H. Ho Foundation Limited.
