Video Documentation

After a series of talks, a performance and walkthrough of FIELD MEETING Pop-up which was on view at warehouse 46, participants elaborated on their projects and how their works traverse, challenge, and intertwine notions of community as institution and institution as community.

The conversation was moderated by Leeza Ahmady, Sandra Skurvida & Maryam Ghoreishi and revolved around Francesca Recchia’s tear-jerking readings of her writings chronicling her personal & philosophical grapplings with the complexities and vulnerabilities of living in a “conflict zone”, namely Afghanistan, as a foreigner; Lara Day’s elucidating talk on M+, one of the most anticipated museums to open in Asia and its collection building approaches in relationship to relevance and accessibility in a digital age; Moe Satt’s provocative performance in which the audience was invited to stamp his body with an ink pad, and then encouraged to shoot each other with rubber bands. Amina Ahmed discussed her extraordinary drawings on black paper and newly bound books, meant to be read by one’s hands (touch), in addition to her choice of juxtaposing these alongside a series of her mother’s (Zulayka Mirashah) embroidery works; Nadira Husain talked about the art world’s categorical perceptions of artists with multicultural backgrounds such as herself, citing her paintings and tapestries which combine comic figure aesthetics (namely Smurfs & speech bubbles) with Indian miniature motifs; Iranian artist Ali Shayesteh discussed his attempts to transform societal dictums into fluid and more nuanced expressions in his works which also question his own personal attachments to memorabilia; and Vladislav Sludskiy & Olga Veselova addressed their organization’s work in Kazakhstan, The Eurasian Cultural Alliance through a presentation of a collection of paintings, drawings, video and readymade sculptures especially presented for FIELD MEETING, Take 6; Enrico Polato discussed his role as a gallery owner nurturing artists and educating audiences about collection-building in a still developing contemporary art scene and art market of Shanghai, China.