Bharati Kapadia & James Martel: Unclosing the Body
Dialogues from Practice
“Unclosing the Body” is a dialogue between visual artist Bharati Kapadia and political theorist James Martel over a cup of coffee. Both will be discussing a selected body of Bharati’s work shown digitally, with a view to ‘unclosing’ and opening up the nuances of their bodily presence. Taking the form of a set of queries and responses, the conversation’s topics will include the effect that bodies have on one another simply as a material presence; the way that death in some way enhances a sense of the material presence of bodies, often defying the kinds of projections that we receive as subjects of the state and other forms of interpellation; and how bodies perform a form of sociality independent from our conscious sense of identity. Together with the audience – in an informal and fluid exchange in time, with pauses, gaps, interruptions and other happenstances – both will seek to catch a glimpse of how these works may enter the space of the larger topic under discussion: bodily integrity, and the withdrawal from protection.
Language: English
