Cavalcade: Raqs Media Collective in Conversation
@ Goethe-Institut Chicago
150 N Michigan Ave Suite 420 Chicago, IL 60601
Opening Wednesday, May 7th, from 5PM - 7PM
Raqs Media Collective’s presence in Chicago in the summer of 2025 accompanies their exhibition, ‘Cavalcade’, at the Neubauer Collegium. Leonhard Emmerling (Director, Goethe-Institut Chicago) has been an interlocutor to Raqs’ practice for several years. His conversation with Raqs Media Collective will engage with ‘Cavalcade’ and the three decade-long triangulation of their minds.
With ‘Cavalcade’, Raqs counters historical time with illogical figurations and asynchronous leaks. These figures exist outside or tangentially to stories and chronologies. They emerge from dreams, myths, and speculations, raising the question of what it might mean to extend connection and empathy to forms of life and perception that exist in the realm of the unknown. Raqs’ thinking, tested in their art practice, makes them query memory and memorial making, and anticipates how the future might calibrate the relationship between different ways of being human.
This event is presented in collaboration with the Neubauer Collegium. Advanced registration through Eventbrite is required. Please bring a state- or federally-issued photo ID for check-in in the building’s lobby.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Raqs Media Collective (*1992 by Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula and Shuddhabrata Sengupta). The word “raqs” in several languages denotes an intensification of awareness and presence attained by being in a state of revolution. Raqs take this sense to mean ‘kinetic contemplation’ and a restless and energetic entanglement with the world, and with time. Raqs practices across several media; making installation, sculpture, video, performance, text, lexica, and curation. The work articulates an intimately lived relationship with myths and histories of diverse provenances, opening them out through a conversational practice that embodies a deep ambivalence towards monochrony, and a consistent critique of the operations of power. Raqs enjoys playing a plurality of roles, often appearing as artists, occasionally as curators, sometimes as philosophical agent provocateurs.
Raqs have shown at Documenta, the Venice, São Paulo, Istanbul and Sydney Biennales. They have had solo shows at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi, K-21, Düsseldorf, Whitworth Gallery Manchester, MUAC, Mexico City, Mathaf Museum of Modern Art, Doha and at Proa, Buenos Aires, amongst others. They have curated editions of Manifesta, Shanghai Biennale and the Yokohama Triennale. Most recently, Raqs were finalists for the design competition for the 22nd July National Memorial in Oslo, Norway.
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Tags: Cavalcade: Raqs Media Collective in Conversation, Goethe-Institut Chicago, Jeebesh Bagchi, Leonhard Emmerling, Loop, Monica Narula, Shuddhabrata Sengupta
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