KW Berlin 22 October 2022 - 15 January 2023
Christopher Kulendran Thomas - Another World explores an alternative approach to technology through the prism of the defeated revolu- tionary struggle for an
independent Tamil
homeland.
During the Liberation War for Tamil Eelam (1983-2009), the de-facto state of Eelam was self-governed by a revolutionary movement that,
in the early years of the World Wide Web used the internet to build a globally distributed post-capitalist economy among the Tamil dia- spora.
However, the movement's political ambitions were eclipsed by bitter military conflict and in 2009 the Sri Lankan government bru- tally eradicated
the autonomous Tamil state.
Another World contrasts some of this liberation movement's lost cultural legacies
with the contemporary realities that have unfolded in the wake of that revolution to both imagine and prompt alternate possible futures. Developed with Christopher Kulendran
Thomas's longtime collaborator Annika Kuhlmann, the exhibition features a newly commissioned immersive video installation, a series of algorithmically generated paintings,
a suite of painted ceramics by Anankuperuntinaivarkal Inkaaleneraam, and a new variation of the 2019 video installation Being Human, which looks at the relationship
between human rights and the global art field in the artist's family's homeland.
Occupying the entirety of KW's first floor gallery, The Finesse (2022) features architectural drawings, anthropomorphic sculptures fashioned from ghillie suits, and a
large-scale projection. Part filmed and part-generated, the projection ex- plores Tamil Eelam's unique ecosystem. It features forests planted by the Tamil liberation
movement to build a self-sufficient, sustainable society. This foliage gives way to ancienthistorical sites now maintained by the Sri Lankan government's archaeology task force,
which many Tamils see as a means of occupying the Tamil homeland and disputing
historical Tamil connections to the region. Largely untold sto- ries of that liberation movement and its possible legacies are recounted on five monolithic screens opposite
this projection, confronting the challenges (or impossibility) of reliably narrating the losing side of a conflict.With parts of the video algorithmically generated anew each
time it plays, it is never quite the same twice. Combining archival footage with Al-generated processes to blur the boundaries between his- torical research and a sci-fi
proposition for an alternate reality, The Finesse looks at how the art, architecture, and technology that were lost with the defeat of the de-facto state of Eelam could
inform radically different ideas of the future.
independent Tamil
homeland.
During the Liberation War for Tamil Eelam (1983-2009), the de-facto state of Eelam was self-governed by a revolutionary movement that,
in the early years of the World Wide Web used the internet to build a globally distributed post-capitalist economy among the Tamil dia- spora.
However, the movement's political ambitions were eclipsed by bitter military conflict and in 2009 the Sri Lankan government bru- tally eradicated
the autonomous Tamil state.
Another World contrasts some of this liberation movement's lost cultural legacies
with the contemporary realities that have unfolded in the wake of that revolution to both imagine and prompt alternate possible futures. Developed with Christopher Kulendran
Thomas's longtime collaborator Annika Kuhlmann, the exhibition features a newly commissioned immersive video installation, a series of algorithmically generated paintings,
a suite of painted ceramics by Anankuperuntinaivarkal Inkaaleneraam, and a new variation of the 2019 video installation Being Human, which looks at the relationship
between human rights and the global art field in the artist's family's homeland.
Occupying the entirety of KW's first floor gallery, The Finesse (2022) features architectural drawings, anthropomorphic sculptures fashioned from ghillie suits, and a
large-scale projection. Part filmed and part-generated, the projection ex- plores Tamil Eelam's unique ecosystem. It features forests planted by the Tamil liberation
movement to build a self-sufficient, sustainable society. This foliage gives way to ancienthistorical sites now maintained by the Sri Lankan government's archaeology task force,
which many Tamils see as a means of occupying the Tamil homeland and disputing
historical Tamil connections to the region. Largely untold sto- ries of that liberation movement and its possible legacies are recounted on five monolithic screens opposite
this projection, confronting the challenges (or impossibility) of reliably narrating the losing side of a conflict.With parts of the video algorithmically generated anew each
time it plays, it is never quite the same twice. Combining archival footage with Al-generated processes to blur the boundaries between his- torical research and a sci-fi
proposition for an alternate reality, The Finesse looks at how the art, architecture, and technology that were lost with the defeat of the de-facto state of Eelam could
inform radically different ideas of the future.
Jo Fetto: Beyond Flash, ongoing Series in collaboration with William Cult, 2022
Sophie Klock: ongoing Series, Berlin, 2022
