Ecological Contestations

Speaker: Ravi Agarwal
Discussant: Ranjit Hoskote

October 27, 2015 | 6.30 pm
Visitors’ Centre, CSMVS, Mumbai

Ecological time is mysterious. How does ecology act in a dialectical Darwinian way, over many lifetimes, before it adapts, or has that changed with the advent of man? We are said to be in the age of the sixth extinction which is caused by humans. As a collective force, we have now acquired the power to change the natural order of forces. The Anthropocene says that by the power of capital and technology, we could be riding the back of the tiger, with an illusion that we are steering it.

Our ideas of ecology are based on our histories, and how it makes us now. Nature has turned into a generic category and is ‘acted’ upon. It has to be seen, appreciated, exploited, explored, imagined or ignored, but not necessarily lived. Akin to what patriarchy does to the figure of a woman, Nature is often put on a pedestal and admired from afar. Possibly, we could be caught up in the web of language itself, and what is signified as Nature. It needs to be seen as a set of relationships rather than a boundary, and re-imagining the idea of Nature could be the key to future sustainability.

In this discussion, Ravi Agarwal and Ranjit Hoskote will converse on ideas of art, ecology and sustainability, linking them to the Agarwal’s art practice and environmental activism. The program is organized in conjunction with the artist’s ongoing exhibition, Else all will be still, at The Guild, Alibaug.

Ravi Agarwal is a photographer artist, writer, curator and environmental activist. He explores issues of urban space, ecology and capital in interrelated ways, and works with photographs, video, performance, on-site installations, and public art. Agarwal has participated in several shows in international galleries, museums and biennales, and writes extensively on ecological issues. He is the founder of the leading Indian environmental NGO, Toxics Link.

Ranjit Hoskote is a cultural theorist, curator and poet. He is the author of more than 25 books and has curated over 30 exhibitions since 1994. He served on the Jury of the 56th Venice Biennale (2015). With Maria Hlavajova, he is editor of Future Publics (The Rest Can and Should Be Done by the People): A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art (2015). Hoskote has collaborated with Ravi Agarwal on several occasions, including three curated exhibitions.