TBA:06 ON SIGHT

SUTAPA BISWAS

Birdsong

A special collaboration between PICA and the
Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College

“I first encountered the work of Sutapa Biswas on a quiet afternoon at the Tate Modern, London. On a small video monitor a ‘moving image’ didn’t really move at all, swaying only slightly, the light subtly shifting. The imagery was arresting. A naked man stood still, gazing out a window in quiet reverie ... an Edward Hopper painting come to life.” —Stephanie Snyder

The film installations of British East-Indian artist Sutapa Biswas are metaphorical journeys that re-imagine culture and family through diverse time periods and works of art. Fantastical and sumptuously visual, Biswas creates her work on period sets and in public gardens, unfurling worlds of wonder. Casting family members and friends, Biswas lays bare deeply personal experiences of growing up a stranger in a strange land.

Biswas exhibits her most ambitious work to date. In Birdsong, a young Indian boy realizes his dream of living with a horse, while in Magnesium Bird, the artist creates a haunting vision of British culture: hundreds of magnesium birds erupt in flames while children dance in the gardens of Harewood House, England. Both films slow time to the rhythms of the body, defying any single psychoanalytical or geographical reading.

Sutapa Biswas: Birdsong is an Institute of International Visual Arts (inIVA) touring exhibition produced in collaboration with Film and Video Umbrella. It is supported by Arts Council England, AHRB, Chelsea College of Art and Design (University of the Arts, London), The Culture Company, Magnesium Elektron and the University of Southampton. A specially produced monograph on Sutapa Biswas is published by inIVA in collaboration with the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College, Portland, Oregon.

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