In Person: Only Life, Myriad Places: Sudarshan Shetty with Sabih Ahmed

Currently on view at the Ishara Art Foundation in Dubai, Only Life, Myriad Places is a major solo exhibition of moving image works by Sudarshan Shetty. Marking the global premiere of Shetty’s latest film Ek Jeevan Anek (One Life Many, 2023), the exhibition is the first survey of the artist’s moving image works, presenting rarely seen videos, multi-media installations and sculptures.

The exhibition features eight significant works from Shetty’s vast oeuvre, highlighting his deep interest in the musical and literary traditions of South Asia. In the unique form of interdisciplinarity that his practice advocates, a key motif that runs throughout the exhibition is a “poetics of listening.”

In this episode of In Person, Sabih Ahmed walks us through the space, introducing the viewer to the curatorial framework of the exhibition as it explores labyrinths of the mind, captured through moving images and elaborate mise-en-scènes. The exhibition is on view till 9 December 2023 at the Ishara Art Foundation, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai.

(Featured image: Installation view of Only Life, Myriad Places: Sudarshan Shetty at Ishara Art Foundation, 2023. Image courtesy Ishara Art Foundation and the artist. Photo by Ismail Noor/Seeing Things.) 

Recorded on 27 September 2023.

To read more about Sudharshan Shetty’s Ek Jeevan, Anek, revisit Santasil Mallik’s reflection on the film.

In case you missed earlier episodes of In Person, you can watch Sabih Ahmed’s walk-through of Notations in Time and Arundhati Chauhan’s visit to the residency open studio of the fifth edition of Photo Kathmandu.