In Bolzano, at Manifesta7, we met Jeebesh Bagchi, one of the artists members of Raqs Media Collective. They curated The rest of now, the exhibition held at the ex-Alumix factory in Bolzano. Together we talked about their curatorial process and the choices behind the show.
Jeebesh Bagchi, of the Raqs Media Collective (one of the Manifesta7 curators' team), during the Manifesta7 preview in Fortezza on July 18, 2008 (photo by Kiasma.it)
What transpires in the course of a second, closer look at the narrative of progress and the velocity of our times?
Our effort is to subject these realities to critical reappraisal. The setting of part of Manifesta 7 in a disused aluminium factory in Bolzano – a space of abandonment and residue – raises many questions about the after-life of extraction. What gets left behind when everything is taken away? What can be retrieved, and what can be remembered? How can the residual become the engine of meaning?
The interview is in English and it is accompanied by Ether’s music, released by Homework Records Netlabel.