On 12 September 2024, the exhibition Borrowed Light by artist Rohini Devasher will be on display at the Palais Populaire. The title of the exhibition, Borrowed Light, is an architectural term for reflected light or light that is “borrowed” from an adjacent space to illuminate an otherwise dark room or passageway.
Image above: Rohini Devasher, photo: One Hundred Thousand Suns, Paradigm 2, 1500×843
For Devasher, Borrowed Light is a meditation on impermanence, light and time, a reminder that humanity’s connection to the planet’s sky and what lies beyond shows that it is possible to imagine a future of planetary life based on solidarity and empathy.
The observation of natural phenomena has been a cornerstone of Indian history and culture for thousands of years, especially in the field of astronomy. The science of the stars was valued not only for its precise measurements, data, tables and calculations, but also for the sensual and spiritual experience of the cosmos.
The exhibition Hundred Thousand Suns centres on the historic Kodaikanal Solar Observatory in South India, where observatory staff have been taking images of our sun every day, weather permitting, since 1904. The observations of the sun are used to explore the complexities of observational astronomy and the ways in which “seeing” is stranger, more wondrous and more ambiguous than one can imagine.
These spaces and the scientists with whom Rohini Devasher has worked are a gateway to the most fundamental questions facing the human species. What is the nature of the universe? How is it possible to grasp its dissolution? What is the focus of human attention? How do people describe, collect, sort, map and measure what they see? How do history and worldview shape the interpretation of data and the perception of things? Devasher is passionate about the tools and technologies that enable these observations, and they deeply inspire her work.
About the artist
Rohini Devasher, Deutsche Bank’s Artist of the Year 2024, explores the intersections of science, art and philosophy in her research-intensive practice. Borrowed Light, Devasher’s first institutional solo exhibition in Europe, highlights her long-standing interest in astronomy, in which light plays a central role. For Devasher, the key to exploring new cosmologies between the human and the non-human lies in investigating the interplay of place, observer and observation.
Devasher has been an amateur astronomer for as long as she has been an artist. She works closely with amateur and professional astronomers to explore the narratives, conversations and stories of those whose lives have been transformed by the night sky. She explores the remote and often unusual places where these people come together, and the forms and types of interaction that result from their observations.
These include research rooms, solar eclipse chases and observatories across India such as the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) Hanle, Gauribidanur Radio Observatory, Giant Meter Wave Radio Telescope Array (GMRT), National Centre for Radio Astronomy (NCRA) and Kodaikanal Solar Observatory (KSO), to name a few.
WHEN?
Opening: Thursday, 12. September 2024
Exhibition dates: Thursday, 12. September 2024 until Monday, 10. March 2024
WHERE?
Palais Populaire
Unter den Linden 5,
10117 Berlin
