2022 CCA Research Associate Vishal Kumaraswamy's new online work goes live

One of our new 2022 CCA Research Associates Vishal Kumaraswamy has published new online work ಇರುವು Iruvu (Presence) with Site Gallery, Sheffield. The four-channel video examines the hyperreal viability of the subaltern body within broader themes of caste and race. Using the metaphor of a never-ending voyage, the work references histories of geographic and social migration to look at the conditions of sites of physical and digital commons.

The work doubles as a search (and interrupted conclusion) for a surface of projection, upon which the aligning, orienting, assimilating impulses of caste, capital and state are lost, and an un-intercepted affect can begin to exist, where unforeseen bodies then become emergent. Over the course of four brief acts, ಇರುವು shifts between numerous images of the subaltern male body, captured through traditional and volumetric filmmaking processes. It imagines uncontested environments where a collective assertion of presence can precipitate.

The work exists in four acts: Nauke, Kadalu, Suli and Aayama. You can watch ಇರುವು in full on Site Gallery's website here.