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In the Media

performata — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 09:22:46 CST

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2008

"Sushil Kumar is a maverick artist whose practice shows a conscious resistance to institutionalised art practice. His work directly and indirectly questions notions of beauty, of appreciation, of creativity and even goes so far as to question the audience and what it means to view an art work. ..."
Read the complete article here.

April 2008

'Crowd Control' by Lakshmi Indrasimhan, Tehelka | Read in PDF format

September 2006

'Critic's Essay' by Rahul Bhattacharya

Performance Art Report

performata — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 08:56:34 CST

Source: Performance Art Report at Khoj

Sushil Kumar

Sushil Kumar is a maverick artist whose practice shows a conscious resistance to institutionalised art practice. His work directly and indirectly questions notions of beauty, of appreciation, of creativity and even goes so far as to question the audience and what it means to view an art work.

“My ideas comes from everydayness. When you see my work, you should come away thinking, ‘even I can do this’! Engagement with the everyday is very important for me. After all that is what links art with life.”

The point of departure, for Sushil Kumar, lies in extending the everyday and ‘expending’ it into an evocation of nation and memory. Thus, in a work like Bootwala, the artist re- enacts the familiar punishment doled out to students, that of being made to assume the pose of a ‘Murga’, and subjecting himself to a considerable amount of exertion and pain, crawls, hops and trudges along a crowded street in Khirkee Village, before reaching the doorstep of Khoj. The re-enactment here becomes a critique of a recognised punishment at one level, the prolonged exhibition of which allows for its cruelty to come to the surface. But the performance, by entering the public realm, performed as it was in front of a live audience, becomes a critique of society as well, of how we view such acts, with indifference, with amusement or even with pleasure. The artist broods further on the multiple meanings of the act through which it becomes possible to view the concept of ‘lesson’ as “learning, teaching as well as violence” at the same time.

“My performance is an axis-mundi that can open up to a number of entry points. The effort, at all times, is to break out of my conditionality- to break free from the shackles.”

Another performance piece, titled ‘Habeas Corpus’, sees the artist trace the contours of his own body, as he lies naked inside a house with visitors looking on. On conclusion of this act, the marked space is then filled up with shoes, with names of people written on them as well as business and identity cards scattered all over the footwear. While the performance includes the artist reading out a poem towards the end, just this simple act becomes a powerful critique of identities that become objectified and are drowned within the hysteria of war and strife. The body remains a mere trace, its phenomenological existence forgotten within the created chaos.

The artist has much to say on the issue of activism. “I dislike this talk about art and activism, it’s a matter of convenience for the critic. Life, for me is nothing without activism”. But at the same time, he doesn’t wish to shout about it from the rooftops. The connotation that he’d much rather use is cultural practice, which he considers to be about empowerment rather than politics that “is always about power”.

The appeal of performance, for Sushil Kumar, lies in its directness. It allows the artist to make a human intervention through his/her body, something that takes place “in real time and space”. “You can engage with a person totally. The audience cannot be passive in a live performance. And participation and intervention on the part of the audience is very important for me.”

A parting remark serves to explain the nature of Sushil Kumar’s artistic proposition when he says, “my creation is a suggestion, you can react any which way.”

The Performance Space of Sushil Kumar

performata — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 07:26:46 CST

	..............................My Resume My Statement as an Artist.......... ...........Reach me..........................




	Read 'Crowd Control' in Tehelka here

My Statement as an Artist

performata — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:42:08 CST

Footnotes of my Artistic Activity

I am an artist/interventionist working at the open-ended propositions of performance art.
My work encompasses live performance and performance for photographs, videos, films, installations and art objects.
I love poetry, experimentation, exploration and investigation. My work process is an engagement and art practice to investigate liveness, mediation and duration.
To overcome the gap between art, artist and audience: my work process is an open invitation to everyone for active participation and interaction.
I expect creative participation and imaginative interaction in my work process, so that the person she/he whosoever is interacting or participating may contribute through an active engagement in making the work and to give the manifold meaning and connectivity to the work process which makes the work process more communicable/communicative.
Strategically, I believe there are many and different routes of enquiry and I found this strategy moredynamic than a lot of others.

I like sharing experiences and exchanging ideas, memories, location and time.. Therefore, in a larger context and extended and expanded framework my work could enable in making multiple metonymical meanings and connections to social and cultural site: sight: cite.

My Resume

performata — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:00:36 CST

_____________________________________________________________________________

I, SUSHIL KUMAR, born in Delhi, India, am an artist and interventionist,
working with the contemporary art practices. My projects/works
encompass installation, performance, video and art objects. I am exploring
and experimenting with alternate foundations of visual art, language, vision
and expression.
Through the process/participation/connectivity/association/relationship
in my art practices my works are the 'open brief' with open-ended
performative propositions and contexts.

Selected Projects and Participation

Participated in number of exhibitions and festivals in India and Abroad

Artist in Residency program at KHOJ International Artists’ Association Residency for performance art, New Delhi 2006
Overnight performances, New Delhi, 2005.
Indiafest in Germany, An Arota Art project of contemporary art of India in Germany 2001-02
Lehmbruck Museum an Exhibition/Show of Performances, Installations and Videos 2001
IN THE CENTER OF EYES OF ART – An International Exhibition in Poland 2000
New Faces of Arts in Asia, an international Performance Art Festival in Poland 1999
A project for Art FORUM in Sweden in 1992-93
Project of an Installation on Jammu and Kashmir Highways for J&K Motors (India) in 1991
Artist camp at Kud, Jammu and Kashmir 1991
Installations/Performances/Presentations supported by SIDA and FORUM
Conducted Summer Children workshop for SKP (State Council for Arts and Letters) 1988

NAMYFEST Non-Align Movement Youth festival, New Delhi (1985)

International Youth Festivals in former USSR, Cuba and former Czechoslovakia

First All India Youth Festival’s Art show and Artist camp organized by State Art Council (1985)

YMCA International youth Art Festival on the occasion of International Year for Youth (1985)
Number of site-specific works and projects in different parts of India from 1985-91

Participated in number of projects of ACC (Asia Cultural Council) Art’s Projects, SAC (Czechoslovakia), Japan Foundation, SIDA, Swedish Institute (Sweden), BWA (Poland), Western Front (Canada), ICCR (India Council for Cultural Relations, India)

Locarno Video Art Festival, Turino, ‘We the primitives of the Future’ an online millennium colloquium, Italy
Works are in India, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Germany, France, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Yugoslavia, Canada and Australia

Collective-Collaboration

All Times Blues, co-directed the film for the Public Service Broadcasting Trust, India, 2002.
Mandala, a film on video, 1999.
Gift for India, New Delhi, 1997.
Critical Spring, an Installation for Uday Shankar Festival of Contemporary Art, New Delhi, 1996.
Performance at Rabindra Bhawan galleries, New Delhi, India, Jan. 4, 1995.
An Installation at Siri Fort for “Art-in-Exile”, a project with the displaced Kashmiris, 1993-94.

Grants, Awards and Prizes

Grant from Germany to travel and present work in Germany, 2001.
Grant by the ICCR to travel in Poland and Austria, 1999.
Grant by Svenska Institute: traveled in Sweden, France, Finland, Belgium and The Netherlands, 1992-93.
Hindi Academy Prize for Poetry (State Academy for Language), 1986.
YMCA National Youth Award for Fine Arts in the International Year for Youth, 1985.
State Council for Fine Art and Letter (SKP) Award, 1983.
DUWA (Delhi University Women’s Association) Prize, 1981.
National Solidatory Award, 1980.

Others Literary Culture and Creative Activities

Associated with many cultural groups and activities.

Worked with many renowned film and theatre directors.

Associated with many writers' association, sattended many symposia, seminars and writers' workshops, including the Afro-Asian young poets conference

Worked for TVNF (Television News Films)

Contact

Download

My resume in .pdf or .odt format

Contact

performata — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 03:27:06 CST

Postal Address
	Sushil Kumar 2021 Katra Lachoo Singh Bhagirath Place Chandni Chowk Delhi 110 006 INDIA
Phone
	+91 11 23866538
Email
	mr_sushilkumar@rediffmail.com

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Lesson

performata — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:50:40 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Human Chain

performata — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:50:08 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Elements

performata — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 11:04:19 CDT

Nude Descending a Staircase

performata — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:30:07 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Habeas Corpus

performata — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 09:49:36 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.