Projects like London’s Backyard Biennial East are collective endeavours aiming to reach people who feel excluded by art galleriesIn 2018, on the outside wall surrounding the entrance of the National Theatre of Banglad...
See moreProjects like London’s Backyard Biennial East are collective endeavours aiming to reach people who feel excluded by art galleries
In 2018, on the outside wall surrounding the entrance of the National Theatre of Bangladesh, I first encountered a work by the artist Reetu Sattar. A group of musicians were perched on construction scaffolding, all dressed in white and playing a single note on the harmonium – an instrument used in Bengali classical music. Together, they produced a low hum that seemed to vibrate through everything around me. The work was called Lost Tune.
I came across the work at a time when I desperately wanted to learn a musical instrument, but music was not allowed in my house. A growing sentiment in many Bangladeshi Muslim households held that music was prohibited in Islam, despite our long histories of musical traditions. It felt as though everything we knew of the past had been locked away inside the Jadu Ghor, the “magic house” (the Bangla words for museum), quietly collecting dust.
Continue reading...
Projects like London’s Backyard Biennial East are collective endeavours aiming to reach people who feel excluded by art galleriesIn 2018, on the outside wall surrounding the entrance of the National Theatre of Banglad...
See more