Son[i]a #280
Raqs Media Collective
This podcast is part of Re-Imagine Europe, co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. Music commissioned to Caterina Barbieri. Interview by Anna Ramos. Produced by André Chêdas.
Raqs is a word in Persian, Arabic and Urdu for the hypnotic state that whirling dervishes enter when they whirl but it may also be read as an acronym for Rarely Asked Questions.
Founded in 1992 in Delhi by artists and independent media practitioners Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula and Shuddhabrata Sengupta, the Raqs Media Collective addresses and challenges hardened constructs regarding temporality, collective intelligence and language through a practice of “kinetic contemplation” anchored on different modalities of thinking.
The collective’s output places them at the intersections of contemporary art, philosophical speculation and “concrete” research — and it often takes the form of exhibitions, installations, books, films, encounters, essays and online projects. There is neither a clear succession nor distinction between theory and practice or action and reflection in Raqs’ work process. As in much of their practice, categories collapse.
In 2000, Raqs co-founded Sarai, an inter-disciplinary space at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in Delhi, with other academics. A platform for research and discussion on urban space and contemporary realities, Sarai allowed the collective to set up media labs in different neighborhoods of the city and pursue hybrid contexts for creative work. Since its foundation, Sarai has supported independent fellowship programs, hosted conferences, workshops and performances and launched the Sarai Reader book series. It is still very much active today.
In this podcast Raqs Media Collective founder Monica Narula talks about raga, the technological body, public domain, the ineffability of time, the Mahabharata, politics of language, exhaustion, dilation and the legibility.
Eyal Weizman
In our second conversation with founding director of Forensic Architecture Eyal Weizman, we explore further the nuances of their sophisticated research practice, this time focusing on the notions of time and duration from a forensic perspective in order to unfold multiple temporalities from an instant. In doing so, Weizman explains how to build a case for public truth using clouds, architecture, metadata, shadows, testimonies, and surveillance and satellite imagery.
Deleted scenes
We dig up some unreleased fragments of the interview with Naeem Mohaiemen that we were unable to include the first time around.
Naeem Mohaiemen
Naeem Mohaiemen talks about pragmatic politics and failed masculinities, about Yasser Arafat, Muammar Gaddafi, and Salvador Allende, about the backstories of "Two Meetings and a Funeral", and about the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. We also talk about the generative aspect of melancholy, behind-the-scenes politics, and the importance of keeping up the search for the things that we still do not know.
Deleted scenes
We dig up some unreleased fragments of the interview with Raqs Media Collective founder member Monica Narula, that we were unable to include the first time around.