Fungible Avatars | Cosmos 3

Amol Patil’s sound and video installations reinterpret his father Kisan Patil’s play, Saata Patrachi Kahani (Postcard), written in Marathi in 1982 for a working-class audience. The play presents correspondence between a migrant mill worker in the city of Bombay and his wife living in a village in Mahrashtra. Written at a time of widespread strikes to protest poor wages and labour conditions in the textile industry, the play captures the aspirations and grievances of an individual working within an environment where the sound of machines assaults the body only to become a part of its function through habituation. 

Patil presents stills and excerpts from the original play, and a video that creates a gestural lexicon of sounds and actions that suggest life in the mill and its cramped quarters. A four-channel sound installation, with material from tape recordings made by Amol’s father during rehearsals or for soundscapes for the theatrical performances, provides a counterpoint to the silent visuals.

Gunaji Patil’s (Amol's grandfather) bed, motor and video 2013

While Amol Patil has been working with the remains of my father and his theatre practice, he compares living and dead objects and their functions, like in a theatre set up. In this video, Amol explores the transformation of stability with time of both his grand father and the bed that he used in his village home.

Mural Painting process image

Image 1

Image 2

Image 2

Image 1