Otolith Group, Otolith II | 2007 | 47min | SD Single Channel Video | UK
Otolith II is set in the near future and mixes fiction, archival material and documentary footage. Filmed in Mumbai and Chandigarh, Otolith II explores the affective pressures exerted upon inhabitants residing within contrasting and competing versions of the ‘city of tomorrow.’ Chandigarh, the product of Corbusier’s 1963 architectural vision and social plan is juxtaposed with contemporary scenes of Mumbai’s mega-slums, contemplating a new state of becoming through its dwellers’ creative solutions for survival. Otolith II investigates the politics of futurity in which predictive models of the masterplan, the corporate scenario and real estate speculation converge to extract labour, convert attention and capture potential for profit.
Friday June 24 7pm
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The Otolith Group was founded in 2000 by its core members, Anjalika Sagar and Kodwo Eshun, who live and work in London. The Group works with media archives, histories of futurity and the legacies of non-alignment and tricontinentalism. The Group’s artistic work explores moving image, sound, text and curatorial practice and functions as a platform for discussion on contemporary artistic production. This latter aspect can be understood as part of the Group’s wider interest in the construction and consolidation of a counter-public sphere. In 2010 The Otolith Group were nominated for the Turner Prize.
