Gigi Scaria: Time

Curated by Dana Turkovic

Laumeier Sculpture Park presents Gigi Scaria: Time, from April 16–August 14, 2016. The multimedia exhibition consists of recent photographs, films and a large sculpture inside the Whitaker Foundation Gallery at the Adam Aronson Fine Arts Center, plus an outdoor commission located in Laumeier’s Ferring Family Foundation Museum Lawn. Gigi Scaria: Time is organized by Dana Turkovic, Laumeier’s Curator of Exhibitions.

New Delhi-based artist Gigi Scaria’s work focuses on “social mapping”—whether territorial, cultural, environmental or of the hierarchies and systems of our global communities. Each element draws on these themes, continuing Scaria’s inquiry into time, migration, community collapse and the beauty in labor and collaboration. He explores the layers of ancient cultures as they get subsumed in the world’s mega-cities and reflects on the unique form of city-building that exists in St. Louis by cross-pollinating the disappearing architecture and symbols from New Delhi with the Woodhenge at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.

“This show is an attempt to observe the intricacies of the phenomena called ‘time,’” said Scaria. “Memories and histories of our ‘time’ are slipping into the whirlpool of change, which is only understood by the notion called ‘speed.’ Invoking the mounds at Cahokia to the present-day crisis of widespread migrant population, Time tries to grab our time through many perspectives. This is the first time my large-scale sculptural work will be exhibited in a public space abroad. I am really excited for this opportunity at Laumeier, and am looking forward to the interaction of the Park’s visitors with my work.”

Scaria’s practice focuses on the hurried transformation of cityscapes—more specifically, the sprawl of New Delhi and the chaotic demolition and displacement throughout impoverished areas. With a layer of satire and cynicism, his abstracted structures—both imagined and constructed—explore the themes and experience of “time” in an analysis of urban architecture and investigate the past, present and future of his location and the permanence and impermanence of personal and social space.

Gigi Scaria: Time is part of Laumeier’s new five-year programming theme, New Territories: BRICS, 2015–19. New Territories takes a broad look at the world’s cultural zones as they have directly and indirectly impacted life in St. Louis. Projects and activities under New Territories will twist the economic acronym BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) beyond the market forces driving the global economy.

Gigi Scaria was born in 1973 in Kothanalloor, Kerala, India. He received his MFA in Painting at Jamia Millia University, New Delhi, in 1998 and his BFA in Painting from the College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram, in 1995. Scaria’s works have been included in a number of important exhibitions and venues—most notably, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2014 and the India Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale, the 3rd Singapore Biennale and the Prague Biennale, all in 2011. He has had solo exhibitions at the Smart Museum of Art–The University of Chicago; Ian Potter Museum of Art–The University of Melbourne, Australia; Dubai Art Fair, United Arab Emirates; Gallery Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai; Galerie Christain Hosp, Berlin; Video Space, Budapest; The National Art Studio, Changdong, Seoul; Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi; and the Inter America Space, Trinidad. He has also exhibited at India China Contemporary Art, Shanghai; Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei; Helsinki City Art Museum; Kulturhuset, Stockholm; and at Vadehra Art Gallery, London; The Jewish Museum, New York; The 4th International video art Biennial, Tel Aviv; National Gallery of Modern Art Bangalore, India; Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand; Helsinki City Art Museum, Finland; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; and The Newark Museum, New Jersey, among many others. Scaria lives and works in New Delhi.

Laumeier Sculpture Park is a living laboratory where artists and audiences explore the relationship between contemporary art and the natural environment. Founded in 1976, Laumeier is one of the first and largest dedicated sculpture parks in the country, making it an institution of international significance as well as a unique complement to the cultural landscape of the St. Louis region. Laumeier is a nonprofit, accredited art museum that operates in partnership with St. Louis County Parks. Projects and programs are supported by the Mark Twain Laumeier Endowment Fund, the Regional Arts Commission, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Missouri Arts Council and the Arts and Education Council of St. Louis. Laumeier presents 60 works of large-scale outdoor sculpture in a 105-acre park available free to the public year-round, and serves 300,000 patrons annually through temporary exhibitions, education programs, public events and sculpture conservation. The Park is free and open daily from 8am until 30 minutes past sunset; the Adam Aronson Fine Arts Center is open Wednesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm during exhibitions only.