Whorled (Here After Here After Here)

Jitish Kallat: Whorled (Listed here Immediately after Right here Just after In this article)
16 February – 23 April 2023 – Cost-free
The Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court docket
Somerset Residence
Strand
WC2R 1LA
Absolutely free

This February, Jitish Kallat presents Whorled (Here Immediately after Right here Immediately after Right here), a new courtyard fee by Somerset Dwelling and the Mumbai-based artist’s very first key general public commission in the Uk. This hanging outdoor set up, more than 30 metres in diameter, comprises two intersecting spirals that echo the signage of Uk streets and link the famed neoclassical courtyard of Somerset Property to places across the world and distant universe.

Whorled (Here Just after Here Following Here) is conceived as a seismic ripple or a galactic whorl, aligned to the Earth’s cardinal north-south instructions and spiralling outwards from the centre of the Somerset Residence courtyard. The function draws upon sacred geometry and alchemical diagrams like much of Kallat’s function, it interlaces the speedy and the cosmic, the previous and existing.

Two broad scrolls, each 168 metres in duration, type interlocking spirals and a continuum of textual content and symbols follows the visual language of Uk motorway signage. As visitors stroll through the scrolls, these symptoms point out the length from Somerset Household to around 300 destinations throughout the earth and beyond, pointing to celestial bodies, these as the Moon, Mars, and distant stars in the Milky Way.

As Kallat’s function playfully reorients the courtyard in relation to a myriad of destinations, both of those terrestrial and celestial, visitors are invited to choose pathways by means of the interlaced spirals. Routes as a result of the get the job done map circular actions as a result of room and time. Readers come across a constant shifting of concentrate as proximate planetary places border distant and departed supernovae.

A number of of the places featured in the work have fallen sufferer to increasing sea ranges, whilst many others are identified to be below environmental risk of submersion inside the future thirty several years. These area names, accompanied by warning and hazard symbols, resonate with Somerset House’s very own proximity to the River Thames and London’s vulnerability to flooding. With exhibition dates that encompass Earth Working day 2023, the cyclical actions by way of area and non-linear time prompt a reconsideration of our partnership with the earth, its past and imminent long term, and the wider cosmos.

Whorled (Below Following Right here Just after Listed here) carries on Kallat’s prolonged-standing crucial engagement with suggestions of cosmology, transience and the ecological, owning drawn on imaginary maps connecting the daily and the cosmic for above 20 a long time.

This year’s return of Morgan Stanley Lates, a collection of evening performances, music, talks and poetry in the courtyard, will see a stay activation of Whorled (Here Soon after In this article After In this article) in April 2023.

Whorled (Below Soon after Below Following In this article) is curated by Dr Cliff Lauson, Director of Exhibitions, Somerset Home. The installation will be on show at The Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court docket, Somerset Property, from 16 February to 23 April 2023. 

Whorled (Here After Here Just after Listed here) is presented in partnership with the Kiran Nadar Museum of Artwork, with extra assist from Malik & Azmina Karim, SANTI and those people that want to stay nameless.

©2023 Jitish Kallat, Somerset Household

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