the kids are in trouble in Maps of Disquiet,
Chennai Photo Biennale, Dec 2021 - Feb 2022
Curatorial note by Arko Datto, Boaz Levin, Kerstin Meincke and Bhooma Padmanabhan
Titled Maps of Disquiet, the 3rd edition of the Chennai Photo Biennale, reflects on the exigencies of our times: resisting majoritarian impositions, ecological collapse, and technological dystopias by reclaiming pluralities of thought, voices, and art, and building new networks of solidarity and care. In today’s world of highly specialized fields of operation, rigid chains of command and niche disciplinary focus, a space such as a biennale offers the possibility of rethinking our futures through broader parameters that address the complexity of the disquiet that we are experiencing.
The site of the 'Great Trigonometrical Survey' of 1802, the first colonial attempt to measure and map the subcontinent, Chennai today is an arena for the creation of resistant cartographies. The biennale illuminates the invisible realms of power and knowledge that shape our global present while simultaneously navigating contested visions of our global future. It asks, whose resources? Whose rivers? Whose interests? Whose voices? Whose images?
