after joy

sculpture in public space / two-channel video installation / radio narrowcast

Muziris Biennale, Kochin, India 2018

After Joy follows the traces of four cargo ships: Vishwa Umang, Vishwa Tarang, Vishwa Asha and Vishwa Abha – Universal Joy, Wave, Hope and Grace – built in the shipyard in the artist’s hometown of Kherson, on the Ukrainian-Crimean border, as part of the Indo-Soviet partnership in 1973 and 1974.

Combining a two-channel audio-visual installation and the sculpture made of scraped propellers at the St. Paul School Junction in Kochi, After Joy is developed through a series of radio interventions in the specificity of both sites – Kherson, Ukraine and Kochi, India and draws on the correlations between Ukrainian Cosmism, colonialism and annexation of Crimea in 2014.

After Joy is the first chapter of the artistic research project carried out in the remains of what was once the largest shipyard in the Soviet Union, connecting it to the rest of the world. The continuation of the project is being developed within the Berlin Artistic Research Programme and will take the form of a theatrical performance, After Hope, at the Sophiensælle Berlin in April 2025.

The work is produced during the bagaloREsidency@Pepper House 2018 and commissioned by Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore and Kochi Biennale Foundation.

Sculpture Photo: Kiran Keshav and Swanoop John

Further Links:
Kochi-Muziris Biennale
Goethe Institute Bangalore
Artist in Residency Biennale Foudnation Trailer

Press:
Indian Express
The Times of India