Khoj (3/3): The art of curiosity

The episode was recorded during Indian artist Rohini Devasher’s stay at CERN in Geneva, in the context of the Connect India Residency, an international programme by Arts at CERN and Pro Helvetia connecting the arts with fundamental science. Rohini gives insights into her practice strongly influenced by science. She talks about why she aims to incorporate scientific knowledge into her artistic practice and how she acquires this knowledge on site.

Rohini Devasher completed her Connect India residencies between April and July 2023.

Rohini Devasher is an artist and an amateur astronomer. Her films, prints, sounds and drawings map the complexities of time and space. Following the open call for applications for Connect India, she was invited to carry out a four-week residency at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) in Bengaluru, followed by a three-week residency at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva. In a Mirror, Darkly, Devasher’s project for the Connect India residency, provides close readings of the methods and interactions of observation in fundamental physics through the lenses of wonder and ‘the strange’.

About Connect: Residencies by Arts at CERN and Pro Helvetia

Launched in 2021, Connect is a collaboration between Arts at CERN and Pro Helvetia that promotes and supports dialogue between artists and scientists within the Laboratory’s context. Connect offers a national and an international format, both open to art practitioners from all disciplines supported by Pro Helvetia.

Past editions of Connect: Connect India 2024, Connect Chile 2023, Connect South Africa 2021, Connect 2023, Connect 2021

About Khoj:

Khoj (in English ‘to search’) is an autonomous not-for-profit contemporary arts organisation created in 1997 in New Delhi, India. Through international, on-site and off-site programmes and residencies, Khoj supports emerging, experimental and transdisciplinary creative practices and pedagogies that look at art and its various intersections with other disciplines such as gender, urbanisms, ecology, technology and social practice. The residency at Khoj provides time and space to the artists to engage, respond and present their work in a historical socio-economic context, allowing for inclusivity, participation, and artistic interventions.

Mentioned in this episode:

In the first season of this podcast (Episode ‘Art meets astronomy’) artist Rohini Devasher discusses with astrophotographer Ajay Talwar the expeditions they have undertaken together and the challenges of their collaboration in the field.