‘Dhaka Art Summit is a place to be curious, to feel welcome, to have fun, feel, and think’
DOT Desk: Diana Campbell, artist director and chief curator of the Dhaka Art Summit, recently sat with Shahirah Majumdar to discuss this year’s theme, what to expect, and the role of art in responding to times of crisis, reports Dhaka Tribune.
After a three-year hiatus, the Dhaka Art Summit 2023 opens on February 3, bringing to the public the work of over 160 artist participants at the capital’s Shilpakala Academy. The theme for this year is that the artists have represent the voice of Bonna, a character who speaks from Bangladesh to the world. She is a bold young girl who expresses her dynamic personality fearlessly, refusing to be silenced.
What does it feel like to be back at Shilpakala after the pandemic?
At the 2020 summit, we had so many people and it was so joyful — a transformation of people who had never met into this beautiful collective bond. Then the pandemic happened, and we weren’t supposed to meet anyone we didn’t know. We tried to design a summit that helps you forge bonds with people you’ve never met, and maybe reconsider your bonds with people you’re already connected to. But it’s a big question: What will the 2023 edition feel like, with that massive gap and world changed in between?
How is this year’s theme Bonna a response to everything that’s happened in the intervening years?
There’s a line in the text: How do we tell a story of crisis while facilitating hope? Bonna, for some, carries this meaning of doom. But almost every culture in the world has a flood myth, and the rainbow that comes after the flood is a promise of hope. Times can be hard, but we’re still here to talk about it. Also, I like that it’s a young girl who is speaking. She’s empowered to ask questions, to play with you. But also to let you know that it’s okay for you to ask questions to be loud, make noise, and learn.
How is art a medium for asking those questions and making that noise? Art is a place where how it is isn’t how it has to be. It’s a place of imagination, and you can’t change anything until you’ve imagined it. Artists are able to do that in a way that is sensitive, meaningful and, in a way, is the lasting trace of our humanity. Will there be opportunities for people to make art?
Yes, there are a lot of artworks that are instruction-based work, so you’re basically completing the artwork. There’s a work by a Slovakian artist Roman Ondak, called Measuring the Universe, another work by David Horvitz with instructions called Change the Name of Days. Some other artists such as Sanjoy Chakraborty create a space where you can draw and make responses. The summit was thought of and envisioned as a participatory space.