German artists Wiebke Wolkenhauer and Arne Gollasch have been visiting India for several years and, through mutual friends, our paths crossed during an exhibition here in Shantiniketan two winters back. They had reached out to see if Sanjoy and I would be interested in participating in an art project that involved a traveling suitcase. Now, many moons after the initial pitch, they have returned to India with this very beautiful Travelling Studio that will be in our possession for the next three months.
This and two other suitcases will move from artist to artist around the world (as far as I’m aware, there have been other exchanges in Austria and the UK. While Wiebke is leaving much of this project up to fate and her trust in the yet-unknown future participants, the proposed idea is for the studio-suitcases to be returned back to her in Germany after passing through the hands of a dozen artists where they will ultimately come together as an exhibition. The case arriving to India is called The Canary.
There was no overt theme or concept in terms of the type of works that should be created and added to this traveling collection, but she did fill in a few bits and pieces that have certainly fueled my own imagination. (There is a pamphlet from an Argentinian project relating art and compost; writing by Anni Albers; hand-embroidered handkerchiefs with knots forming a loosely defined world map. There is a built-in screen and 6 USB pin drives partially filled with texts and audio and experimental film; layers that touch upon a wide range of issues such as borders, environment, reality, the universe, identity, disparity, and more (I’ve already added my own audio response and a small textual paper sculpture—one of what I imagine will be many contributions over the next few weeks).
At the end of our term, it will be time to pass the suitcase along to another artist. Wiebke hopes it won’t just linger within the same community, and the only real restrictions are practical—cost and logistics. Sanjoy and I have already begun whittling down names of friends around the globe who we might be able to cross paths with for an exchange. A dear friend in America—a passionate activist and master at crafting small, potent art objects—was the first from my mouth. And as cultural landscapes are being systematically dismantled, I wonder how freely such exchanges will continue in the months ahead. Three years from now, when the project should be drawing to a close, will a simple suitcase filled with artistic expression be censored?
In its quiet way, this project stands as a testament to how art moves across borders, carrying ideas and voices with it—its power to disrupt ever present, even in the subtlest of exchanges.
You can follow the Travelling Studios project on Instagram here.
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