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Social Fabric at Iniva Art Opening Wednesday 18th January2012

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19th January – 10th March 2012

Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts) presents the Social Fabric exhibition at Rivington Place, in which textiles are used to explore labour, capital, colonialism and international trade. In the 19th Century Karl Marx’s account of the cotton industry tracked fifty years of boom and bust and the effects this had on workers in Britain and its colonies (and in particular India). Social Fabric cross references historical and contemporary accounts, focusing on works by two artists Sudhir Patwardhan and Alice Creischer, presented alongside extensive archival material.

Alice Creischer’s installation Apparatus for the Osmotic Compensation of the Pressure of Wealth during the Contemplation of Poverty tracks the threads that connect a worldwide circuit of production and consumption, cycles of investment, disinvestment and decline. Inspired by a trip to India, the work looks at the economic and social impact of European colonialism and subsequent globalisation. The craze for Indian Chintz caused protest amongst Spitalfields weavers in 1719 and devastated whole sections of its textile industry. This led to Gandhi’s choice of the spinning wheel as a symbol of decolonisation, and caused Nehru to comment that – ‘the history of cotton and textiles is not only the history of growth of modern industry in India, but in a sense it might be considered the history of India.’

Since the mid-1970s, Sudhir Patwardhan has depicted Mumbai and its urban proletariat. His painting Lower Parel (2001) shows ‘Girangaon’ (mill village) the place where the cotton mills that transformed the city’s economy and led to the Indian industrial revolution were located. By the 1970s textiles employed one in three of the city’s workers and brought in migrants. New social and cultural institutions evolved around street theatre, poetry and music and it was a hub for left politics. This painting depicts the area after the mills closed down in the early 80s, superimposing different urban strata – the defunct factories, new small scale enterprises and high rise luxury apartments.

These two complex works are examined through an extensive display of archival loans and artist interventions, including Company Paintings, Indian Chintz, original journals from Marx, films, and recordings of mill workers’ testimonies.

There will also be an extended programme of talks and events running alongside, including a symposium on textiles; talks, and workshops with activist and writer Meena Menon. Social Fabric is curated by Grant Watson, co-organised by Christine Checinska, with exhibition architecture by Celine Conderelli.

www.iniva.org/

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