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Associate Residency 2008
Associate Residencies are shorter, self-directed residencies in which the artists are free to experiment and explore new directions in the process and production of their projects. These residencies allow greater flexibility to both the artists in terms of time and to Khoj as it allows for a rolling application process.
About this edition
This Associate Residency 2008 invited artist Vishal Rawley to work with the community in Khirkee to create an icon bank of images that represented the way of life in the area. These icons included things of daily use, occupational tools, household objects etc. The process involved working with students from the 4th and 5th class of Nav Gyandeep School in the Khirkee neighbourhood in a workshop format. The workshop included recreating Monday Market – a weekly bazaar that is held in the Saket neighbourhood close to Khirkee. This weekly market has vendors setting up stalls selling all sorts of things that the neighbourhood could want or desire, from fresh vegetables to fancy clothes, to pickles to VCDs. The children were asked to pretend to be vendors at Monday Market and make dummy paper objects to sell at the mock bazaar. The teachers of the school and the students acted as customers who bought these dummy objects with fake currency. This was a sort of competitive game in which students who made the most money from the trade were declared winners. After many preparations, Monday Market was launched as a game; the response from the students was overwhelming, they made tiny paper dresses, fruits, toys, flowers, and other fancy objects to sell in the bazaar. After a hectic trading period of students hawking their wares in a charged atmosphere, the counting began and three students were declared winners. As a by-product, a whole lot of paper icons of articles and objects were generated. These icons have been scanned and photographed to create an icon bank which represents Khirkee life. This was a rather playful and whimsical representation of life in Khirkee village interpreted through colourful paper objects drawn and crafted by children from the area.
