inordinate skies invites you to be moved. You are encouraged to soak in any emotions you feel as a result of what your senses capture. You may wish to stare, slow your walking pace, sit down, close your eyes, and contemplate why each artwork moves you so. Starting from the curator’s own personal desire to look at the sky in moments of despair, melancholy, and pondering, the artworks in this project mark sometimes significant, sometimes fleeting yet memorable skies. The three artists’ relationships with such skies are metaphorical and intricately detailed––they reflect on the emotional impact of the presence(s) and absence(s) of skies amidst their individual urban, busy lives in the cities of Colombo, Bangalore, and Brooklyn (with the project being primarily produced in Delhi).

inordinate skies has three curatorial ‘interventions’: an exhibition from 12–19 December 2023 held at India International Centre, New Delhi; a publication with a curatorial essay, commissioned piece by each artist, and more skies, a series of public programmes.

inordinate skies, the publication

The three artists sabeen, arshad, and aruni respond to the question “when is the last time you looked at the sky?” using mediums and forms ranging from painting and photography to text. These responses were specially commissioned for this project. The publication also includes a curatorial essay and curatorial (an)notations to the artworks displayed in the exhibition. A limited number of first-edition copies of the publication will be distributed for free during the exhibition until 19 December 2023.

more skies
threading skies: sewing circles with sabeen omar
16 december saturday, 11.30am–1pm and 2.30–4pm at the IIC lawn
[registration recommended via this link: https://forms.gle/Fj2D1tM74zMYJAmQA]

screening of the film to see the sun at midnight / loving against time by arshad hakim followed by the artist in conversation with pramodha weerasekera
18 december monday, 6–7.30pm at the Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi

copyedited by rasudula dissanayake
exhibition design by arundika weerasekera and shahdia jamaldeen
identity design by raeesah samsudeen

Participating Artists

• sabeen omar
• arshad hakim
• aruni dharmakirthi