Rohini Devashar

Shadow Walkers 2012

silver mats, mp3 players
audio duration 16mins

Presented at KhojLive 12, Delhi - Friday,
27 January 2012 - 4:00pm - 9:30pm

Shadow Walkers is a walk down memory lane by devoted umbraphiles, those who are addicted to walking in the shadow of the moon... Seven voices, ranging in tone, depth, age, experience and perspective, talking about the single most transforming celestial event, a total solar eclipse.

For the past two years, Rohini has been working on a form of collective investigation with amateur astronomers in India and abroad, collecting stories, interviews, conversations and histories… a slowly building chronicle of the almost obsessive subculture of people whose lives have been transformed by the night sky. How does one create a sense of engagement with someone else’s experiences? Is it possible to be a participant again once a work is complete? As an amateur astronomer herself, Rohini is keen to explore the dual role of the artist as both ‘participant’ and ‘observer’. Shadow Walkers is one vignette within this project.

Part of this research was undertaken under the Sarai Associate Fellowship of the 'City as Studio' initiative at CSDS, Delhi between February – November 2010. Rohini will be developing this further during a residency at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin march – June 2012.