24:00:01

In fragile balance with passing time, aspiring after self-definition in the name of caste, religion and nation, to love and to kill, while civilizations rise and fall in undeterminable time – when the clock-face, reaching 25:00:01, exits real time.

This is perhaps how Shilpa Gupta’s thoughts can be summed up, which manifest, in a state of on intentional fragmentation, as the installation entitled 24:00:01 at the M0 project gallery of Műcsarnok / Kunsthalle Budapest.

The text, written in the first person singular, unfolds almost word by word – peppered with intentional omissions and misspellings – on a split-flap display. The original function of the utilized object is to convey arrival and departure information with reference to airplanes and trains, certainly in a milieu where our stay is temporary.

This transitional nature is also reflected in the meditative monologue that appears on the flaps of the display, which touches on such topics as the fragility of nations, the political background of migration, terrorism, the role of the media, and the issue of religiously motivated violence – all in the context of self-definition.

Shilpa Gupta is an internationally renowned artist living and working in Mumbai. Her contemplative, time-requiring installations are personal but also highly critical of contemporary social and political phenomena. They operate with themes that concern everyone, such as personal freedom, security and anxiety.