Astha Butail (represented by GALLERYSKE, New Delhi, Bangalore) has been selected as the next BMW Art Journey winner. The International Tribunal for Art Basel and BMW selected her unanimously from the selected three candidates whos artistic works were presented in the Discoveries sector at this year’s Art Basel show that took place in Hong Kong.
Astha Butail’s work titled "In the Absence of Writing", is concerned with the memory and living traditions that are passed through an amalgamation of teaching and oral poetry. According to artists, her work is “a homage to the intangible oral traditions that are still alive today."
Her research on the cultural organizations began in 2009. She began to educate herself with hymns and the ancient language- Sanskrit. For the BMW Art Journey, Butail plans to investigate the Zoroastrian Avesta, Jewish Oral Torah and Indian Veda traditions by observing and recording their different memory techniques and interviewing scholars and practitioners of each tradition. The journey will lead through the cities of Yazd (Iran), Jerusalem (Israel), London (United Kingdom), Varanasi, Pune, New Delhi and Mumbai (India).
Both Art Basel and BMW along with Butail will document this artistic journey and share it on broader platforms by the way of print, web and the speedy social media.
The international experts awarding Butail's proposal were Claire Hsu, Director, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong; Bose Krishnamachari, president, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India; Matthias Muhling, director, Stadtische Galerie in Lenbachhaus and Kunstbau, Munich; Alexandra Munroe, senior curator of Asian art and senior advisor, Global Arts, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and Pauline J. Yao, curator visual art, M+, Hong Kong.
The Jury practiced an intensive series of deliberations. The authenticity and the in-depth research of Butail’s artwork and her multidimensional approach made her receive a wide recognition.
"We were struck by its sensitivity and range, and how it expands upon the artist's prior practice of investigating her own history and identity", the jury said in a joint statement.
"The journey brings together ethnography, spirituality, and sociology. We were especially taken by Astha Butail's interest in tracking down endangered oral traditions, which she will document with the tools of an artist and interactions with scholars and spiritual leaders. In a digital age, when knowledge is fragmented, meaning is evanescent, and face-to-face contacts are fleeting, this project reconnects us to a slower world, where ideas were shared through deep and sustained personal interactions."
The BMW Art Journey is an association between Art Basel and BMW which recognizes the emerging artists worldwide.
