Artists

Rohini Devasher

Press release

Deutsche Bank "Artist of the Year" 2024

 

Curated by Britta Färber, Global Head of Art & Culture Deutsche Bank

Rohini Devasher delves into the intersections of science, art, and philosophy through her research-intensive practice. Borrowed Light, Devasher’s first institutional solo exhibition in Europe, highlights her longstanding engagement with astronomy, where light plays a pivotal role. For Devasher, the key to exploring new cosmologies between the human and the non-human lies in examining the interplay between place, observer, and observation.

Devasher has been an amateur astronomer as long as she has been an artist. Working closely with astronomers to explore the narratives, conversations, and stories of those whose lives have been transformed by the night sky, she investigates the remote and often unusual locations where these individuals gather and the forms and modes of interaction that arise from their observations. These locations have included research spaces and observatories across India such as the Indian Astronomical Observatory Hanle, Gauribidanur Radio Observatory, Giant Meter Wave Radio Telescope Array, National Centre for Radio Astronomy, and the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, among others, as well as places where eclipses are visible.

These spaces and the scientists she has worked with are a conduit to the most fundamental questions we ask as a species. What is the nature of the universe? How do we map its resolution? How do we describe, collect, sort, map, and measure what we see? How does our history and worldview shape our interpretation of data and perception of things? Devasher is very interested in the tools and technology that allow for these observations, and these inspire her work.