New Art: Hiccups in theory and practice

The Black Gold on Muziris also includes a three-minute digital video projection. And later, 15 kg of peppercorns were spread over the water to create “a strange, mysterious landscape like, maybe, the moon”, says Vivan. The video image shows the floating black gold strewn over the water flowing in slow-motion. What is paradoxical here is that through the magic wand of imagination, the history or the memory of a city submerged in water, unfortunately, falls into the illusion of a “strange, mysterious landscape”. Consequently, the reconstructable historicity of Muziris has been completely wiped off in favour of visual pleasure that stems out of a disoriented imagination, which may aptly be termed as “memory against history”, to borrow Andrea Huysans’ phrase.