𝔉𝔞𝔶𝔡𝔞𝔟𝔞𝔡 𝔉𝔬𝔯 𝔖𝔞𝔩𝔢

Collateral Event: Dhaka Art Summit 2023 বন্যা Time-based programming

5 February, 2023
3-4.20 pm at📍Rouf's Villa, Faydabad

New work by Omar Chowdhury (BD/AU) & কে বা কাহারা

Melding Dhaka metal music and neglected architecture, 𝔉𝔞𝔶𝔡𝔞𝔟𝔞𝔡 𝔉𝔬𝔯 𝔖𝔞𝔩𝔢 is a performance and installation by the artist Omar Chowdhury and কে বা কাহারা (Ke ba kahara). At the site of a private villa by renowned architect Marina Tabassum, the performance uncovers the tangled history of an imported modernism and its obsolescence by the contemporary aesthetic of Bangladesh’s voracious new rise. Through a choreography of architectural interventions, moving images, guitar score, and performance, a speculative present is enacted that is haunted by doubt, private regret and ruinous anticipation.

About 𝔉𝔞𝔶𝔡𝔞𝔟𝔞𝔡 𝔉𝔬𝔯 𝔖𝔞𝔩𝔢

Commissioned by Ke ba kahara. Curated by Sadia Rahman and co-produced by Ke ba kahara and Muhammad Anwar Hossain. Guitar score composed and performed by Mihad Rafi. With special thanks to Marina Tabassum, Khaled Mahmud and Helena Kritis. Research and early development supported by Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia through the 2020 Now On grant. A collateral event of Dhaka Art Summit 2023 বন্যা. Printing supported by nokta.

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𝔉𝔞𝔶𝔡𝔞𝔟𝔞𝔡 𝔉𝔬𝔯 𝔖𝔞𝔩𝔢 Performers’ script (EN)

Installation stills

Images: Omar Chowdhury

About the Faydabad project (2020-23)

Haunted by doubt, regrets and ruinous anticipation. A two-part conceptual performance, architectural intervention and installation by Omar Chowdhury (BD/AU) essaying a charismatic modernist building by the architect Marina Tabassum that is equally desirable and overwhelming to all who pass through it. Two chapters, separated by a history of rupture and a mnemonic gap of over two years.

Detail: Omar Chowdhury. Faydabad To-Let Documentation 2021, 21m52s, 1080p, H.264 (ProRes), colour, stereo.