Disrupting Monocultural Tendencies through Multimodal Montage

Abstract

This thesis contends with the pervasive impact of monocultural tendencies as manifested in the political, cultural, and media landscapes of contemporary India, particularly focusing on the unfolding context of 2024. Amidst an intensifying crisis marked by polarization, historical erasure, and the rise of hegemonic nationalism, this thesis posits art, particularly through the framework of `multi-modal montage,' as a agent of political disruption for `redistributing the sensible.' Tracing the aesthetic and political evolution of montage from its early 20th-century origins in Soviet cinema to its contemporary forms, the thesis outlines the transition from montage defined by collision and conflict to the soft, spatial, and interactive practices of figures such as Nam June Paik and Harun Farocki. It further investigates how `surface tension' and `unquiet objects' manifest within the multi-modal montage in the works of artists like Nalini Malani, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Shilpa Gupta and Nida Sinnokrot.

As an Indian artist, the author situates her own practice within this discourse, highlighting projects such as `The Whistleblower' (2023), a tangible archive within an everyday object, and `A Mystery for You' (2023-24), a fact-checking game that merges a tangible interface with a large language model (LLM). These works exemplify the thesis's argument that artistic interventions can critically challenge and reframe dominant sociopolitical narratives, offering new perspectives and resistances against the monocultural hegemonies. Extending this analysis, the author discusses her exhibition 'Forensic Artifacts of a Democracy in Crisis' (2023) as an operative space. Through a curated assemblage of works, the exhibition provided a physical space for interaction, reflection, and conversation, enabling audiences to engage with the themes of the thesis viscerally. In all, this thesis argues for the critical role of art in challenging memory and forgetting, from fabricated histories to the fall and rise of monuments. From the polarization of media to the flattening of identities, of echo-chambers and absences and grand narratives.