Interview with Abirami Logendran, curator in residence at ISCP New York

The ISCP residency in New York gave me the opportunity to live in and experience the city over time. The programme served as a solid starting point for establishing new contacts, as it is a well-regarded residency that opens doors. I met artists from many parts of the world, most of them established in their home countries, with very interesting practices.

I didn’t spend much time in the studio, choosing instead to prioritise seeing exhibitions, attending events, and meeting artists and curators I had previously only known digitally.

A highlight was the Open Studios in November, when all the artists at ISCP opened their studios to the public. The event functions both as an exhibition opportunity and as a chance to reach a broad New York audience. I used the opportunity to invite Villiam Miklos Andersen, a Danish artist and former ISCP resident, to exhibit in my studio. It resulted in the show Just-in-Time, which was about the transportation of a dog crate while intersecting the politics of logistics and queer aesthetics. As the curator for the exhibition, I wrote an accompanying text, a science fiction short story, about the crate’s travel and transformation. The works that were produced for this little show will now move on to a solo show Villiam has in Milan next year which is very exciting.

On 17 November, I guest-curated a film programme at the Vera List Center at The New School, in collaboration with Eriola Pira, as part of the center’s thematic series Matter of Intelligence. The program we came up with, Children’s ways of Knowing, reframes intelligence as something that isn’t acquired or developed, but rather always already present. Particular attention was paid to how children engage with their worlds. We screened four films, followed by a conversation with the artists Aslı Baykal and Adelita Husni Bey, moderated by me. The event was presented in collaboration with ISCP, marking the first collaboration between the two institutions.

It was valuable to present a programme to an audience that I was unfamiliar with. In Oslo, I have an established network and a sense of who we should invite and who might attend; here, I had to focus on what to present and discuss and leave the rest to the staff. The event attracted artists, researchers and a broad public. Following the event, I had the opportunity to discuss the themes with several attendees – expanding on our shared ideas about intelligence and intuition.

I also presented the film programme Counter Rhythmic Pulses at e-flux screening room as part of The African Film Institute. We screened three films that critically engage with found footage from various historical archives. I was interested in how artists used different aesthetics strategies to reframe their source materials. The screening was followed by a conversation between Christian Nyampeta and me.

The room was packed and everyone who attended was invited to stay for dinner and further discussions about the themes we had touched upon – it was a truly special evening.

The residency led to many new opportunities and ideas. I quickly entered an environment that suited me and formed acquaintances and friendships that also opened up for new collaborations. There were always hundreds of exhibitions to see, films to watch, various events and gatherings to attend.
I let myself be carried away by the city’s rhythm – its intensity made the stay deeply rewarding.

Abirami Logendran is a curator, writer and artist based in Oslo, currently doing a residency at ISCP in New York. Her work examines how media technologies and their modes of circulation shape our collective experience by fixing a wide lens on contemporary visual culture. She is a film curator at Kunstnernes Hus and the editor-in-chief of the Norwegian Art Yearbook. Her film- and art criticism has been published in both English-language and Norwegian publications.