Dayanita Singh is well-known for her powerful photography. Her work has been exhibited across the world, including at the Tate, the Venice Biennale, and the Dhaka Art Summit among many others. But often when she saw her work within the gallery context, she came away underwhelmed by the experience and wondered if it was the best way to experience her work.
Taken by the intimacy of the experience with a book, Dayanita set out to create a book that was also, somehow, an exhibition; something she had been told by curators was just not possible. After years of experimentation with both the book and the gallery experience, Dayanita created Museum Bhavan.
Each book is unique, and within it are 9 individual accordion folds of her photography which can be displayed and curated by the viewer in any way. In this way, Singh put the power of curation into the hands of the viewer; and made her work more accessible to a broader demographic. She says, “Why should these museums only be about people who can afford the time and the money to go and visit them?”
The result of her work is an object that is personal, interactive and portable, and one that she hopes will encourage other photographers to recognize the importance of dissemination.
Singh said, “I hope people start to see that while making images is important, the dissemination and how you offer them to people is equally important, and we can't leave that to designers or curators.
It has to become part of what the photographer does.”
Special Thanks
Steidl, Staci Pierson
This film was made possible with the generous support of Harbers Studios.
With Museum Bhavan, Dayanita Singh (born 1961) forges a new space between publishing and the museum, an experience where books have the same--if not greater--artistic value as prints hanging on a gallery wall. Consisting of 10 individual “museums” in book form, Museum Bhavan is a miniature version of Singh’s eponymous traveling exhibition, with prints placed in folding expanding wooden structures.
Since 1985, the International Center of Photography has recognized outstanding achievements in photography with its prestigious Infinity Awards. The awards ceremony is also ICP’s primary fundraising benefit, with its revenues assisting the center's various programs.
This year MediaStorm produced films for the following winners: Lifetime Achievement: Bruce Davidson; Applied: Alexandra Bell; Art: Samuel Fosso; Artist's Book: Dayanita Singh, Museum Bhavan; Critical Writing and Research: Maurice Berger, Race Stories column for the Lens section of the New York Times; Documentary and Photojournalism: Amber Bracken; and Emerging Photographer: Natalie Keyssar; and for Online Platform and New Media: Women Photograph.
Dayanita Singh is well-known for her powerful photography. Her work has been exhibited across the world, including at the Tate, the Venice Biennale, and the Dhaka Art Summit among many others. But often when she saw her work within the gallery context, she came away underwhelmed by the experience and wondered if it was the best way to experience her work.
Taken by the intimacy of the experience with a book, Dayanita set out to create a book that was also, somehow, an exhibition; something she had been told by curators was just not possible. After years of experimentation with both the book and the gallery experience, Dayanita created Museum Bhavan.
Each book is unique, and within it are 9 individual accordion folds of her photography which can be displayed and curated by the viewer in any way. In this way, Singh put the power of curation into the hands of the viewer; and made her work more accessible to a broader demographic. She says, “Why should these museums only be about people who can afford the time and the money to go and visit them?”
The result of her work is an object that is personal, interactive and portable, and one that she hopes will encourage other photographers to recognize the importance of dissemination.
Singh said, “I hope people start to see that while making images is important, the dissemination and how you offer them to people is equally important, and we can't leave that to designers or curators.
It has to become part of what the photographer does.”
One of the innovations in her work, Museum Bhavan, is the actual form of the book itself and how it’s disseminated, which aren’t inherently visual subjects. MediaStorm needed to find a visual solution to this issue that kept the viewer engaged with the narrative of her film.
MediaStorm producer Tim McLaughlin, in conversation with cinematographer Derek Brown, came up with a visual solution to each specific section of narrative. Using Dayanita’s idea of creating a mobile gallery show as a jumping off point, McLaughlin and Brown decided to shoot Museum Bhavan in a variety of locations on the east coast of the United States. The result is both visually interesting and illustrates one of the central ideas of her work.
The film premiered on April 9, 2018 at the ICP Infinity Awards Gala in New York City. The film was a special feature of the evening, and a critical fundraising tool.
Since 1985, the International Center of Photography has recognized outstanding achievements in photography with its prestigious Infinity Awards. The awards ceremony is also ICP’s primary fundraising benefit, with its revenues assisting the center's various programs.
Harbers Studios commissioned MediaStorm, on behalf of ICP, to create a short film about each of the recipients to screen at the awards ceremony and to display online. The films pay tribute to the contributions of each artist to the craft and field of photography and demonstrate ICP's commitment to them.
As a privately funded nonprofit arts and education organization, ICP depends in large part on friends such as you for support. Your generosity is vital to ICP as it continues to grow and succeed in its mission: to present photography's extraordinary power to the public.
There are many ways to give to ICP: Donate to the Annual Fund, create a scholarship, sponsor exhibitions and education programs, contribute to the Collection, or make a planned gift.
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