Indian artist Kiran Subbaiah reevaluates the history of Modernism, through its ideals of growth and progress, as one steeped in contradictions around industrialisation and its effects on society.
Originally written in 1994, this treatise charts the fictional passage of Melancholia—a figure borrowed from Albrecht Durer's engraving from 1514—through a range of art historical movements, from Cubism to Pop Art, burdened by the weight of mechanisation, lamenting her centuries-long inability to take flight.
Published here for the first time, Melancholia in the Age of Mechanization was written as part of Kiran Subbaiah's Master's in Sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. The complete facsimile of this dissertation is accompanied by a recent interview with the artist by Nihaal Faizal and Sarasija Subramanian.
Born in Sidapur (India), based in Bangalore, Kiran Subbaiah was trained as a sculptor from Royal College of Art, London and MSU, Baroda. He works in many genres including photography, video, sculpture and installation. It is often through the act of humour and irony that the artist is able to draw out his observations on the world. He questions the relationship between function and value through his art works causing reactions and effects.
