Exhibitions

LN Tallur: Chirag-e-AI

An exhibition of sculptures and a video by contemporary artist, LN Tallur. An artist from MAP’s home state of Karnataka, Tallur’s background in museology is evident, as he invites us to view the museum as a space where the past and the future collide. In this exhibition, he begins with thinking about darkness outside the circle of the illuminated lamp, catapulting audiences into a dialogue between celestial beings and glitches, composite figures and white spaces, imagined chatbots and neural networks.

Tallur draws from traditional sculptures and lamps in MAP’s collection, to create intersections between artificial intelligence (AI) and ritualistic belief systems, challenging audiences to question humanity’s growing reliance on technological systems.

Mythical characters melt and morph, as he speculates on how AI can transform them. He re-examines and re-imagines historical objects and sculptural practices, and these interventions spark a dialogue between history, modernity, industrialisation and capitalism.

The monumental scale of some of  Tallur’s creations, in relation to more traditional sculptures, asks questions of conventional belief systems, and the idea of abundance reminds us of human conditions like greed, desire and hypocrisy. He plays with the illusion of materials and their transformation in different contexts alongside the varying responses the viewer might have to this metamorphosis. For example, his video work, Swarm, swirls between abstraction and the dreamlike documentation of material processes. 

The exhibition is accompanied by a booklet in Kannada and English that comprises richly illustrated images of the works, an essay authored by Pramod Kumar KG, and an interview between the artist and Professor Tarikere. This exhibition is free to the public.

About the artist

Born in Karnataka, the artist LN Tallur shares his time between India and Korea. He made his debut in the 1990s and has approached material, art history, museum spaces and technology in a unique way, since then.

Installation view of Chirag-e-AI at MAP, Bengaluru