In November 2015 we made recordings based on the question chosen by the students, "What is the sound of poverty in Chennai". These results are posted on top.

Previously we asked the question in May 2015: "What is the difference in the sound between the inside and the outside of the conservatory". The question in December 2015 then became "What is the sound of poverty in Chennai" In so doing, we investigated the relations that give meaning to the sounds and music around us as students and teachers and engaged with the city of Chennai.


Saturday, May 21, 2016


This is a post by Nakul Krishnamurthy

CAN THE SUBALTERN SPEAK (FOR THEMSELVES)? 





INTRODUCTION TO THE ART WORK
This work is a collection of sounds recorded from four of the many different surroundings where the economically underprivileged find shelter to sleep at night in Chennai, India. The surroundings are

  1. The Marina Beach
  2. Koyambedu Bus Station
  3. Pavement at Vadapalani
  4. Chennai Central Railway Station
The name is a reference to Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s article ‘Can the Subaltern Speak?’, which presents the problems of the Western academics investigating a different culture based on “universal” concepts, which are defined by the West. Hence, she argues, the subaltern rarely enter the political and academic discourses of the West.
The artist understands his inability to represent this segment of the subaltern as he does not belong to this community, but rather merely takes up the role of a mediator between the privileged creators and connoisseurs of high art and the Other, in an attempt to make their voice heard. 


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