Rohini Devasher: Borrowed Light

Rohini Devasher, Deutsche Bank's "Artist of the Year" 2024, delves into the intersections of science, art, and philosophy through her research-intensive practice. Borrowed Light, Devasher’s first institutional solo exhibition in Europe, highlights her longstanding engagement with astronomy, where light plays a pivotal role. For Devasher, the key to exploring new cosmologies between the human and the non-human lies in examining the interplay between place, observer, and observation.

Devasher has been an amateur astronomer as long as she has been an artist. Working closely with astronomers to explore the narratives, conversations, and stories of those whose lives have been transformed by the night sky, she investigates the remote and often unusual locations where these individuals gather and the forms and modes of interaction that arise from their observations. These locations have included research spaces and observatories across India such as the Indian Astronomical Observatory Hanle, Gauribidanur Radio Observatory, Giant Meter Wave Radio Telescope Array, National Centre for Radio Astronomy, and the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, among others, as well as places where eclipses are visible.

These spaces and the scientists she has worked with are a conduit to the most fundamental questions we ask as a species. What is the nature of the universe? How do we map its resolution? How do we describe, collect, sort, map, and measure what we see? How does our history and worldview shape our interpretation of data and perception of things? Devasher is very interested in the tools and technology that allow for these observations, and these inspire her work.

The observation of natural phenomena has been a cornerstone of Indian history and culture for thousands of years, particularly in the field of astronomy. The science of the stars was esteemed not only for its precise measurements, data, tables, and calculations, but also for the sensual and spiritual experience of the cosmos, and it was appropriated in other sciences, art, and culture.

The exhibition title, Borrowed Light, is an architectural term used for reflected light, or light “borrowed” from an adjoining space to light an otherwise dark room or passage. For Devasher, Borrowed Light is a meditation on impermanence, light, and time, a reminder that our connection to the skies and what lies beyond demonstrates that it is possible to envision a future of planetary living based on solidarity and empathy.

The exhibition is open until 10 March 2025.