Amar Kanwar: The Sovereign Forest in collaboration with Sudhir Pattnaik/Samadrusti and Sherna Dastur

Amar Kanwar is an artist and filmmaker. Kanwar has distinguished himself through films and multimedia works, which explore the politics of power, violence, and justice. His multilayered installations originate in narratives often drawn from zones of conflict and are characterised by a unique poetic approach to the social and political. Kanwar’s long-term research project, The Sovereign Forest (2012–ongoing) was presented at NTU CCA Singapore in 2016.

Sudhir Pattnaik (born 1962, lives in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India) is an independent media activist who has been intensely engaged in social issues for the last 25 years. He is associated with print and electronic news magazines as a part of non-profit collective Samadrusti, and is the editor of fortnightly Oriya news magazine The Samadrusti. He is also a lyricist, playwright, and theatre director. His views are non-ideological and secular. He “firmly believes that it is only love and peace preached, practiced, and propagated by the bold and the brave minority that may bring lasting change in society.” Pattnaik has collaborated on The Sovereign Forest since 2011, and has hosted its installation in the Samadrusti campus in Odisha since 2012.

Sherna Dastur (born 1971, lives in New Delhi, India) is a graphic designer and filmmaker. Her film Manjuben Truck Driver (2002) has been screened at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, United States, and the International Documentary Film Festival, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, among several other festivals. Her recent design work includes Project Cinema City (eds. Madhusree Dut ta, Kaushik Bhaumik, and Rohan Shivkumar, Tulika Books, 2013), Trace Retrace: Paintings, Nilima Sheikh (ed. Kumkum Sangari, Tulika Books, 2013), and The Khoj Book, 1997–2007: Contemporary Art Practice in India (ed. Pooja Sood, Harper Collins, 2010). She has also worked on a range of interventions for social campaigns and films on issues of fundamentalism and women’s rights. She has taught the foundation course of colour and form as visiting faculty at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India, also her alma mater. Dastur has been collaborating on The Sovereign Forest since 2011, experimenting with making paper and the handmade books, and designing the installation as it travels and evolves.

Ute Meta Bauer is a Professor at the School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University Singapore (NTU). She is currently the Acting Director and Principal Research Fellow at the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (NTU CCA Singapore); and is the Chair of the Masters in Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices (MA MSCP) programme. Having served as the Founding Director of NTU CCA Singapore for over a decade, her work as educator and curator over the past years has focused on Climates. Habitats. Environments. At the Centre, she curated and co-curated The Oceanic (2017/2018), Trees of Life. Knowledge in Material (2018), and The Posthuman City (2020). In 2022, she served as curator for the Singapore Pavilion at the 59th Biennale di Venezia, featuring artist Shubigi Rao. Her recent large scale projects include the 17th Istanbul Biennial (2022), co-curated alongside David Teh and Amar Kanwar, and the artistic direction of the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale 2024. She is a Trustee of the Art Foundation TBA21 and a member of the Governing Council of n.b.k. Berlin. Bauer was recently conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Art and Design by Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Helsinki, Finland.

Magdalena Magiera is Curator, Outreach & Education at NTU CCA Singapore. She was an independent curator, Managing Editor of frieze d/e, and currently Editor of mono.kultur, a quarterly interview magazine. She co-curated Based in Berlin (2011) as well as exhibitions for The Building and SPLACE in Berlin. Magiera was Project Manager of The Maybe Education and Other Programs at dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel (2012), and UNITEDNATIONSPLAZA, Berlin (2006–08). Prior to joining NTU CCA Singapore, she worked for e-flux exhibitions and public programmes in New York City.