In March the Palazzo Grassi in Venice opened an exhibition of two video installations by the Indian film-maker Amar Kanwar: The Torn First Pages (2004–08), about Myanmar’s struggle for democracy in the face of a military dictatorship, and The Peacock’s Graveyard (2023), in which abstract or symbolic images and text relating five short stories are displayed across seven screens, soundtracked by a raga by the pianist Utsav Lal (until 10 January 2027). The Serpentine is presenting The Peacock’s Graveyard together with Such a Morning (2017), a feature-length film about a maths professor who moves into an abandoned train carriage in the wilderness and shrouds himself in darkness, and Kanwar’s latest film, The Charcoal Man (23 September–31 January 2027). Researched and filmed over three years, this work – also a seven-screen installation – is informed by the Partition of India and, like much of the artist’s oeuvre, melds fact, fiction and fantasy.
Find out more from the Serpentine’s website.
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