DFG-Graduiertenkolleg 1759 der Universität der Künste Berlin "Das Wissen der Künste"
Memoirs of Saturn
(2020)
In a set of para-fictional texts which interweaves the life of cultural
historian Dr. Shahidul Zaman with key moments in the ruptured history of
Bangladesh, the artist Omar A. Chowdhury, builds a reflexive mirror to
examine the nature of memory, of historiography, and the processes of the
art system. Recounting the history of an exhibition that was censored and
closed down in Dhaka in 2016, Chowdhury constructs a narrative that
doubles back on itself along multiple axes of the personal and public as
he and Dr. Zaman delve into the uncertainties in the presentation of
identity, the recollection of history, and the compromises of political
commitment.