NS Harsha: Nations, Chen Chieh-jen: Factory

About

Both artists explore issues which have a global resonance, using film and installation to address labour outsourcing, consumerism and market forces. NS Harsha: Nations Nations is a grand-scale installation by Indian artist NS Harsha, exhibited for the first time in Europe at Rivington Place. It questions international politics and globalisation combining serious discussion with visual wit. 192 sewing machines are overlaid with calico painted flags signifying the countries that make up the United Nations. NS Harsha is an artist known for his sensitivity to the human condition, drawing on details of cultural traditions in India and subjects which are part of all our lives. He focuses on the whimsical as well as the tragic aspects of life. The artist creates a vision of a world divided by flags, he uses a delicate web of threads to link the sewing machines. Nations refers to the outsourcing of labour in response to the demands of world economies, as well as the networks that exist between countries. NS Harsha has exhibited internationally, Nations is his most ambitious installation to date and was shown to critical acclaim at the Sharjah Biennial earlier in 2009. Chen Chieh-jen: Factory Taiwanese artist Chen Chieh-Jen's haunting film Factory is shown for the first time in London. Focusing on a group of textile workers, it is set within the context of manufacturing moving abroad in search of cheaper labour. In 2003 the artist invited workers to return to the Lien Fu garment factory which had been closed down 7 years earlier. The unscrupulous owners were investigated for refusing to play retirement pensions and severance. In this derelict garment plant, abandoned objects still remain from 7 years before: calendars, newspapers, punch clocks, manufacturing equipment, the dust that has built up, and the banners left behind from the workers' protests. http://www.iniva.org