Ishraki Kazi
Alumni
Poetics of Inquiry: How to Stay with Trouble, is a behavioral-based solo exhibition by artist Ishraki Kazi (SMACT ‘23). Activated by a series of durational performances, the show is set as a tentacular experiment on the inquiries of how our knowledge system may be limited and how we can relate with others. Audiences will be invited to sign up for one-on-one sessions to explore different ‘chapters’ with the artist, engaging with various scenarios that ignite dialogues and interactions with multiothers from human to animal and microbial entities.
The show questions the reductionist approaches to science as well as binary divisions between mind and body, subject and object, self and other, and wishes to raise awareness of how we are fundamentally entangled with other beings, both human and non-human. Through immersive interactions and meditative threads, Ishraki encourages audiences to engage, not escape, the trouble and challenging issues of our time while re-imagining a holistic land of kin-making embedded with empathy and care.
This exhibition* is curated by Chiarina Chen and produced by The Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT) program at MIT.
*Made possible with generous support from the Council of the Arts at MIT (CAMIT) and additional funding from The Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT) program at MIT.
About the Artist
Ishraki Kazi incorporates durational performances, interactive technology, audiovisual media, and tattooing to explore philosophical questions. Through their work, they investigate pre-conditioned paradigms surrounding language, time, perception, and being. They operate a private tattoo studio as an alternative safe space for body modifications and develop experimental technological environments for augmenting conscious perception. They volunteered across Asia and Europe on various humanitarian projects. They worked with migrant populations at the Azadi Community center in Obrenovac, Serbia, and Mikseliste in Belgrade, Serbia. They also lived on a village farm to learn about remote living at the Chintapu Medicinal and Agricultural Farm in Ilam, Nepal. Ishraki has participated in multiple art residencies including, Arts, Letters, and Numbers in Averill Park, NY, and at The Public Works Department in Governors Island, NY. They received their Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from The Cooper Union and are pursuing their Master of Science (MS) in Art, Culture, and Technology at MIT.
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