Chander Haat is an artist commune space in Sarsuna, South kolkata, It works closely with the local community, migrated people from Bangladesh, Bihar and Sunderbans, where everyday traditions and cultural habits remain important and relevant to the greater social phenomenon. This interaction has led to several community-based art projects and research. The collective also runs an international residency program. Its artists are known for their work in Durga Puja art installations, often connecting socio political themes with local participation and collaboration.
An independent curator and artistic researcher from Kolkata who lives and works nomadically. Her praxis focuses on ecological justice, necropolitics, and experimental media. She was a curator at New Art Exchange in the UK from 2019-2021 and Artistic Director for the Busan Biennaleβs 2021 Sea Art Festival as its youngest and first female, foreign director since 1987. Recent projects include exhibitions curated at Project 88 Mumbai, the 15th Gwangju Biennale, Fondation Fiminco Paris, and 421 Abu Dhabi.
For the second iteration of the Bengal Biennale, we find ourselves within the entanglements of ππ’π―π’ππ’π΅π’ (pronounced ππ°π©-π―π°π©-ππ’πΈ-π΅π©π’π©). Referencing both the iconic figure in Jibanananda Dasβ poem ππ’π―π’ππ’π΅π’ ππ¦π― and the ecology of wild forest-vines (π£π’π―-ππ’π΅π’), we delve into subterranean worlds and buried histories across Kolkata and Santiniketan. ππ’π―π’ππ’π΅π’ dwells within a once-prison, old houses, and a wild park, among other nodes. By tracing underground networks of kinship and contending with plural darknesses, we find poetic strategies that allow us to rest, resist, and create joy amid our current necropolitical landscapes. To become indestructible through symbiotic interrelations, to entwine with our allies, and to insist on living on, together.
– Chander Haat & Ritika Biswas | Co-Curators, Bengal Biennale 2026-27
