In 1965, when the Cold War was at its chilliest, the C.I.A. installed a plutonium-powered spy device on a mountain called Nanda Devi, in the Indian Himalayas. A storm hit weeks later and the device was lost, never to be retrieved. In 1978, during a mountaineering expedition, Himali Singh Soin’s father took a photograph of Nanda Devi that would be made into a national postage stamp. Soin was young and impressionable at the time, and that picture had power for her. Today she views the mountain as “a canvas for speculations, and reflections about nuclear culture, porosity, leakages, toxicity and healing, spiritual-scientific entanglements, environmental catastrophe, and post-nation states.” Soin’s latest installation, Static Range, explores the site by combining poetry, music, video, ceramics, and works on paper. —Elena Clavarino
The Arts Intel Report
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
Himali Singh Soin: Static Range
A still from Himali Singh Soin’s An Affirmation, 2022.
When
Dec 10, 2022 – May 15, 2023
Where
Etc
Photo courtesy of the artist