Armin Linke

Galleria Marabini, Bologna
Through October 31

In Mahakumbhmela, Armin Linke presents a documentary observation of the eponymous religious festival’s pilgrimage and related sacred rituals, which are undertaken by some twenty million Hindu faithful.

The gallery’s space has been divided in two, reflecting the main moments of this event, a ceremony that lasts a single day every twelve years in India. In the first room, six large-format photographs show a mass of pilgrims heading toward the rivers and the worshipers’ enormous encampments of white tents; in the second is a video that documents the sacred bathing ritual in the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers. Thanks to the way the installation is displayed, the spectator observes the two banks of the river on adjacent walls and is therefore made to feel perceptually involved in the event.

The project represents a more recent leg of Linke’s travels, which began almost two years ago. As part of his long, round-the-world trip, the artist has monitored the effects of humanity’s movements on the earth and its environment.

If Linke’s series “Global Box” (1998-2000) revolved around the invasive intrusion of engineering and architecture in certain parts of the planet, in Mahakumbhmela the artist focuses his attention on the phenomenon of “accumulation,” which extracts the specificity from some places, elevating them to the rank of the universal. Indeed, in 2001, the Indian city of Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh—the area where the two rivers converge—became the stage for a global event. The city was transformed into a single expanse of urban planning under the impetus of the new influx of pilgrims.

The human impact on the site has been of such proportions that the place’s very geography has undergone a temporary metamorphosis, the signs of which will remain imprinted on the territory and its history. With his new work, Linke invites to us to reflect upon the single events that are unknown to many but are revealed to be fundamental in the understanding of future human geography.




Marinella Paderni
Translation by Amanda Coulson