Karthik Pandian: Before the Sun

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• Karthik Pandian
• Fredrik Nilsen
• Archaeology
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Do we have a solar unconscious? What connects us to buried peoples, histories, and suns? These are some of the questions L.A.-based film artist Karthik Pandian asks in his upcoming exhibition "Before the Sun," a 16mm film installation showing at Midway Contemporary Art. Pandian draws inspiration from earthen mounds made by the Mississippian culture in the ancient city of Cahokia (near St. Louis). The exhibit features a four-sided structure of rammed earth much like Monks Mound, the largest edifice of the Cahokia Mounds, which was constructed almost entirely of layers of basket-transported soil and clay around 900-950 C.E. According to a press release, looped 16mm films of the sunrise and sunset will be projected into the eastern and western corners of the gallery as if seen during the Vernal Equinox from the apex of the mound. A grid of magenta twine, of the sort found at an archaeological dig, supports the projectors, suggesting an excavation site, but also providing a metaphor of modernity's connection with the past. The opening reception is 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, September 18. (The Sun Gives Birth to the Grid III, photo by Fredrik Nilsen)
Sept. 18-Nov. 6, 2010