Manifesta purposely strives to keep its distance from what are often seen as the dominant centres of artistic production, instead seeking fresh and fertile terrain for the mapping of a new cultural topography.

Dayanita Singh, IN

Wallpaper exhibited at Ex-Alumix in Bolzano

As a child, Indian artist Danayita Singh would often see wallpapers of exotic constructions in doctors’ clinics and in some homes. While photographing factories she imagined them turned into new scenery for these clinics and homes, in the form of cheap posters. In this installation, the artist created wallpaper out of photographs of the aluminium factories of Renukoot, India, that show the vertiginous scale of metal production in the world’s new industrial centres.