Shubigi Rao
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  • WORKS (2013-2018)
    • 2018. The Wood for the Trees
    • 2017. Written in the Margins
    • 2013. The Retrospectacle of S. Raoul
    • 2013. Useful Fictions
    • OLDER WORKS >
      • 2017 >
        • Every Cabinet is a Library, from the 3rd Pune Biennale
      • 2016 >
        • works from Ghost on the Wire 2
      • 2015 >
        • works from Dear Painter
        • Objects Best Shown to a Stranger
      • 2014 >
        • Visual Snow
      • 2013 >
        • Stabbing at Immortality: Building a Better Jellyfish
        • Blotting the Ledger
      • 2008 >
        • The Tuning Fork of the Mind
        • The River of Ink
  • BOOKS (2006-2017)
    • Pulp Vol. III 2022
    • Pulp: Vol II 2018
    • Pulp: Vol I. 2016
    • Written in the Margins 2017
    • Useful Fictions. 2014
    • History's Malcontents. 2013
    • 4 Pillars: Books from the Echolocation project. 2007-2008
    • No Cover, No Colour. 2006
    • Bastardising Biography: An Extraordinary Initiative. 2006

Bastardising Biography: An Extraordinary Initiative
One inaccessible manuscript bound in porcelain, and a limited edition of 100 mass-produced books
2006

This was part of an exmination of how the supposed custodians of progress, the scientist and the institution have shaped our perceptions from positions of unassailable authority. This is reinforced through biography, for even a critical tome adds worth to a character that may not necessarily deserve it. Acts of biographical looking are akin to curatorship, and both imply a detachment, as well as a sorting of the ‘relevant’ from the ‘irrelevant’.

The inaccessible manuscript for Bastardising Biography, typed handsewn pages bound in porcelain, 2006
(click to enlarge thumbnails)
Picture
Page from Bastardising Biography, monograph, 2006. Photo credit Mayo Martin
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