Artist Nikhil Chopra’s nine-day art practice at The Met

By Siddhi Jain

New Delhi, Sep 11 (IANSlife) Beginning Thursday, visual and performance artist Nikhil Chopra -- who has been selected as the 2019-20 Artist in Residence at The Metropolitan Museum of Art -- will present "Lands, Waters, Skies" which is a durational performance and installation in the museum.

Nikhil is the first artist in The Met's history to live within the Museum for any duration of time.

Over the course of nine consecutive days, the artist will move through The Met, following an itinerary of his own making, in order to create a landscape drawing that is monumental in size and incorporates elements of sky, land, and water.

During this performance, Chopra will inhabit personae akin to a nomadic traveler, using costumes, makeup, wigs, and masks. He will also perform original music along with collected folk songs.

From September 12-20, he will remain completely within the Museum, immersing himself in the collection and contemplating The Met's role in preserving objects that span history and cultures as well as notions of displacement and migration.

This will be the longest continuous physical residency within a single building that Nikhil has ever undertaken as part of his practice.

Nikhil's artistic practice spans live art, theatre, painting, photography, sculpture, and installations. He has been exhibiting and performing globally since 2005.

Notably, The Met announced today that it welcomed more than 7 million visitors to its three locations -- The Met Fifth Avenue, The Met Cloisters, and The Met Breuer -- in the fiscal year in 2019.

(Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in)