Khoj is an autonomous contemporary arts organisation based in New Delhi, We have been committed to the exploration of ecological issues through art, for over a decade. More recently we have been engaged in a three year project, Does the Blue Sky Lie? :Testimonies of Air’s Toxicities,” that explores the troubled ecology of Delhi’s air.

Does the Blue Sky Lie? asks us to think about the air we breathe and what drives it to be toxic, even when it is ephemeral, invisible, removed from our consciousness by the deceptive blueness of the sky. The project has 3 distinct episodes:

• A Public Art intervention : Air Expo 2022, Select Citywalk Plaza, 21st-29th April
• An Exhibition : Does the Blue Sky Lie? Khoj Studios, 27th April-15th May
• Informal Talks : Cafe Classroom, Khoj Studios, 30th April-30th May

This art project hopes to activate thinking and action to combat air pollution in New
Delhi.

Artists: Abhishek Hazra, Achia Anzi, Architecture for Dialogue, Bhagwati Prasad, Nitin Bathla, Sharbendu De, Center for Genomic Gastronomy, Gigi Scaria, Fields of View, Visual Respiration, Saraab (Omer Wasim and Shahana Rajani), Hanna Husberg, ThinkArts, Thukral and Tagra, Pradip Saha, Warrior Moms

AIR EXPO 2022
Select Citywalk Plaza | 21st April-29th April 2022

The first episode of Does the Blue Sky Lie? is Air Expo 2022, a public intervention at Select Citywalk Plaza that presents a fictionalized space much like a real life trade fair, selling ideas and visions of what our houses, technologies and imaginations for a better atmospheric future may look like. Air Expo 2022 brings together a series of artworks including interactive games by Thukral and Tagra and Bangalore-based game designers Fields of View; art by Gigi Scaria, Centre for Genomic Gastronomy, Sharbendu De, Bhagwati Prasad and Nitin Bathla; and public interventions by ThinkArts, an arts education organisation, and Warrior Moms, an action group focused on air pollution. Air Expo 2022 asks: In an age of hyper-capitalism, what does it mean when our solutions to crises also unfold in the same capitalistic fold that generated those problems to begin with?

25 Years of Khoj + Does the Blue Sky Lie Opening
Khoj Studios | 27th April 2022
We kick off 2022 with a party and an immersive sound performance , marking 25 years of Khoj and the opening of Does the Blue Sky at Khoj Studios.

Does the Blue Sky Lie?
Khoj Studios | 27th April 2022- 27th May 2022 |

Does the Blue Sky Lie? an exhibition at Khoj Studios, will exhibit works by Abhishek Hazra, Architecture for Dialogue, Achia Anzi, Hanna Husberg, Thukral and Tagra, Pradip Saha, Saraab (Shahana Rajani, Omer Wasim), and Sharbendu De. Engaging with questions of being in “common” with our atmosphere, the works delve into the effects of extractive
infrastructures on landscapes, the hubris of technocratic solutions to the climate crisis, embodied testimonies of the body serving as a barometer of toxicity, vernacular architectural responses to air pollution and speculations around our collective atmospheric future.

Cafe Classrooms
Khoj Studios | 30th April onwards

As an arts space, Khoj is constantly grappling with modes of knowledges across disciplines. Our curatorial approach strongly emphasises learning as praxis, accepting our role as trying to forge together new entry points into the thematics that interest us. Over the course of researching Does the Blue Sky Lie?, we realised the need to relearn what we know about the intersections of our lives with the natural world around us and the decisions, policies and ideologies that shape it. Cafe Classrooms, will be an ongoing activation of the Khoj Cafe as a discursive space for informal learning and relearning by bringing in speakers, experts and interlocutors speaking about the climate crisis, intersections of ecology, environment and economy. The series is curated by Pradip Saha, environmental communicator, journalist. He is also the Director of Damage Control, a communications agency in the sustainable development context.

About Khoj:
Khoj International Artists Association is an autonomous not-for-profit contemporary arts organisation based in New Delhi, India. At Khoj, we believe that art is of intrinsic value to society; it is a crucial form of inquiry that provides unique insights and drives change through affect. Since our inception in 1997 in New Delhi, we have been committed towards building global networks and solidarities, especially in the subcontinent. Through our programs we support and incubate emerging, experimental and transdisciplinary creative practices.