Visual Arts Alumnus Vikram Divecha's Work on Display in 'Out of Place' at Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde

Visual Arts alumnus Vikram Divecha ’19 has work on display in the Out of Place exhibition at Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde in Dubai, UAE. The show runs from March 22, 2021 to May 22, 2021. 

The group show, which also features pieces by Mohammed Kazem, :mentalKLINIK, Haleh Redjaian, Hassan Sharif, and Raed Yassin, takes a close look at our position in an impermanent world. Out of Place suggests that our experience of place is susceptible to alienation and discomfort, much like our experience of time is.

In a press release for the exhibition, the gallery states, “Vikram Divecha’s Negative Heaps (of designated waste) (2015) is an archive of discarded tiles, unused segments of an Islamic geometric-patterned mosaic lining a Dubai traffic underpass. The bits of waste are hand-numbered (as would be the actual tiles used in the final wall decoration), arranged in piles creating their own aesthetic pattern.”

Divecha works in New York and Dubai. His projects frequently shine a light on invisible structures, bringing up questions of agency, ethics, and value. 

According to the artist’s website, “...he seeks an aesthetic participation. Divecha has come to define this conceptual and collaborative approach around what he calls 'found processes’—those forces and capacities at work within state, social, economic and industrial spheres. Working with available material, space and labour Divecha attempts to realign the social and urban systems we inhabit by introducing alterations and interventions.”

Vikram Divecha '19 in 'Out of Place'

Divecha’s solo exhibitions include Towards Opacity, Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, Dubai, UAE (2020); Minor Work, Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, Dubai, UAE (2017); Portrait Sessions, Tashkeel, Dubai, UAE (2016); and Urban Epidermis, Traffic, Dubai, UAE (2012). 

He has also been featured in numerous group shows, which most recently include Columbia MFA Thesis Show, Wallach Gallery, New York (2019); Living Room: UIT (Use it together), International Studio & Curatorial Program, New York (2019); Who Are We Now?, Land Art Mongolia 5th Biennial, Mongolia (2018); Feel the other day running underneath this one, Times Sq. Space, New York (2018); First Year MFA Exhibition, Wallach Art Gallery, New York (2018); (Un)conscious: A series of small serendipities, Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, Dubai (2018); and Untold Stories Retold, Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi (2018). 

Divecha received the 2014 Middle East Emergent Artist Prize and has also created projects for The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture's public art commission InVisible in 2014.

Additionally, he participated in the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program from 2019 to 2020.