The decision to present an art exhibition in India bloomed from a deeply personal connection for Pierpaolo Ferrari, one half of the renowned artistic duo TOILETPAPER. The visual artist is married to an Indian woman, and a significant part of his family traces its roots back to the vibrant city of Mumbai. The first time he set foot in the mesmerizing South Asian metropolis, he reveals, was four-years-ago for a wedding, when an unforgettable whirlwind of sensations engulfed his senses. The kaleidoscope of colors, the symphony of flavors, the warmth of hospitality, and the sheer beauty of the place left an indelible mark on his creative psyche. So much so, that the idea to curate an art exhibition in this enchanting city was a calling that felt intuitively compelling and poetically destined.
Alongside his partner, Maurizio Cattelan, the creatives unveiled “RUN AS SLOW AS YOU CAN,” an immersive art exhibition at Mumbai’s newly-inaugurated Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Center (NMACC) on July 22. Only the second visual arts exhibition to be held at India’s first multidisciplinary cultural center since its star-studded launch back in April, that saw global superstars Gigi Hadid, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Priyanka Chopra, and others, descend upon Mumbai for the ribbon-cutting, the three-month-long showcase invites visitors to step into the enigmatic world of the creative agency and image-based magazine and delve into the profound and ever-evolving creative minds of the dynamic duo.
Curated by Mafalda Millies and Roya Sachs of TRIADIC, a creative house and cultural engine based in New York City, London, and Vienna, the phantasmagoric exhibition transcends the physical realm, delving into the ethereal plane of the virtual, where time and space intertwine. Like traversing through a dreamlike game world, the boundaries of reality are playfully toyed with, as the viewer becomes part of a cosmic performance where perceptions blur and dimensions shift. Sprawling over four distinctly-themed floors, “RUN AS SLOW AS YOU CAN” features oversaturated, larger-than-life photographs printed like wallpaper and vivid, custom-made installations drenched in surrealism and designed to put viewers face-to-face with seemingly never-ending stimulation and make us question the way we engage in an increasingly virtual world.
As I wandered through the kaleidoscopic labyrinth, I couldn’t help but think of Ray Bradbury’s classic novel, Fahrenheit 451. The book follows the protagonist, Guy Montag, who navigates a dystopian world where books are burned, and people no longer read but instead watch television and take “happy” drugs. In this world, people are bombarded with mindless entertainment, that includes screens playing sitcoms, ear devices that keep people in a constant state of distraction, and the omnipresence of mass media and advertisements, which inundate people with never-ending messages and images at every turn. The incessant flow of information leaves people little time to pause and question the content they are consuming, contributing to a state of over-stimulation and superficiality.
It’s easy to get lost in this immersive maze, which features vivid photographs of a cat sandwiched between two hamburger buns and taxidermized goat head covered in splotches of paint, a swimming pool filled with 10,000 plastic bananas, a vintage car that had to be craned into the building, and an AI-enabled rooster in the exhibition’s final room that offers profound responses to any of life’s most pressing questions such as “who is the best rapper alive?” (to which the oracle, as it’s nicknamed, responded to “seek rhythm within yourself.”)
It’s disorienting— and perhaps, that’s the whole point. “I think people will either love it or hate it,” mused Ferrari during a press conference following a preview of the exhibition. Isha Ambani, the brains behind NAMCC, feels that TOILETPAPER’s most extensive show to date will resonate with the vibrant youth who make up India, where up until recently, the concept of going to museums or to galleries was a very nascent concept, despite its centuries of culture and heritage. “The imagery-laden, surrealist and sensory universe of ‘RUN AS SLOW AS YOU CAN’ is both young and playful and pushes the boundaries of art as we know it,” she said. “While fresh and innovative in its conceptual, often ironic approach, at the heart of this exhibit is the celebration of a curious, exploratory energy that is quintessentially Indian.”
It was important for the curators to keep the exhibition very local and spotlight the extraordinary craftsmanship of Indian artisans. Most of the production was done in the country and all of the prints and installations were constructed locally. “We wanted to tell the story from an Indian perspective and with the culture here being so rooted in craftsmanship, we wanted to showcase that playfulness in the narrative,” shared Sachs.The artists also pay homage to India through the use of bananas (India is the world’s largest importer of the fruit), dome-shaped entrances reminiscent of Rajasthan havelis, an elephant, and a large-scale Taj Mahal image.
The exhibition is site-specific to the NMACC, which means that all the custom-made pieces are going to stay and live there, while the rest will be taken down and recycled. Cattelan and Ferrari don’t believe in repurposing their work, so if you are keen to enter their surreal universe, you need to run (as slow as you can) to Mumbai.
“Run As Slow As You Can” is on display at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai till Oct. 22, 2023.
