Rafay Rashid at The Amp:
Asad Raza has been creating multi-sensory and “metabolic” encounters in the art world for the past decade, guiding audiences into embodied experiences with materials like soil, water, trees, and electricity. His work—spanning video, installation, sculpture, and then some—is often activated by people, dissolving disciplinary boundaries and between audience and artist.
Though his practice resists easy categorization, there are steadfast commitments: building social fabric between living and non-living beings, and drawing attention to neglected modes of experiencing art and the world at large. From “The Home Show,” wherein Raza invited fellow artists to intervene in his tiny New York City apartment, to “Root sequence. Mother tongue,” where he brought 26 living trees to the Guggenheim Bilbao, Raza has maintained a steadfast relationship to questioning how and what art can do for the public, human or otherwise. Last year, ARTnews named “Diversion”—for which he redirected a river through Frankfurt’s Portikus gallery and filtered its water for visitors to drink—one of the 100 greatest exhibitions of the 20th century.
For his latest show, “Thigmotaxis (the rat show)” at times through December 12th, Raza created public sculptures for the rats of New York City. Named after the scientific term for how animals respond to tactile stimuli, the exhibition is set up in three parts.
More here.
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