Surrendur | Karthik Pandian

Pandian describes the title work as “a machine for homecoming — a platform to gather, find our relations, receive light, and feel the vibrations of a liberated future”. Revisiting themes from his 2010 exhibition Before the Sun at Midway Contemporary Art and his 2022 off-site project In the River, Pandian’s new work intends to help seed the spiritual ground for Land Back on Turtle Island.

Surrendur emerges from the artist’s ongoing collaboration with American Indian Movement activist Mike Forcia (Bad River Anishinaabe), composer and sonic sculptor Douglas R. Ewart, and Indigenous Earth Protector Ta Pejuta Wicahpi Win (Hunkpati Dakota Oyate) and features contributions from Amina Claudine Myers, Cameron Patricia Downey, Jonathon Rosemond, Bailey Samber, Julia Helen Rice, Sam Phipps, Azuré Kauikeolani Iversen-Keahi, Thomas Draskovic-Chetan Ohitika (Standing Rock Lakota), Sam Aros-Mitchell (Texas Band of Yaqui Indians), Lela Pierce, Leila Awadallah, Lakota “Hokie” Clairmont (Hochunk/Lakota), Akičita Šuŋka-Wakaŋ Ska (Standing Rock Lakota), Niko Georgiades and Unicorn Riot, Luis Arnías, Robby MacBain, Ernst Karel, and Lalitha Pandian.

About the Artist:
Karthik Pandian is an artist and teacher developing ceremonial technologies. He has presented his works in moving image, sculpture, performance, and sound internationally at exhibition venues such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Hammer, the Palais de Tokyo, and the Whitechapel Gallery and on digital platforms such as the Criterion Channel and Triple Canopy. He is a professor of Art, Film, & Visual Studies at Harvard University and a guide, certified in offering Lama Rod Owens’ Seven Homecomings.

Gallery Hours:
Midway’s regular hours are Wednesday – Saturday, 11am – 5pm and admission is free. Please keep an eye out for details on forthcoming public programs in May and June presented in conjunction with the exhibition.

This exhibition is made possible with support from Creative Capital Foundation, MacDowell, the Film Studies Center at Harvard University, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.