Bio
Sayak Shome, born July 28, 1990, is an interdisciplinary artist from Durgapur, India. He received his bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering (2013) from West Bengal University of Technology, Kolkata, India, during which he dived headlong in his artistic pursuits, and which would later become his primary vocation. In 2013-15 he led a peripatetic life and worked in various roles of a film/video professional. He received his master’s degree in Fine Arts at the University of Cincinnati, US (2017), following which he taught introductory art and film-making courses at the university. He presently lives and works in Birmingham, UK.
2017: His work locates itself at the intersection of life and technology, trying to comprehend, contextualize, revise, dismantle and envision modes of being. It strives to engage the cerebral and the sensorial in a dialectical battle in the physical arena; walk on the virtual rope of reality, and embrace the existence of both in the context of both. Play, parody, and remixed semantic enclosures seek to visualize tautological syndromes, bringing in the uncanny and the absurd to observe their effect on the living force.
2022: I like exploring and thinking about the di/in-gestion of sights&sounds|stimuli across the digital-real divide/multi(ap)plication. I sometimes present my observations, experiments or imaginations in the form of digital files, objects, projections or installations. The idea of oceans(of data) being held in glasses(servers) amuses me. If someday all the digitals were to be made material, would it completely (land)fill up the planet, I wonder. When one becomes a flickering hologram, perpetually displaced across the digital real estate, where time is archived in such a way that existence is atemporal, how do they metamorphose?
C/V
Education
MFA - Interdisciplinary Arts (2015-17)
College of Design Art Architecture and Planning
University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, US
B.Tech, Electronics and Communication Engineering (2009-13)
Techno India College of Technology,
West Bengal University of Technology, Kolkata, India
Awards/Grants
C3 (Codes, Creativity, Community) grant, supported by Goethe Institut, Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai and ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, for the collaborative project Whale Tales, developed initially as part of the BeFantastic Together Fellowship (2022)
Graduate Assistant Scholarship, University of Cincinnati (2016-17)
Beverly Erschell Scholarship (2016)
Xingkui Guo Award (2016)
Graduate Incentive Award, University of Cincinnati (2015-16)
Exhibitions
Curated
Memorising post fungible - non human
Curated by Sukanya Deb, Sarah Malik and Vidur Sethi
India Art Fair(Terrain.art), New Delhi, India (2022)
Pocketwatch (series of photos and videos)
Tripwire
Curated by Deepanjan Mukhopadhyay
Dodd Galleries, Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, US (2018)
Mardern(sic) Art (installation), Eye Machine (installation)
My Arms are Like Joy Joy Joy Joy!
Curated by Derek Franklin
The Carnegie, Covington, KY, US (2017-18)
Mardern(sic) Art (installation)
Art kids in 3D
Curated by Mark Harris
Clay Street Press Gallery, Cincinnati, OH, US (2017)
Mardern(sic) eArth (installation)
Aural Latrinalia
Curated by Nearby Collective
Art Academy of Cincinnati, OH, US (2016)
Intercepted Transmissions (sound art)
Poly-morph
Curated by Frances Newberry and Andy Knolle
840 Gallery, DAAP, University of Cincinnati, OH (2016)
Entertainment in Isolation (installation) [collaborator: Harry Sanchez Jr.]
Group
C3 Open House, Harkat Studios, Mumbai, India (2023)
Whale Tales (video, book, AR)
Bangalore Literature Festival, Bengaluru, India (2022)
Whale Tales (video, book, AR)
BeFantastic Showcase, Samsung Opera House, Bengaluru, India (2022)
Whale Tales (video and book)
EOP SummerCamp, Eastside Projects, Birmingham, UK (2022)
Neon City (digital prints with Augmented Reality)
India Art Fair, New Delhi (BeFantastic), India (2022)
Whale Tales (book - AI generated images and text)
[collaborators: Arnab Chakravarty, Nikita Teresa Sarkar, Padmanabhan J and Uma Khardekar]
Abstract Mind, CICA Museum, Gimpo, South Korea (2022)
A Film (video)
Intervals Festival, projection mapping by Pitch, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia (2021)
Digital video loops (projection mapping)
Horizon, Guerrilla projection by satellite.tv.cincy, Cincinnati, OH (2021)
Carwash (video loop/projection)
9x18: The Parking Lot Art Experiment, Cincinnati, OH (2017)
Following a chameleon (video/installation)
International Sculpture day, Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park and Museum, Hamilton, OH (2017)
Art Institute (sculpture/installation) [collaborator: Jedidiah Stuelpnagel]
DAAP MFA Thesis Show, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH (2017)
SMH, Eye Machine (installations)
MFA Open Studio, The Waiting Room, University of Cincinnati, OH (2016)
Opening Scene (video)
Displaced, MACAA conference, Modern Makers, Cincinnati, OH (2016)
Unbelonging (video)
Returning Exhibition, The Waiting Room, University of Cincinnati, OH (2016)
Sea-Creatures (video)
International Sculpture day, Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park and Museum, Hamilton, OH (2016)
Fork, Spaghetti and Meatball with Fly (duct tape sculpture)
[collaborators: Harry Sanchez Jr. and Siri Langone]
Meyer’s Gallery, University of Cincinnati, OH (2016)
Interactive Music Box (installation)
DaapMade, Malton Art Gallery, Cincinnati, OH (2016)
A study of warmth and coldness in society (photograph)
MFA open studios, Rare-View Gallery, University of Cincinnati (2015)
Coming of Age (video), Death in the backyard (photographs)
Portrait show, Phyllis Weston Gallery, Cincinnati, OH, US (2015)
Selfi.e. (photographs)
Online
GoToMorrow
Ghosting the Machine, Shared Ecologies - Shyama Foundation (2023)
ic-k,i'll-u-shun
Memory Card, New Art City Festival (2023)
Whale Tales
C3 Open House on Gather (2022)
Artist Talk: Deep (ML) Diving with the Whales
AI x Design: AI Playground on Gather (2022)
Mirage of Movement
eyemythfestival (2022)
Whale Tales
BeFantastic Together Fellowship showcase (2021)
Once upon a time in Dystopia
Dreams.exe on terrain.art (2021)
Carsun
Art Hole:15 on ahole.co.uk (2021)
Tail of A.Symmetry
02022020.SPACE (2020)
Digital Trash
Bleak Friday (2019)
Performances
The Grey Album by The Bodhisattwa Trio (live-cinema/audio-visual performance)
Jazzfest, Kolkata, India (2019)
The Grey Album by The Bodhisattwa Trio (live-cinema/audio-visual performance)
TopCat CCU, Kolkata, India (2019)
Lateral Thinking (live-cinema/audio-visual performance)
The Mockbee, Cincinnati, OH (2017)
Crosley (audio/video - live processing with custom max patch)
Not Everybody at Once, Contemporary Arts Center - Blackbox, Cincinnati, OH (2016)
Pattern Logic (live-cinema/audio-visual performance)
Modern Makers, Cincinnati, OH (2016)
Variations II of John Cage (with five turntables) interpreted and conducted by Mark Harris
The Mini Micro Cinema @ The Carnegie, Covington, Kentucky, US (2016)
One person
Labrat (5 channel video)
The Portal Gallery, Cincinnati (2017)
Trash (video, installation, sculpture)
840 Gallery, DAAP, University of Cincinnati (2016)
World Notoday (video, prints, text, installation)
840 Gallery, DAAP, University of Cincinnati (2015)
Screenings
A Film
Rocky's Reels, Kaplan Auditorium, DAAP, University of Cincinnati, OH (2017)
Age of Assembly (excerpt)
Rocky's Reels, Kaplan Auditorium, DAAP, University of Cincinnati, OH (2016)
Age of Assembly
Kaplan Auditorium, DAAP, University of Cincinnati, OH (2015)
Fairy tales for high-school children
1st Kolikata Independent Film Festival, Kolkata, India (2013)
When the dog god high
Transmissions2 - Experimental Film Section, Lightcube Film Society, New Delhi, India (2013)
Parallels, almost
18th Kolkata International Film Festival - Short Film Section, Kolkata, India (2012)
Experience
Teaching
(December 2022)
One of the instructors in the course "Rethinking Heritage in Metaverse"
Course Objective - Using tools of Artificial Intelligence to generate work that helps document a traditional art-form/artist
Winter School, 2022 - Anant National university
(Spring 2018)
Adjunct Instructor – Digital Media Collaborative (A&S, CCM & DAAP), University of Cincinnati
Philosophy of Filmmaking
Adjunct Instructor – School of Art, DAAP, University of Cincinnati
Time Studio
Video for Artists
(Fall 2017)
Adjunct Instructor – Digital Media Collaborative (A&S, CCM & DAAP) – University of Cincinnati
Introduction to Filmmaking
Introduction to Cinematography
Introduction to Film Editing
Adjunct Instructor – Art Academy of Cincinnati
Video Games: History and Culture
(Spring 2017)
Teaching Assistant (Instructor of record) – School of Art, DAAP, University of Cincinnati
Basic Video Production
Film Programming
Moving Images, Imagined Cities @ Mini Micro Cinema
with University of Cincinnati, Department of Film and Media Studies (2016)
Attended:
Fellowships
C3: Codes, Community, Creativity (2021-22)
Be Fantastic Together Fellowship on Climate Change and AI/ML tech-art (2021)
Workshops/ Internships
Shared Ecologies: "Ghosting the Machine" workshop with Sahej Rahal (2022)
Film Studies Intern, University of Cincinnati (Fall, 2016)
Teaching Workshop, University of Cincinnati (Fall, 2015)
Docedge (Documentary/Pitching workshop) as an observer, Documentary Resource Initiative, Max Mueller Bhavan, Kolkata, India (2014)
Screenwriting Workshop, Kalpanirjhar Foundation, Max Mueller Bhavan, Kolkata, India (2010)
Conferences
International Sculpture Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US (2016)
MACAA Conference, University of Cincinnati (2016)
International Žižek Studies Conference, University of Cincinnati (2016)
Professional:
Video Production
Disoriental - Music Video
for beatnyk
New Delhi, India (2023)
Whale Tales - Video Stories,
for Whales for Climate
India/Online (2021-23)
Animals - Music Video
for Enolaton
Kolkata, India (2021)
Last Radio Show on Earth Video Series
for Enolaton
Kolkata, India (2021)
Europa Swim - Music Video
w Shan Bhattacharya for The Bodhisattwa Trio
Kolkata, India (2020)
Azadi (freedom) - Protest Documentary Video
with Abhra Aich
Kolkata, India (2020)
Art Ed Dept. Video
for University of Cincinnati, DAAP, School of Art
Cincinnati, OH, US (2018)
Audio Tour (intro video)
for Britni Bicknaver,
Cincinnati, OH, US (2017)
Video Documentation
Requiem (performance)
for Malcolm Cochran, Cincinnati OH, US (2018)
Cinematography
An extra noise by the big boss
Short film, Dir. Kaveh Baghdachi, Cincinnati, US (2018)
The Bathroom Bottle
Short Film, Dir. Kaveh Baghdachi, Cincinnati, US (2017)
Graphic Design
Posters for University of Cincinnati
MFA Open Studios (2016)
Displaced Show (2016)
Size Matters Show (2015)
Video Editing
Hair Care
Social Media promo for Tadpole Productions, Kolkata, India (2021)
ek adbhut dakshina, Gurudakshina
Visual promotion of Feature Film for Moonwalk Production, Mumbai, India (2015)
Transformation Video
Corporate Film for Glitch, Client: Hindustan Unilever, Mumbai, India (2015)
The Assassination of Arvind Kejriwal
YouTube video for Video Daddy, Mumbai, India (2015)
The Hair Band, Home Debut
Advertisement for Rahul Bhushan, Mumbai, India (2015)
Jalaluddin’s Niyyah
Documentary trailer for Abhra Aich, Kolkata, India (2014)
Rice mill machinery
Corporate Film for Tadpole Entertainers, Client: Weilai Machinery, Kolkata, India (2014)
Ekla Cholo Re
Music Video for Waveforms Studio, Client: Oporinoto, Kolkata, India (2013)
Actor
The Hair Band, Home Debut
Advertisement for Rahul Bhushan, Mumbai, India (2015)
Paranoir
Short Film, Directed by Sounak Kar, Produced by SRFTI, Kolkata, India (2014)