Phra Rahu (Draft)
Niranjan Rajah is a Malaysian citizen of Tamil extraction who is domiciled in British Columbia, Canada. He holds an MFA from Goldsmiths, and is presently based at the School of Interactive Art and Technology at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver.
Niranjan is a pioneer of Southeast Asian new media art. His Failure of Marcel Duchamp Japanese Fetish Even! Internet work was presented at the
International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), 1996 in Rotterdam and his contributions in this field were acknowledged in a two man retrospective, ‘Relocations’, at the ISEA, Singapore, 2008. The significance of his art to national and regional narratives has been recognized in exhibitions such as ‘Intersecting Histories’ curated by TK Sabapathy in 2012 and Rupa Malaysia: Reviewing Modern Malaysian Art curated by Redza Piyadasa in 2000.
Two series from Niranjan’s ongoing Koboi Project (2015 - present) were exhibited at the Singapore Biennale 2016. In August 2017 Niranjan presented Cowboys and Indians Series as a special Edition at the Burning Man Festival at Black Rock City in the Nevada Desert. Niranjan's most recent exhibitions are an installation at the Piyadasa Gallery, Universiti Malaya as part of the inaugural KL Biennale, 2017; and an installation/performance as a part of 'Home in the Expanded Field' at Courtyard Hiroo, Tokyo, 2018.
Selected Exhibitions
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2018 Home in the Expanded Field, Courtyard Hiroo, Tokyo -
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/events/2018/04/24/art-guide/mixed-media-art-guide/home-expanded-field/ -
2017 Belas Alami, Inaugural Kuala Lumpur Biennale, Malaysia - https://artklitique.blogspot.ca/2017/12/kl-biennale-ii-gift-of-knowledge.html
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2017, Radical Ritual, Burning Man Festival, Black Rock City, Nevada - http://thecampwithnoname.com/cowboys.html
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2016, An Atlas of Mirrors, Singapore Biennale 2016 - https://www.singaporebiennale.org/pdf/artist-folios-pdf/Zone8_Niranjan.pdf
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2015, Seni Di Kota, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia https://www.facebook.com/BalaiSeniNegaraII/posts/842561185856737
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2015, Sub_Urban, Fergana Art, Penang, Malaysia - http://fergana-art.com/catalogue/SUB_URBAN%20e-Brochure.pdf
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2012, INTERSECTING HISTORIES: Contemporary Turns in Southeast Asian Art, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore -http://villavassilieff.net/IMG/pdf/qalqalah_2_en-ilovepdf-compressed-2.pdf (PP. 73-81)
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2008, Relocations, Two-man show, ISEA08, Singapore Management University - https://issuu.com/mgtfusm/docs/relocations
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2007, Cultural Mashups: Bhangra, Bollywood + Beyond, Tech Lab, Surrey Art Gallery, British Columbia, Canada -
http://www.surrey.ca/files/Cultural-Mashups.pdf -
2001, Layers … Reality … Memory, Two-man Show, Substation, Singapore
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2000, Rupa Malaysia: Reviewing Modern Malaysian Art, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
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2000, Virtual Triannale 3rd Asia Pacific Triennial, Brisbane, Australia
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1997, 1st Electronic Art Show, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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1996, The Failure of Marcel Duchamp Japanese Fetish Even! ISEA 96, Rotterdam, Netherlands