Tara Kelton
digital bangaloREsident-Expanded@Mind Over Matter
Tara Kelton is an Indian-American artist based in Bangalore, India. Tara’s work considers the traditional figure of the artist (and craftsperson) in relation to the digital. Working in a variety of media she reflects on the diminishing role of the human in contemporary society (replaced by automation, AI and digital mediation) and the remote algorithmic control of labour by western bodies and corporations. Tara is co-editor of the publishing series Silicon Plateau, an art project and publishing series that explores the intersection of technology, culture and society in Bangalore.
Tara has exhibited internationally at the ZKM Karlsruhe; ICA Singapore; Queens Museum of Art; Vox Populi; Franklin Street Works; GallerySKE; Clark House Initiative; The Centre for Internet and Society; New Digital Art Biennale; or-bits.com; and the Kochi Muziris Biennale. Her work has appeared in Artforum, ID Magazine, rhizome.org, Platform Magazine, Arts Illustrated, Vogue, and Shifter. She received her BFA from Parsons the New School for Design and her MFA from the Yale University School of Art.
Tara's Mind Over Matter* project, Yes My Wish is an Indian online religious marketplace that promises to “grant any wish you desire” within 90-180 days, with a money-back guarantee.
The artist purchased “I wish to be famous” from their website.
Tara’s project documents and presents: a two-hour Skype Puja between herself and a priest at the Yes My Wish studio in Delhi; online chats with Yes My Wish customer service representatives; Prasad she received in the mail with detailed instructions on how to ensure her wish comes true.
The work looks at how India’s religious industry manifests online, using a tongue-in-cheek gesture to challenge its promises. In ‘wishing to be famous’ the artist also nods towards the arbitrary nature of success in the art world.
*Mind Over Matter, a virtual residency under the banner of Digital bangaloREsidency-Expanded, is a collaboration between the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore, Walkin Studios Bangalore and Netzwerk Medien Kunst // C. Rockefeller Center for the Contemporary Arts, Dresden, Germany. The projects of the participating artists will be presented at the Museum Technische Sammlungen in Dresden, Germany as part of an international media art exhibition in November 2020.
