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Shilpa Gupta / India b.1976 / 24:00:01 (installation view) 2010–12 / Motion flapboard: 30 minutes, ed. 5/5 / 32.5 x 198.5 x 20cm / Purchased 2017 with funds from Tim Fairfax AC through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Shilpa Gupta / Image courtesy: Shilpa Gupta and GALLERIA CONTINUA (San Gimignano, Beijing, Les Moulins, Habana)
Shilpa Gupta24:00:01 2010–2012
Not Currently on Display
24:00:01 2010–12 uses a mechanised split-flapboard — technology once common to train stations and airports around the world — in which words and phrases gradually emerge and letters continually change. Misspelled and disjointed words unsettle the viewer as the text transitions from one word or phrase to another, rapidly transforming meaning. Without a distinct subject or context, a fragmented story evolves beginning with an introspective phrase — ‘I look out and wait for the train to go by’. The story then continues through suggestions of belonging and nationhood, as well as evocations of personal relationships, fear and terrorism. The work plays with the objective role of public signage — rather than delivering information and directions immediately, it poetically and gradually builds layers of elusive meaning.
Shilpa Gupta works with a broad range of materials in her practice; however, text, language and poetry feature prominently. Gupta regularly experiments with language and how it operates; she slowly unravels narratives using various technologies, or she explores the relationships between author and speaker, reader and listener. Using simple phrases translated into several languages, she prompts viewers to think about relationships.