The visual and performance artist Nikhil Chopra is the 2019–20 Artist in Residence at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Beginning Thursday, September 12, he will present Lands, Waters, Skies, a durational performance and installation that will unfold in multiple galleries. Chopra is the first artist in The Met’s history to live within the Museum for any duration of time.
Over the course of nine consecutive days, Chopra will move through The Met, following an itinerary of his own making in order to create a landscape drawing that is monumental in size and incorporates elements of sky, land, and water. He will journey up The Met’s iconic main steps to enter the Great Hall, then move on to The Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing; the Medieval Sculpture Hall (Gallery 305); Modern and Contemporary Art and the installation Sol LeWitt: Wall Drawing #370 (Gallery 399); and finally the Robert Lehman Wing.
During this performance, Chopra will inhabit personae akin to a nomadic traveler, using costumes, makeup, wigs, and masks. He will also perform original music along with collected folk songs. From September 12 to 20, he will remain completely within the Museum, immersing himself in the collection and contemplating The Met’s role in preserving objects that span history and cultures as well as notions of displacement and migration. Each day he will remain in the galleries with visitors, while composing his drawing alongside a special dwelling created for this residency, and overnight he will sleep inside the Museum. This will be the longest continuous physical residency within a single building that Chopra has ever undertaken as part of his practice.
Full schedule for Lands, Waters, Skies, during Museum hours:
Thursday, September 12
Begins at The Met’s main steps and travels to Floor 1, Great Hall, and Egyptian Art, Gallery 131, The Temple of Dendur
Friday, September 13, and Saturday, September 14
Floor 1, Egyptian Art, Gallery 131, The Temple of Dendur
Sunday, September 15
Begins on Floor 1, Egyptian Art, Gallery 131, The Temple of Dendur, and travels to Modern and Contemporary Art, Gallery 399, Sol LeWitt: Wall Drawing #370
Monday, September 16, and Tuesday, September 17
Floor 1, Modern and Contemporary Art, Gallery 399, Sol LeWitt: Wall Drawing #370
Wednesday, September 18
Begins on Floor 1, Modern and Contemporary Art, Gallery 399, Sol LeWitt: Wall Drawing #370, and travels to Ground Floor, Gallery 963, Robert Lehman Wing
Thursday, September 19
Ground Floor, Gallery 963, Robert Lehman Wing
Friday, September 20
Ground Floor, Gallery 963, Robert Lehman Wing
This performance installation is free with Museum admission.
Lands, Waters, Skies is a collaboration between Live Arts and the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art and is organized by Limor Tomer, General Manager of Live Arts at The Met, and Shanay Jhaveri, Assistant Curator, Department of Modern and Contemporary Art.
Program Credits
This residency is made possible by the Bagri Foundation.
Additional support is provided by Sunil Kant Munjal and the Serendipity Arts Foundation, the Chester Dale Fund, and the New York State Council on the Arts.
Image: Stephanie Berger
