In partnership with Cardiff Metropolitan University, Artes Mundi presents the final episode of our At the table series with artist Prabhakar Pachpute.

The At the table series brings together the voices of the six Artes Mundi 9 shortlisted artists alongside those of international curators, artists, historians, thinkers and writers in a series of roundtable discussions centred on themes and ideas present in their work and the interwoven relationship between histories and practices, locally to internationally. The last of six events in the At the table series presents artist Prabhakar Pachpute in conversation with curator and lecturer, Zasha Colah; Siân Williams, Head of Special Collections and Librarian for the South Wales Miners’ Library at Swansea University; Dr Radhika Mohanram, and Professor of English at the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory at Cardiff University. Imagining we are sat around a table sharing a meal and exchanging ideas, this event is a chance to hear different concerns and perspectives while getting to know the artist and their work.

Prabhakar Pachpute (b 1986, India; lives and works in Pune) has had solo shows at Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai; National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai; Asilo, Via Porpora, Milan; and The Glasgow School of Art as part of Glasgow International in 2019. He has also participated in group exhibitions at Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Kadist Art Foundation, Paris; MACBA, Barcelona and was part of the 31st São Paulo Biennial, 5th Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, 14th Istanbul Biennial, 8th Asia Pacific Triennial, Brisbane; Dhaka Art Summit, 2nd Yinchuan Biennale and the 4th Kochi Muziris Biennale. Prabhakar Pachpute is represented by Experimenter Gallery, Kolkata.

Zasha Colah co-founded the curatorial collaborative and union of artists Clark House Initiative (Mumbai, 2010). She teaches in the department of Visual Arts & Curatorial Studies, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (Milan, since 2018). She was part of the curatorial team led by Marco Scotini of the second Yinchuan Biennale (2018). She co-curated with Luca Cerizza the third Pune Biennale (2017) and Prabhakar Pachpute (National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, 2016). She authored a semifictional monograph on Prabhakar Pachpute (Experimenter Books, 2019). Her doctoral research was titled, Histories of Art Under Militarisation. Burma/Myanmar 1982-2016 (La Sapienza University, 2020), and she is currently a research fellow at 221A (Vancouver, 2020).

Siân Williams is Head of Special Collections & Librarian for the South Wales Miners’ Library at Swansea University. She is responsible for the development and promotion of the Richard Burton Archives, South Wales Miners’ Library, History of Computing Collection and Art Collection at Swansea University. In her work she has led and contributed to numerous community-based exhibitions and collaborative projects with community organisations, libraries, archives and museums. Siân is a Vice President and Secretary of Llafur: the Welsh People’s History Society, a Trustee of the Paul Robeson Wales Trust and a Trustee of the DOVE Workshop in Banwen.

Dr Radhika Mohanram is a writer and Professor of English at the Centre for Critical and Cultural Theory at Cardiff University, position she has held since 2000. She holds a Ph.D. in American Literature from Arizona University. Dr Mohanram has had Visiting Appointments at the University of Venice, Italy; University of Nantes, France, and the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She has also held editorial positions at several journals including Social Semiotics, New Literatures Review and the Journal of Postcolonial Writing.