Dayanita Singh's ARCHIVIO Opens at State Archives of Venice Without Institutional Funding

For the first time, the State Archives of Venice has opened to the public for an art exhibition: Dayanita Singh's ARCHIVIO, on view in Campo dei Frari square, San Polo, during the Venice Biennale. The Indian artist, who calls herself an "off-set artist," organized the show without major institutional funding, relying on bartering, negotiation, and a "friendship economy" of individual patrons. She created collapsible wooden pillars covered with black-and-white square-format photographs that tell her 25-year relationship with Italy, alongside documents from India. Curated by Andrea Anastasio, the exhibition includes local art students as docents in exchange for mentorship. After closing July 31, ARCHIVIO travels to Rome's Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia, Turin's Museo d'Arte Orientale, and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in New Delhi, with each iteration connecting Singh's project to the site. Singh previously discussed her approach in a 2018 Hyperallergic Podcast interview, coinciding with a New York gallery retrospective and her inclusion in the Carnegie International.