Art
Maksud Ali Mondal
Shifting Land and the Dirt Behind - Day & Night
Contamination is often perceived as something negative, but in nature it is a fundamental process through which organisms grow, change, decay, and evolve. Micro-organisms, in particular, escape human control and move freely across borders, territories, and bodies.
Vlieland is an island that is not fixed but slowly shifts from west to east under the influence of wind and natural forces. As the wind transports sand across the island, it also carries microbes and spores that contribute to the ongoing formation of the landscape. The land is a living, migrating body. In Shifting Land and the Dirt Behind these micro-organisms become co-creators in a site-specific installation. It explores how microbial life can challenge ideas about borders, ownership, and territory. By focusing on and magnifying these invisible organisms, the interconnectedness of ecological systems and the dynamic nature of the forest are also made visible.
About Maksud Ali Mondal:
Maksud Ali Mondal was born in Bankura, West Bengal, India. He obtained his BFA and MFA from Visva-Bharati University in Shantiniketan, India in 2019 and from the Royal Academy of Art, The Netherlands, in 2016. His practice involves facilitating an empirical understanding of organisms in a long-term, constructed microcosm. He does this through sculpture, painting, installations and photographs, engaging with temperature, humidity, moisture and light.
His motivation is to provoke reflections on how we see ourselves in relation to each other, including other species, organisms and time, and on our place in the changing environment. His work approaches microbial contamination as a form of dialogue, based on the observation of growth, transformations and breakdown of organic matter by bacteria, fungi, plants and microorganisms, as well as with fermentation, decay, oxidation and rotting. He works with both organic and human-made, found objects and everyday, discarded materials.
Maksud received an award from Micropia, the Science Museum in Amsterdam, in 2024, and an international award from the Kochi-Muziris Students’ Biennale in 2019, the INLAKS Fine Art Award in 2021 and the FICA Emerging Artist Award 2020. Maksud recently completed a two-year residency program at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam. He works in both India and the Netherlands.
The art program was made possible with a contribution from the Mondriaan Fund, Creative Industries Fund NL and De Versterking.
