Before the Law by Srinivas Harivanam

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By shedding the light on the involvement of social media as a ‘non-state actor in grievance redressal, the inquiry here is the role of social media. A public space acts significantly as a manufacturer of opinions in communities, leading to change in understanding the disputes and situations eventually allowing in mass misinformation and influenced everyday decisions.

The work is an adaptation from the parable ‘Before the law’ contained in the novel “the trail’ by
Franz Kafka written during the early 20thcentury. The parable elegantly crafted by Kafka is such that it holds multiple interpretations at each point and suits accurately even during our times. In one of the interpretations of the parable, the gatekeeper can be seen as a person guarding the system becomes a metaphor for the impenetrable legal system and confusing processes. The intervention is juxtaposing the character of the gatekeeper to the present-day social media and entities which are the main organs of the media. Placing the words like social media, algorithms, codes, and keywords within brackets in the parable, the narration of the story is allowed to trigger conditions of present scenarios with drawings and color tonalities for multiple departures for understanding. The work questions the observer about the opaqueness of the system on which we comprehend very urgent issues of the present times and the idea of justice in present hypermediated and connected world.

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(Disclaimer : The artwork in the exhibition represents the views and the work of artist alone)