Thukral and Tagra’s new and upcoming project titled ‘and Archive’, is a unique collection of interactive artistic books and games that drive key messages through a simple yet compelling manner.

What is common to nature, climate change, agrarian crisis, debts, suicide, hopelessness, rejection and shrinking employment? Well, these are all issues that need our heightened attention in today’s times, and this is exactly what artist duo Thukral and Tagra are aiming to do with ‘and Archive’.

This art project has a series of games and books that have been carefully designed to assure sustainability and to promote environmentally conscious products by using all handcrafted and eco-friendly materials. “With almost 20 years of studio practice, we have worked collaboratively to expand the scope of what art can do through paintings, sculpture, installations, games, performance and design. Our studio oscillates between social design/ intervention and art practice guided by interactivity, empathy, and aesthetics,” say Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra.

The artists have conceptualized their collaborative ‘Pollinator.io’, an interdisciplinary lab which is an agency that seeds fundamental debates through intangible value systems.

As a duo that is known to connect public engagement with art, they aim to disseminate value-based knowledge around a range of themes/issues, across all generations.

Specifically, ‘and Archive’ is a collection of artist-made book works, independent publishing, hosting processes, proposals, and ideas. This is a window to artists’ decade-long studio practice which allows the reader to appreciate the process of artmaking. It provides access to the experience of visual poetry, monographs, research, and proposals. At large, ‘and Archive’ as space offers a visual marathon that disseminates knowledge as a therapy in the form of book works, prints, objects, and games.

Read the full story that first appeared in The Chakkar here: