UnMYthU: UnKIND(s) Alternatives 2018

 (A)political, solemnly superficial #unconceptual byproduct for a (con)temporary National Museum.

UnMYthU: UnKIND(s) Alternatives 2018, a series of large-scale drawings on handmade Kozo paper, together with diagrams and instructions pose directions, questions, contracts, and obligations on the audience and performance with Alexa.

'Mithu Sen explores the in-between spaces of social conventions and interactions through her own devices of ‘radical hospitality, lingual anarchy, counter capitalism, untaboo sexuality and unmonolith identity’. She describes her ongoing UnMYthU project as a ‘byproduct of twenty years of performance’, drawing on her career of making and sharing art. She incorporates poetry, drawing, objects, instructions and performance into her practice and experiments with symbols and language, testing accepted rules and using linguistic meanings, codes and syntax as creative and experimental devices. In particular Sen uses ‘un’ to explore the voids and anomalies of the in-between, describing the device as ‘a non-language narrative trope, a linguistic tool to (un)layer the possible manifestations of my practice’.

Like using (un) as a trope to open tangents of understanding, in a similar manner, Sen explores the idea of artificial intelligence ‘as a trope to enable the manifestation of the process of (un)mything’:

UnMYthU: UnKIND(s) Alternatives (un)myths through the trope of A(I)- artificial intelligence which (un)creates to allow for access and actualization of the void. The tactile byproducts that are exhibited and the performance taking place by each entity engaging with the installation, are both creations of A(I). The pristine surface layer of the painted paper and the words, numbers floating around the surface, together create the space of inbetweeness, a void- where the (un)mything takes place.

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Mithu often uses material as a self-censored, playful escape from the naked eye—subverting perception to expose hidden truths and provoke the psyche. Her exploration with semi-transparent Japanese Kozo paper is a prime example. At Awagami Factory, Japan, she worked with paper masters to create custom pulp from tree bark and organic glue, embedding digital prints into the wet pulp before adding drawing and mixed media after drying.

This translucent skin, painted on both sides, veils “forbidden” imagery beneath an approved surface. When backlit or placed on a lightbox, the concealed layers emerge—quiet acts of defiance against censorship. The works inhabit the in-between, questioning the politics of omission and the unseen.