LaVA, an installation by Bose Krishnamachari, is a contemporary-temporary laboratory for the people. This archival project, comprises a collection of records of contemporary visual art practices that have been culled from museums, institutions, galleries, shops and streets from major art capitals.

“I am trying to make available, within my limitations, what I really missed during my student years.”

“The Laboratory manifests my ambition to extend this project, as an ideal place for visual art practitioners and theorists: a room within an institution, an art project within a museum, for dissemination of knowledge and information, moreover, how that may govern the way we look at objects within a gallery or a museum space.”


LaVA is an intervention that poses a challenge to existing institutions and their outmoded pedagogy. It reflects Bose’s interest in architecture, design, furniture, and provides more than just a functional space for the visual-reader, it also represents the dynamics of information-gathering.


The Library contains books, DVDs and CDs that cover a range of visual art practices like cinema, architecture, design, fashion, cultural studies and philosophy, along with some of his collection of art objects. This growing work-in-progress could occur at the three-point interfaces posed by the installation itself, the audience’s behavioral reactions to it at various levels, the possibility for open-ended restructuring within different architectural situations, and the presence of the artist’s intent.