In the shrinking landscape of freedom of expression in the public sphere, Black Mask on Roller Skates is an endeavour to reclaim public space by marginalised anecdotes. The performance initially conceptualised by the artist Amol K Patil, inspired from his inheritance of Powada culture of Maharashtra and his lived experiences.

Powada is a lyrical ballad of Maharashtra, can be traced from 13th century. Amol’s father was an anti-colonial Powada performer who mixed his critique of empire with that of violence embedded in the graded inequality of the caste system that hierarchically divides not just labour but labourers. A friend of Amol’s father, Anil Tuebhekar, moved on skates, with a broom in his hand and radio at his waist, sweeping the streets of Bombay every day. The performance was conceived through these personal narratives with a critique of social inequalities, precarity of workers and reimagines the public sphere. The first two iterations of this performance occurred in Kassel, Germany and Brussels, Belgium.

The performance will happen first time in India and reimagined the Indian public sphere in collaboration with skateboarder and rapper Asha Gond and a Rap duo of Khirki Village Vaastav Ek 7.

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Artist Bios -

Asha Gond, a skateboarder and rapper from the Gond Community, has made waves both nationally and internationally with her skating achievements. Overcoming societal pressures and patriarchal norms, she became one of India's top female skateboarders, representing the country at the World Skateboarding Championship in Nanjing, China and won multiple gold medals in different Indian National Skateboarding Championships. Asha has made significant contributions to her community by co-founding the Barefoot Skateboarders Organisation, which empowers rural children, particularly in her rural village at Janwaar, Madhya Pradesh. Inspiring anecdotes of Asha’s breaking barriers, beautifully rendered in the book ‘Skater Girl Asha’ written by Asha herself with German activist Ulrike Reinhard. Her journey reflects her resilience and pride in her Gond heritage, which she celebrates through her rap performance, community engagements and public speech.

Amol K Patil is a conceptual and performance artist based in Mumbai. His artworks are an ongoing excavation and investigation to recapture the pulsating, vibrating movements and sound of the ‘chawl’ architecture and habitus. Amol grew up in an area of ‘chawls’, a built form specific to Bombay/Mumbai 5 story social housing for mill and factory workers, built in the early 1900s. From his family archive, Amol stages dynamic live ambiance, such as where a tape runs a conversation between a machine, a siren, and a mosquito, where the sound of the machine and the siren are recordings made by his father, an inheritance from someone long gone.

Amol K Patil (b. 1987, Mumbai) has shown at Hayward Gallery (London 2023), Kochi-Muziris Biennale (Kerala 2022-2023); Documenta fifteen (Kassel, Germany 2022): Yokohama Triennale (Yokohama, 2020); Goethe- Institute / Max Mueller Bhavan (Mumbai, 2019), Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan (New Delhi, 2019), The Showroom (London, 2018), Tensta Konsthall (Stockholm, 2017), Pompidou (Paris, 2017), Pune Biennale Habit-co Habit (Pune, 2017), New Galerie (Paris, 2016), Dakar Biennale (Dakar, 2016), Myymälä2 (Helsinki, 2015); Japan Foundation (Delhi, 2015); Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, 2015). His works are in the collection of various prestigious museums of the world including Tate Modern London, Stedlijk Museum Amsterdam, Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, and Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, India.

Vaastav Ek 7 is a duo rap band consisting of Sahil, aka Suspense, and Sumit, aka Sanyasi. Both Sahil and Sumit are currently pursuing bachelor's degrees in Delhi University and reside in the Khirki locality of New Delhi-110017. Vaastav Ek 7 embarked on their rap journey in 2021 by releasing their debut single, "Shuruwaat hain," on their YouTube channel, "Vaastav Ek 7." Through their music, they aim to address societal injustices and share their experiences growing up as poor and Dalit in the Khirki locality. The band has performed at prestigious venues such as the Indian Habitat Center and the American Embassy School.Currently, they are active members and leaders of the art collective "Khirki Renaissance" within The Community Library Project.

This event is part of Rolling Museum, a curatorial programme that transforms the concept of a museum into a dynamic, moving entity, weaving a broader spectrum of art seamlessly into the fabric of urban, sub-urban or rural life. Rooted in the philosophical idea of 'praxis'—the process by which theory, lessons, or skills are enacted, embodied, or realized—this program invites artists/ groups/ collectives to engage in various kinds of public interventions and community engagement programmes. Decentralizing the museum experience, the programme tries to redefine public space as ever-evolving cultural landscape, encouraging dialogic acts, where artists choose their sites for the performance or any sort of engagement programme with communities, educational institutes, artist-run studios, art institutions etc. The initiative not only tries to democratizes the access to the artistic expressions, but also making the public sphere itself a living, breathing museum in perpetual motion.