BOSTON, MASS.- The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston brings the work of New Delhi-based Raqs Media Collective to Boston in “Luminous Will,” on view September 17–October 17, 2015. “Luminous Will” offers a focused meditation on what the cycles of life and death can mean in the context of the passage of time. Through their works, the artists articulate rarely asked questions, consider infinity, and re-animate historical memory—transforming the SMFA’s Anderson Auditorium and Grossman Gallery into a habitat for thoughtfulness, affect, and the elaboration of a playful sense of plenitude.

“Luminous Will” refers to an eponymous work by Raqs, where hands of the clock index words that become phrases, reaching beyond the typical boundaries of art to create objects, projects, and products that address themes of time and our existence within it. The question of what is or can be a 'luminous will'—an illuminated, iridescent desire for life itself—is central to the constellation of works that constitute the exhibition at SMFA.

On view in Anderson Auditorium, Re-run (2013), is a large-scale video work based on Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photograph of a December 1948 bank run in Shanghai that features a crowd of people desperate to get their money in order to buy gold in anticipation of an imminent collapse of their currency. Resonating with current geo-political conditions, the work revisits and re-stages Cartier-Bresson's photograph, entertaining the idea that the anticipation of a financial collapse ultimately contributes to and causes said collapse.

Located in the Grossman Gallery, and one of several works created for the exhibition, Lost in Search of Time (2015) is a textual intaglio panel consisting of an arrangement of five words: IN, SEARCH, OF, LOST, and TIME. The panel illuminates each word in an alternating pattern suggesting two phrases with different (but related) meanings: “Lost in search of time” and “In search of lost time,” which point to the peculiarities and slippages that happen whenever time gets lost, or is found, in dreams and shared memories. Seven Billion and One (2015) features 101 screen prints of a lemniscate—the sign of infinity—illustrating how individuals are simultaneously the seven billion, and the one. The piece encourages viewers to contemplate on their own place within the exhibition, as well as the larger universe.

“Raqs is not constrained by the rules of what traditionally defines art, they simply work to create meaningful and culturally powerful pieces and projects,” says SMFA President, Chris Bratton. “Their methodology is wonderfully aligned with SMFA’s mission, built upon independent thought and interdisciplinary pursuits. We are thrilled to present this opportunity and for SMFA and the greater Boston community to experience Raqs’ extraordinary work on an intimate level.”