Date: 23 May 2026
Time: 5 - 7 PM
Venue: Gallery 1, Ground Floor, Emami Art
OPEN TO ALL
KCC and Emami Art present Chronological Proceedings of the Institute for Contemporary Dinosaur Studies, a performance lecture by Arko Datto that inaugurates Photoflux—a new initiative on photography and the photographic image.
Before contemporary art, Datto was preparing for a doctorate in mathematical physics. Shifting from equations to images, he brings an analytical yet deeply human perspective to the dilemmas of our time/s. His practice, at large, interrogates forced migration, techno-fascism, digital surveillance, disappearing islands, nocturnal geographies. Each project unfolds over several years. Each builds layered, immersive narrative worlds-- a practice, a mediation, a sedimentation.
Through image, text, and performative narration, Chronological Proceedings of the Institute for Contemporary Dinosaur Studies moves between institutional parody, speculative inquiry, and methodological intervention. The lecture offers a space to consider how critical practices around photography address extinction, memory, and the absurd architectures through which knowledge is organised, preserved, and interrogated.
Datto's works have been published in TIME, National Geographic, The Atlantic, The New Yorker. He has received grants from the Prince Claus Fund, Pulitzer Center, and IDFA Bertha Fund. Recent shows include Hamburger Bahnhof, Fotografia Europea, Fotomuseum Den Haag. He has published three photo books: Pik-nik, Mannequin, and Snakefire.
Photoflux is an initiative by Kolkata Centre for Creativity and Emami Art that creates space for critical dialogue and collective learning through workshops, talks, presentations, and lectures on photography. The series approaches the image as something continually shifting across forms, spaces, time, technology, and everyday experience.
