Thukral & Tagra's 'Mimesis' Exhibition Explores Digital Surveillance, Data, and the Blurred Line Between Real and Virtual Lives

The exhibition 'Mimesis' by Thukral & Tagra at Ashvita's newly inaugurated flagship gallery in Mylapore explores the intersection of human experience and digital technology through visual art. The artists examine how notifications, algorithms, and predictive technologies have become so seamlessly embedded in daily life that distinguishing between reality and its mediated digital versions has become increasingly difficult. Drawing from their five-year conceptual diary titled 'Coded Gaze,' the exhibition uses geometric forms resembling enlarged pixels and familiar technological symbols to visualize abstract concepts like data collection, digital footprints, and surveillance. Key artworks such as 'Feral Shadows' and 'Mutation 2' prompt viewers to consider questions about data ownership, digital avatars created by platforms like Amazon, and the lack of control individuals have over their collected information. The artists deliberately employ the slowness of traditional painting techniques to counterbalance the speed of technological change, while also highlighting anxieties about powerful entities operating within capitalist systems that profit from personal data.