Na Bam (Measure without Measure)

Everything alive thirsts. How to calibrate thirst, how to measure deluge?

Fishermen talk of water in some places as na-bam, where depth has no measure. Their extended bamboo measuring sticks, called ‘bam’, don’t touch land. Measure without measure.

When the ocean waters will rise in tandem with temperatures, there will be flood, an abundance of water. There will also be thirst. It will be na-bam.

Step-wells in desert country remember thirst and inscribe it as a watermark, a measure on stone. Eventually, that measure evaporates. Deserts wait for rain. Farms and forests mourn its excess.

What stories will river-goddesses tell then?

Land. River. Sea. Storm. Sacred. Rain. Forest. Thirst. Profane. Harvest.

Measures without measure.

Raqs Media Collective

Raqs Media Collective was formed in 1992 in Delhi. Raqs expresses a mode of ‘kinetic contemplation’ with a restless entanglement with the world, and with time. Raqs enlists objects such as an early-modern tiger-automata from Southern India, or a biscuit from the Paris Commune, or a cup salvaged from an ancient Mediterranean shipwreck, to turn them into devices to sniff and taste time. Devices are deployed thus in order to undertake historical subterfuge and philosophical queries. Raqs practices across several media; making installation, sculpture, video, performance, text, lexica and curation. In 2001, they co-founded the Sarai program at CSDS New Delhi and ran it for a decade, where they also edited the Sarai Reader series. They were the Artistic Directors for the Yokohama Triennale 2020, “Afterglow”, where they developed sources around toxicity, care, and the luminosity of friendship.

Commissioned by Khoj International Artists’ Association. Khoj's participation in World Weather Network is supported by the British Council’s Creative Commissions for Climate Action, a global programme exploring climate change through art, science and digital technology.

Part of the weather station: 28th North Parallel - find out more here.