Shubhangi Singh’s Birth of a Grenade (2024) has been selected in the program of Athens Digital Arts Festival, held from April 3–7, 2025 in Athens, Greece.

For over a hundred years, when the ships belonging to the East India Company brought barrels of saltpetre to the shores of England, they also brought with them a force that determines how we exist in the world today. Saltpetre, also known by its chemical name, Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) was a coveted global commodity that was mined, traded and fought over for its role in the production of gunpowder by competing colonial powers. The film has been hand processed solely in bananas, dates and cocoa powder— that is, materials that would otherwise not be available for use in Helsinki had they not once been carried in the bellies of ships across the heaving seas and into Europe. The hazy, somewhat ghostly images of the film are made possible from the flesh of the fruits thus inherently carrying within them traces of their history and the violence.

Shubhangi Singh’s practice as a visual artist and filmmaker responds to contemporary politics and the interconnectedness of production and reproduction of popular everyday material within the socio-political structures. She often draws upon experiences to address movement and identity as well as queries related to the feminine and its position within society, thus extending the discourse onto the public sphere. Singh attempts to consistently consolidate her formal training in films with her transdisciplinary practice to continually create and collaborate. Her works include video, text, lecture-performances, sketches and mixed media installations while her interests range from (un)materiality, folktales and the vague blurring between fact and fiction. Singh is the co-founder of New City Limits, an initiative to facilitate creative viewing and practice in Navi Mumbai, India and currently lives and works in Helsinki.

Athens Digital Arts Festival
April 3–7, 2025
Athens, Greece

More information: Athens Digital Arts Festival

AV-arkki has promoted and distributed Finnish media art since 1989. AV-arkki’s promotional efforts have made the artists’ participation in this event possible. If you want to hear the latest news from our distribution, subscribe to our newsletter!