M HKA Ensembles

Installation, variable dimensions.

Collection: Courtesy of Mr. Juan Pablo Carranza.

Someone Else is a work by Gupta that is presented in two parts, at M HKA and at the Permeke Library in Central Antwerp. The work is based around the idea of a library of 100 books that have been written either anonymously or under a pseudonym. The books have been selected from around the world and from across centuries, including books by Emily Brontë (who used the pseudonym Ellis Bell) and Herman Hesse (who used the pseudonym Emil Sinclair). The reasons for authors deciding to do this varies greatly, from “Fear of not having a Christian name positively masculine” to “fear of not being able to return home”, together offering an insight into the issue of censorship as well as social prejudices in different cultural contexts.

At M HKA, 100 metal surrogate book sculptures are presented on shelves. Each is etched with the title of a book as well as the reason for its author’s anonymity, and each is empty to signify the absence of the author’s real identity. At the Permeke Library, a selection of the books have been inserted into the shelves, including many new additions to this list originally written in Dutch, and are available to read or borrow. (NH)