Shridhar Bapat (born 1948) was an Indian video artist and key figure in the New York City's downtown video art scene in the 1970s. Bapat's artworks were screened at the

MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution located in Court Square in the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens, New York City. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

The Kitchen The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary avant-garde performance and experimental art institution located at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was founde ...

, and the

Mudd Club The Mudd Club was a nightclub located at 77 White Street in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It operated from 1978 to 1983 as a venue for underground music and counterculture events. It was opened by Steve Maas, Die ...

. He a was an early organizer of video programs at

and the Avant-Garde Festivals of New York. He took over as the Director of

, an influential experimental artist center in Manhattan, in 1973.

Early life and education

Shridhar Bapat was born in India in 1948. Since his parents were high-ranking Indian diplomats, his family moved to Japan, and then to the United States. Bapat spent most of his childhood in suburban Westchester, New York. Bapat attended university in Geneva and London, but was expelled from the London School of Economics (LSE) after the 1968 student uprisings. It was in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

where he started his career as an artist. Bapat learned the basics of video at a class taught by Global Village, one of the first video collectives in the city.

Video Art

Shridhar Bapat’s artwork largely involves video and feedback. Bapat's installations would have cameras pointed towards each other, and the viewers would be see themselves in self-reflexive self-monitoring loops. He once boasted about being “the best feedback camera turner” in New York. His piece, ''Aleph Null'' (1971) and other video works were exhibited in

,The Kitchen
and the

Whitney Museum of Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

. He was described by his peers, including

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, Steina and Woody Vasulka, as a brilliant artist. His early video pieces mainly exist as unseen copies in Northwestern University’s Special Collections. Bapat’s video feedback fantasia ''Aleph Null'' (12 min, 1971) was exhibited in

MOMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution located in Court Square in the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens, New York City. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...

, 2013. He was well known as a program director and curator. In addition to becoming director of The Kitchen, he was the first video curator in its earliest period. He co-directed the Women's Video Festival with Susan Milano and the Kitchen Video Festival. He was also the assistant to many artists such as Shirley Clarke or Nam June Paik. After leaving The Kitchen, he joined Shirley Clark's Video Space Troupe.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bapat, Shridhar Artists from New York City Indian video artists 1948 births Living people