An exhibition inspired by digital waste
A solo show themed on digital materiality
Archana Khare Ghose curates artist Mukesh Sharma
Hundreds of keyboards, electric circuits and semiconductor chips are the leitmotif of the works on display at Bikaner House. Discarded electronic waste acts as muse for artist Mukesh Sharma’s solo show Decoding Digital DNA. How did digital materiality come to inspire the artist, we ask him.
“Technology forms a new layer of human evolution in today’s day and age,” says Sharma. “We cannot imagine our lives without gadgets, whether it’s smartphones, PCs or tablets. But what happens to them when a software update snuffs the life out of them? The afterlife of electronic gadgets is a subject that has fascinated me for many years now. When I bounced off the idea of putting together an entire show on the theme to curator Archana, she was immediately excited,” says Sharma.
Curator Archana Khare Ghose explains the genesis of the show and how it took shape, “Digital materiality has been relatively unexplored terrain in contemporary art. When Mukesh first discussed it with me, I envisioned a range of artworks speaking to the crux of human life today. An example is Janam Kundali - The Digital DNA, in which Mukesh has created the double helical structure of human DNA through keyboard keys. Over time, the idea took a life of its own. Over the next few weeks, Mukesh beautifully re-imagined keyboards, circuits and chips as organic matter to bring e-waste come alive,” elaborates Ghose.
This isn’t Sharma’s first foray into such an unconventional terrain. The New Delhi–based contemporary artist has been working for nearly 30 years with technology-based materiality. A graduate of the Rajasthan School of Art and an MFA from Baroda, his practice is recognised for transforming digital components into large immersive installations that reflect on behaviour, consumption and ecology.
Sharma has exhibited extensively in India and abroad including the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2014. In 2025, celebrated author Salman Rushdie chose his work for the French edition cover of Shalimar the Clown. Over the course of his three-decade practice, Mukesh has also been honoured with several prestigious recognitions, including the National Junior and Senior Fellowships from the Ministry of Culture, awards from the Lalit Kala Akademi and AIFACS, the Bharat Bhavan Biennale Award, the Taj Gaurav Award, and the UNESCO–Aschberg Bursary at the Vermont Studio Center, USA.
The exhibition is on at Bikaner House, till December 23
