Amit Kalra is a video and sculpture artist whose work examines how belief systems are sustained through repetition, gesture and mediated imagery. His videos use slowed movement, found footage, and layered sound to expose the mechanics of persuasion and performance. His sculptural works extend this inquiry through industrial remnants and ritual materials. Kalra holds a graduate degree from the Royal College of Art and teaches in the MFA Communications Design program at Pratt Institute. He has exhibited internationally, held residencies at Vermont Studio Center and Pratt and has been featured on NTS Radio.

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Drifting Away and Lukewarm, 2024. Single-channel video, sound; 37 minutes and 58 seconds.

A clip of an American pastor is extracted from a sermon. A single gesture is isolated, slowed down, and looped, replacing the sermon entirely. Standing still he closes his eyes and says, “Drifting away lukewarm, and you get blind in the end.” A logo for his church is superimposed on the bottom right corner of the screen. In the background, an unattended drum set sits in blue light. Audio from the original sermon is manipulated and is composed of sub-bass, bass and lower-midrange frequencies.