‘Silent Bone’: Multi-Site Contemporary Art Project in Kathmandu

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Visual artist Binod Shrestha is launching “Silent Bone,” a city-wide contemporary art project in Kathmandu that spans sculpture, performance, video, and installations across multiple venues from June 9 to July 10. The project’s non-linear, multi-site format invites visitors to explore themes of memory and violence through diverse artistic forms, challenging traditional exhibition models and encouraging personalized engagement.

Visual artist and educator Binod Shrestha is launching “Silent Bone,” a multi-site contemporary art project in Kathmandu this month that engages sculpture, drawing, installation, performance, video, and site-specific work. Unlike traditional exhibitions confined to a single gallery, this project will unfold across several cultural venues around the city, with each site presenting a distinct segment of the overall work.

“Silent Bone” explores themes of memory, language, the body, and the subtle traces of violence embedded within personal and collective narratives. The project intentionally does not follow a linear storyline or provide a definitive conclusion, instead encouraging visitors to navigate multiple locations and experience the art through varied forms and spatial contexts. Some pieces manifest as physical objects, others as performative gestures, and some as spaces marked by silence or absence, offering visitors the flexibility to engage with individual sites independently or as part of the broader project.

The exhibition opens with “Nepali Sublime: Body in Translation,” curated by Bidhata KC and presented in collaboration with the Dalai La Art Space in Thamel. This segment officially opens on June 9 at 5:30 p.m. and remains on view until July 10. Following that, “Of Place, Memory, and Residue” will be displayed in partnership with Siddhartha Art Gallery and Babar Mahal Revisited from June 12 to June 26, with its opening event scheduled for June 12 at 5:30 p.m.

A performance component titled “Silent Bone: a performance” is slated for June 23 at Mandala Theatre on Lakhechaur Marga. This event will be held by invitation only. The project continues with “The Shape of Stillness,” in collaboration with the Nepal Academy of Fine Arts, running from June 26 to July 5. It will open on June 26 at 5:30 p.m. Finally, the exhibition concludes a segment called “Reliquaries for Remembrance,” partnered with Tara Gaun Next, from June 28 to July 5, opening on June 28 at 5:30 p.m.

Shrestha, who is based in Texas, holds MFAs from Bangalore University in India and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. His artistic practice spans multiple mediums, including drawing, sculpture, photography, installation, performance, and video. His work often focuses on themes such as the body, memory, home, cultural hybridity, and the nexus of violence. Shrestha has exhibited internationally, with presentations at venues including the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Beijing Biennale, and he has been recognized with awards such as the Dozier Travel Grant from the Dallas Museum of Art, a fellowship from the Institute for the Advancement of the Arts at the University of North Texas, the McKnight Individual Artist Fellowship, and an Art Matters Foundation Grant.

Through its dispersed structure, “Silent Bone” offers audiences a modular experience that allows each site to function independently while also contributing to the cohesive narrative of the overall project.