Shivani Gowda - The Department of Destruction

Hybrid performance between art and bureaucracy

This unique production, part theatre and part “bureaucratic séance performance”, takes the cultural institution itself as its subject.

Two civil servants arrive at the former American embassy to decide on the future of West: will the institute remain autonomous, will it be absorbed into the state apparatus, or will it be closed in the name of economic progress?

A socratic dialogue that goes off the rails

The inspection begins as a Socratic dialogue but quickly turns into a bureaucratic tug-of-war. The starting point: the mysterious disappearance of the Memorialist, a fellow civil servant who left behind only a ransacked office and unfinished notes. On the ground floor, policy documents and incomplete files pile up into a labyrinth of contradictions.

The memorialist in the underground chambers

In the basement rooms, once used as surveillance rooms and reportedly as CIA offices, the Memorialist reappears as a ghostly presence. Here, the tone shifts to introspection: about failure, complicity, and the unfinished legacy of institutions. On days without live performances, a video installation deepens the satire and provides insight into the internal contradictions of the fictional department.

The Department of Destruction arose out of frustration with systems that nurture artistic work but also stifle it. Research, satire and personal experience are combined into a sharp indictment of bureaucratic absurdity and institutional mortality. The characters are based on creators, administrators, teachers and bystanders who influenced the artist in her dealings with cultural structures.

Rather than offering a clear solution for the future of West, this performance invites the audience to reflect on ambiguity. Where rules become performance and audits reveal the hidden costs of preserving art in a world that easily abandons that same art.