reflections (final project)

the final instalment...

this last post in the 'reflections' category talks of my final project in the course 'art installations'. titled 'little bundles of imagination' the installation seeks to represent the free and unrestrained nature of one's imagination. partnering with a Rhea Iyer we coupled our love for words and interest in interacting with the art, and as a result ended up with a hanging installation that comprised little 'bundles' which were little bits of paper with words printed on them, tied up in scraps of newspaper. 

underneath all this was another larger scrap of newspaper with the above-mentioned pieces of paper spilling out of it.

i sought to put the concept note in a poetic format as is shown below :

in a corner

by myself.

amongst the hustle bustle of the world,

i sit

excited,

like a child

on christmas morning,

opening my little

bundles of imagination.

reflections

art that inspires.

sorry i couldn't come up with a more interesting title but this particular post talks about an assignment i was faced with. amongst the thousands of artists across the centuries, i was to choose five artists that that most piqued my interests and i ended up with a satisfactory bunch...

4. Anish Kapoor

 

this is the 'sky mirror' by Anish Kapoor. the reason i have chosen this installation is that it amazes me how he has brought the sky and fit it into a little circle on the earth. 

3. Janet Echelman 

the size of her work really captures the serenity and flow of her giant woven sculptures. they reminded me of the auroras in the poles.

2. Berndnaut Smilde

i find myself with very little to say when it comes to these 'clouds' that Smilde has produced by blending art and science so magnificently, displaying an enormous feat of human ingenuity.

1. Florentjin Hofman 

this giant rubber duck put up by Florentjin Hofman, i have found, is the most effective of the art installations that i have explored. it perfectly brings out the simplest of emotions within people and makes the world one happy place, without intimidating its viewers with the complexity and mumbo jumbo of Art.

reflections (4.02.14)

performing the art

art over the centuries has evolved from cave paintings to sculptures to paintings on canvases, all communicating with us in some way. the past few decades have seen an art that does not restrict itself to a surface but that directly comes forth from the body. i'm not talking about dance or music but of 'performance art' where artists express themselves in a manner that the audience can interact itself with the performer and hence experience the art. going over marina abramovich, one of her most notable works is rhythm 0, also a very shocking act though. through it she came to an understanding of the nature of humans, very simply put, that man, when no resistance is met, can become quite aggressive and can lose most of or all semblances of sanity. through some very simple performances or acts an artist can achieve a much broader perspective that he/she could achieve through the means of a painting or sculpture/installation alone. the assignment for the day was to put up a performance of our own in groups of two or three. i along with two others put up a performance with me sitting and the two others portrayed as my conscience. our motive was to show the journey of lies through the mind of an individual. as lies build up, we are burdened more and more as of with an increasing number of clothing on a sunny day. but as the lies are redeemed, these layers are shed and our minds are relieved of the burden. through this assignment i understood the understanding capabilities of a crowd when they were suddenly faced with something out of the ordinary and i saw that they tried hard to cope with it the way they normally would in an everyday situation and hence weren't able to take it seriously.

here is a link to the video recording of our performance: the journey of lies.

   

     the performance was done in the cafeteria area during the end of lunch break, but while there were still people around.

reflections (21.01.14)

transforming space into substance

this class was the inspiration for an earlier post of mine, 'caged freedom' our assignment was to select a space and cast it in an artistic light. my group had chosen a window by the staircase. i sought to bring out the essence of the window by highlighting its functions as well as qualities. 

reflections (28.01.14)

speaking of art...ists

a discussion on the nature of an artist. (28.01.14)

many would speak of the role of an artist, of their works and of their duties. but then we would all come back to to what makes them artists, art. today as we watched a documentary on the supremely famous ai weiwei, 'ai weiwei: never sorry' ,a lengthy documentation of the artist/activist's attempts to oppose the government in its anarchist rule. he was successfully one of the most powerful artists of the year 2011. an artist is an ordinary person like you or me who uses art to to express him/herself, but often faces criticism and opposition and as a result, his very identity is questioned. this became the basis of an argument that constituted a lengthy discussion on three main questions: What is an artist? Is an artist (essentially) an activist? and Who is not an artist? we came to a conclusion that answered, sufficiently, these three questions;

what is an artist?

an individual who consciously expresses him/herself with a motive, medium, and methodology.

is an artist (essentially) an activist?

no, an artist is not essentially an activist but an activist is an artist.

who is not an artist?

a non-artist is a person who does not express with the intent of expression.

caged freedom

advocating a window

'caged freedom'

light coming in,

eyes looking out.

a world beyond.

black lines cut across,

confining thought 

and body.

wings shut inside,

restricted

to mortal ground.

shadows outline

the light coming in,

a crude mimicry 

of its geometric form.

inviting picture,

a play of perspective,

aluminium frame 

of eternal vision.

sunlight,

keeping freedom warm.

warm, behind iron bars.

cruel glass,

shutting in freedom, but

letting hope fly free.

silent sir,

mystical doorway

to a garden in the air.

smell the cacophony of life

in flowers fashioned

from wind.

white trees sailing

across the sky

and the bountiful fruit

of life hanging

from the ceiling of the world.

but this meadow divine,

is a dream untouchable,

a sweet vision beheld,

by freedom caged inside.

what's in a language?

what is in a language.

he speaks a tongue,

the only one he knows.

not for show,

not to please,

its a natural thing, really.

a paradox.

on one hand,

authority demands,

on the other,

peers pressure against it.

what is in a language?

how would he know?

he's spoken but one

all his life.

some call it अंग्रेजी,

others refer to it

as english.

its a lingo

we're all familiar with.

rather, as a necessity.

we've even fought

battles over it.

lives have been lost.

but it's been there

for quite some time.

so what's in a language?

"guys, talk in english." 

"साले , हिंदी में बात कर। "