कला मंगल की अगली कड़ी " छायाकार-सह-छापाकला के युवा कलाकारों के कलाकृतियों की समूह प्रदर्शनी

पटना ७ जनवरी : कला मंगल श्रृंखला के अंतर्गत छायाकार-सह-छापाकला के युवा कलाकारों के कलाकृतियों की समूह प्रदर्शनी  दिनांक 10.01.2017 से 15.01.2017 तक पटना के बिहार ललित कला अकादमी की कला दीर्घा  में आयोजित होने जा रही है।  प्रदर्शनी में सुनील कुमार, रवि राज, गोविन्द जी, विक्की कुमार वर्मा, छाया, रंजीत कुमार, शम्भू प्रकाश, आदित्य सुमन, कौटिल्य निशान्त, शैली कुमारी एवम किरण कुमारी की कृतियाँ प्रदर्शित की जाएगी।   

     

Fine arts students find new perspectives, avenues for artistic expression

Nearly 50 students from MSU Baroda are taking in the artworks and ambience of KMB 2016

Kochi, Jan 07: For a group of nearly 50 fine arts students from Baroda, the out-of-state field trip to the ongoing third edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) has proven to be an eye-opening experience.

Taking in the artworks and soaking in the “authentic feel” at India’s only Biennale, the students from Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU) Baroda – many of whom were on their first visit here – found both diversity of perspective and avenues for experimentation in their individual artistic expression.

Kochi-Muziris Biennale founder Bose Krishnamachari with the fine arts students from MSU Baroda at Aspinwall House on Saturday 

“It has changed my existing notions and views of what art could be. The way the Biennale has been curated shows how intricately engaged the artworks are with the exhibition space. The visual quality on display has given me so much pleasure,” said Pujashree Burman, a Master of Visual Arts student, who especially enjoyed the works of Desmond Lazaro and Liu Wei.

KMB co-founder Bose Krishnamachari invited the group to take a walk through the venues and spaces and explore the multiplicity of styles, forms and viewpoints as intended by this edition’s curator Sudarshan Shetty.

“Sudarshan didn’t intend for there to be one direction or way of looking at the Biennale. There are multiple perspectives and diverse ways of looking at art. It is especially important for art students to be exposed to this understanding since they are tomorrow’s artists. I’m certain their experience here will be enlightening,” Krishnamachari said.

The students – from a number of disciplines within the Faculty of Fine Arts – said the authenticity of the Biennale set it apart from other art events and art spaces in the country.

Kochi-Muziris Biennale founder Bose Krishnamachari with the fine arts students from MSU Baroda at Aspinwall House on Saturday 

“The Biennale feels uncontrived and not commercial – unlike the rest of the industry. How raw and real the sites are and how this rawness interacts with the works: this has been a very different experience from the other art fairs and gallery spaces I have visited so far,” said Ragini Chawla, a third year BVA student from the painting department.

BVA students Aadya Swaroop Naik and Stuti Bhavsar said the Biennale did not exhibit “art for art’s sake” and felt like a more “refreshing, immersive experience compared to manicured, spic and span galleries”.

“It’s not just one kind of art on display here. There are exhibits in video art, visual art, sound art… you are exposed to a variety of art forms and styles. As an art student, it was important to come see what I could do and the options available to me,” said Kopal Seth.

‘Art Walk’ takes KMB 2016 visitors on guided tour of works, processes

Tour delved into thinking behind six distinct artworks being house at TKM Warehouse

Kochi, Jan 07: The interplay of narrative between six distinctive artworks set the tone for a guided walkthrough of TKM Warehouse in Mattancherry – one of the 12 venues for the ongoing third edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB).  

The quiet space houses the works of KMB 2016 participating artists Alicja Kwade, Endri Dani, Aki Sasamoto, Alex Seton and T.V. Santhosh. The ‘Art Walk’, conducted by trained interpreters, took an enthusiastic crowd through the insights and background behind the individual pieces.

KMB 2016 participating artist Alex Seton offered insights into his art practice and marble sculpture 'Refuge' during the 'Art Walk' held at TKM Warehouse in Mattancherry on Friday 

The tour on Friday evening culminated in a talk by Seton on the intent and inspiration of his marble sculpture ‘Refuge’. Depicting an emergency blanket draped around a hollow space in the shape of a quivering figure, Seton said the work is rooted in the international refugee crisis – in particular the treacherous journey undertaken by ‘boat people’ in search of safer shores.

“The term refugee has a negative connotation today and it should not because asylum seekers, migration and displacement have been constants throughout human history. We could all have been refugees but for circumstance,” he said.

Noting that his practice plays off of contemporary global issues mostly within an Australian context, the Sydney-based artist said he had been inspired by the real-world relevance of works exhibited at the Biennale.

KMB 2016 participating artist Alex Seton offered insights into his art practice and marble sculpture 'Refuge' during the 'Art Walk' held at TKM Warehouse in Mattancherry on Friday 

“I’m thinking of co-opting some of the narratives I have been able to witness into my art practice. Given the multiplicity of perspectives at the Biennale, the scope for evolution of the artworks over its duration is tremendous,” Seton said.

The other works on display at TKM Warehouse are Kwade’s exhibit ‘Out of Ousia’, the ‘CM 182 2016’ portraits by Dani, Sasamoto’s performance-based installation ‘Random Memo Random’ and two works, ‘The Protagonist and Folklore of Justice’ and ‘History Lab’ by Santhosh.

“It is wonderful to have the opportunity to not only experience world-class, incredibly relevant works at the Biennale, but also the chance to understand the thinking and logic behind them,” said KMB co-founder Bose Krishnamachari.

‘Triumph of Labour’at Students’ Biennale

Students from TN interpret iconic Marina beach statue at Kochi

Kochi,Jan 05: Inspired by the iconic ‘Triumph of Labour’ statue at Chennai’s Marina beach, a group of art students from Tamil Nadu are exhibiting a series of installations here under the same name,as part of the Students’ Biennale that runs parallel to the ongoing Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016.

Art works on display as part of Students Biennale at Anubhuti Gallery, Mattanchery

Motivated by the first May Day rally in India held at the Marina beach, sculptor Debi Prasad Roy Chowdhury,  who headed the then Madras School of Arts and Crafts crafted in 1959 the iconic bronze statue depicting the working class’ toil. He used the watchman of the college and his students to model for the monumental piece of work that depicts four men labouring to move a rock.

Multiple interpretations of the Labour Statue created by the students are now on display at Anubhuti Gallery,  at Mattanchery, one of the venues of the Students’ Biennale.

Art works on display as part of Students Biennale at Anubhuti Gallery, Mattanchery

“The idea behind these installations originated from an enigma,” says C P Krishnapriya , curator of Students’ Biennale.

The Madras School of Fine Arts and Crafts, which is now Tamil Nadu Government College of Fine Arts has an old museum which has been closed for decades. “Several stories and speculations were attached with this museum,” says Krishnapriya. “Thinking about the different kinds of creative expressions that could go to fill the mystery gave rise to the idea for the statues,” she says.

Seventeen students from Government College of Fine Arts, Chennaiand 18 from the Government College of Fine Arts, Kumbakonam worked for the Students’ Biennale project. “Most of the students had experience working with the handicraft sector. This experience with the cottage craft industry must have helped them relate to this project,” says Krishnapriya.

Art works on display as part of Students Biennale at Anubhuti Gallery, Mattanchery

From labourers in uniforms to sweat drops collected in bottles, the installations portray diverse creative expressions. The symbols of weaving, coconut weaving, brick making have all made this project an enriching experience.

The heritage building of the Chennai Fine Arts College is made of traditional bricks, a model of which is replicated in the art work, with students recreating the original brick mould used in building the college with rubber.

Students’ Biennale, an integral part of KMB 2016 is spread along seven venues at Bazar road and Jew town at Fort Kochi. 455 students from 55 government fine arts colleges have participated in Students’ Biennale with 15 senior fine arts students curating the exhibition.

KMB 2016 Artist Dana Awartani blends faith and math in unique fashion

Kochi, January 05: For Dana Awartani, her art practice – which includes paintings, drawings, embroideries and woodwork – doubles as both a medium for spiritual expression and a tribute to mathematical symmetry. The Saudi-Palestinian artist is exhibiting her unique style of embroidery at the ongoing third edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB).

She marries history with symbolism to explore spaces for the contemporary within the bounds of the traditional. Through this, Awartani hopes to trigger a revival of Islamic art forms.

Artist Dana Awartani's installation 'Love is my Law,Love is my Faith' at KMB 2016 in David Hall, Fort kochi

“First, Islamic Art is not made for the sake of art alone. It is a sacred spiritual practice that is used as a way to worship God. It teaches one ‘sabr’ (patience) and respect. As a practitioner of Islamic art, my work is a form of prayer and ‘dhikr’ (remembrance). I need to be 100 per cent focused and in a good mood to be able to do it, otherwise it doesn’t work,” Awartani said.

Her exhibit, titled ‘Love is My Law, Love is My Faith’, features a set of eight embroidered cloth panels inspired by the verses of 12^th Century Sufi poet Ibn Arabi about his experience in the holy city of Mecca. The panels, on display at David Hall, Fort Kochi, are arranged in order of decreasing size and intended as a spiritual journey towards the sublime.

Artist Dana Awartani at her  installation 'Love is my Law,Love is my Faith' at KMB 2016 in David Hall, Fort kochi

“Every number has a meaning. The numeral ‘8’ is my favourite since it is so aesthetically pleasing, whether in mathematics, numerology and geometry. The mystic Ibn Arabi said that the eight-point star is a representation of the eight angels that will bear the throne of God on the Day of Judgment. It is also seen on a higher level as representing rebirth. Even the Dome of the Rock (an ancient shrine in Jerusalem) was built on an eight-figure base,” she explained.

Awartani works within the mysticism of the Sufi tradition, which considers symbolism an essential means to approach and engage with the Eternal. She also has a deep fascination for geometry, through which she blends the art with mathematics.

“Sufi poetry and teachings are layered with evocative symbols that strive to inform and awaken different levels of intellect, being and understanding. My effort is to familiarise Islamic art to the contemporary world using the medium of mathematics,” she said.

KMB 2016 curator Sudarshan Shetty said Awartani’s deft use of traditional patterns in a contemporary form was impressive.

“Her work stands out because it is based on the traditional methods and strategies of making objects, but is employed in a contemporary form. The nod to mathematics in her works adds to their distinctiveness,” Shetty said.

The Science of Installing Art

Providing the best audio and video experience to KMB ’16 visitors took months of preparations

Kochi, Jan 4: The rooms are ‘treated’ with carpets, coir on the walls and dark curtains, speakers are placed anywhere from the ceiling level to the floor; some sound systems, such as the ones in American sound artist Miller Puckette’s ‘Four Sound Portraits’, spread across four rooms, are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, while the audio of Latvian artist Voldemars Johansons’s lashing ocean waves in ‘Thirst’ hits the visitors through giant subwoofers.

AES+Finstallation  Inverso Mundus at  KMB2016 in Anand Warehouse,Mattancherry. 

 The range of sights and sounds at the third edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale offer a novel experience for visitors, but installing the sensitive works was one that required much planning and experience on the part of the Biennale production team.

“All the projects chosen by curator Sudarshan Shetty are highly experiential. We faced the challenge of all the sites being used spaces, not specially made for displaying artworks,” said KMB co-founder Bose Krishnamachari.

 “Some of the projects have been executed by scientists and mathematicians, like Miller Puckette, where sound is sensitive and we had to create ‘home theatres’ suitable to each work.”

KMB ’16 roped in the country’s top sound engineer Vikram Joglekar as production consultant for installing the 39 video and two solely audio installations.

 Joglekar first came from Mumbai on a site visit in August to study the spaces. “We had to check out how to fit each installation depending on the space, decide on the correct sound system and figure out how to provide each artist with the best acoustic experience,” said the award-winning sound engineer.

 Artist Miller Puckette's installation 'Four Sound Portraits' at Aspinwall House,Fort Kochi

 “We had challenges with logistics, time and the resources, but the organisers and volunteers at KMB ’16 have pulled off a great experience; it feels wonderful to see visitors appreciating the works,” said Joglekar, who pointed out that Russian team AES+F’s work at the Anand Warehouse, where multiple projectors had to be synchronised together to make one work, was the most difficult to install.

 Apart from the equipment, which it provided at the second Biennale, Kochi company Metro Digital Media, is additionally providing electrical support this time. “We have designed a separate circuit to ensure that the works play seamlessly over the 108-day exhibition,” said Dins Paul, a partner at the company. “We interacted with almost every international artist in person to ensure that we could provide  equipment comparable to the ones that they are used to working with.”

 Shri N Sivasailam, Delhi-based Additional Secretary at the Department of Telecommunications, who visited the Biennale with his family, enthused that the “KMB was the best of the best in the world”. “It was our first exposure to a modern art exposition and it is amazing to see art demonstrated in so many mediums,” he noted. “The sound installations are striking; you realise that you don’t need always pictures to depict art.”

Dai Xiang uses a contemporary narrative for a Chinese classic

Kochi, Jan 02: Giving an ancient Chinese painting a contemporary transformation through photographs, Chinese artist Dai Xiang , through his work ‘The new along the river during the Qingming festival 2014’ for KMB 2016, is piquing the interest of art lovers with its detailing and magnification of history through the lens of current times.

Artist Dai Xiang at his installation ' The new Along the River during the Qingming festival 2014' in the Aspinwall House, Fort Kochi.

The 25m, panoramic photo installation comprising more than 1,000 photographs strikes a chord with 12th century Chinese painting ‘River side scene at kim ming festival’  by Zhang Zeduan. The characters and situations from the original painting of Zeduan are completely altered by Dai Xiang in his work.  Compiling 1TB data and processing almost 10,000 layers of photos, Dai Xiang’s work  took nearly three years to complete. Xiang as portrayed himself as a character in 90 photos out of the 1,000 characters featuring in his art work.

Breaking national boundaries, Xiang’s photos sketches the current realities in China through a dramatic approach and points a finger at issues bothering China. A 21st century interpretation of a painting from Song dynasity, Xiang’s work was a topic of discussion in the Chinese social media.

The digital panorama on display at Aspinwall house will give an impression of Zeduan’s painting at first, but once you look at the detailing carefully, the crisis and issues of modern China will get clearer to the eyes.

The Chinese officials with ‘chenguan’ title who are shown in conflict with street vendors, real estate entrepreneurs who force native people out of their houses, streets of sex workers, luxury cars, scenes of accidents, amidst all these, unbothered,  relaxed tourists walking with cameras in hand; likewise the panorama uses symbols that communicate with new world.

Artist Dai Xiang's  installation ' The new Along the River during the Qingming festival 2014' in the Aspinwall House, Fort Kochi.

 Xiang’s panorama has included real incidents also. The death of three university students while trying to rescue children drowning in a river in 2009 is an intriguing image. The high prices demanded by fishermen to find the corpses of the students sparked huge protests in China. The scene where the son of a police officer escapes from the tragic scene using his father’s name is also included in the panorama. Xiang’s panorama got worldwide attention for reflecting the transformation of modern China into a corporatised society.

“The representation of China, a nation which always had a conventional view, undergoing a conflict between westernisation and transformation after liberalisation is being revealed in my panorama,” said Dai Xiang. “I’ve tried to incorporate vivid perspectives to portrait an in-depth narrative,” said the artist. The ‘I’ factor is also included as the artist himself appears as an outsider and also as a part of the project throughout the panorama. “The stories, similarities and paradoxes experienced during the journey towards modern China are included in the photos,” says Dai Xiang.

Born in China’s Tianjin province, Dai Xiang’s works are based on his hometown and Beijing. It was in his college days that he had a chance to learn about the traditional Chinese paintings of Zang Zeduan, which has paved way to his KMB 2016 work.

KMB 2016 draws viewers into dynamic world of video and sound

39 out of total 97 artworks at Biennale are video installations

Kochi, January 1: “Is that what I really look like?” the visitor is bound to ask at the video installation titled ‘Dream Stop’ at Durbar Hall, a venue of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) 2016. The work by Gary Hill, the pioneer of multimedia art, takes the visitor through multiple strolling versions of themselves.

 Artist Eva Schlegel installation 'Palaces of Memory' at Aspinwall House,Fort Kochi.

The video installations at the 108-day international art spectacle are attracting crowds for the amazing new dimension it adds to art. Out of the 97 works at the Biennale, there are 39 video installations.

Hill’s work uses 32 spy cams, concealed in a large circular aluminium frame suspended from the ceiling, to splinter gallery visitors into 32 overlapping images of themselves. Walk around its centrepiece and, on various quadrants of the gallery walls, you’ll see yourself in various angles in various sizes: upside down, right-side up, magnified, miniaturised, melting together, sliding apart. The one thing you won’t get is a straightforward shot of yourself.

“I am excited in juxtaposing aesthetics with conceptual art in the video installation,” says Hill.

Artist Kabir Mohanty features a four-hour long video titled ‘Song for an Asian land’ at Aspinwall.

“Video installations are becoming a parallel form of art. The presence of such art forms will highlight the diversity of this Biennale,” said KMB ‘16 curator Sudarshan Shetty.

 Artist Gary Hill's installation 'Dream stop' at Durbar Hall,Ernakulam.

Artist Mikhail Karikis has come up with a 10-minute long video clip documenting the life of 10 to 13-year-old boys from the militarised industrial marshland in southeast England. The artist shot the video after spending almost a year with the children.

“Apart from being different from the other art forms, these video installations have the unique capability to shed light on the unseen and unknown things,” said eminent filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, during his visit to KMB.  

Artist and environmentalist Ravi Agarwal in his work ‘Sangam Dialogue’ uses multimedia to expose the continued colonisation of nature and pose questions about ecology and society.

The playful, theatrical video installation by Taiwanese artist Wu Tien-Chan titled ‘Farewell, Spring and Autumn Pavilions’ is even attracting children.

“Art becomes more accessible and transparent when an intelligent artist uses video as a medium. Video installations improve the art consciousness of the visitor,” said noted film director Shaji N Karun during his visit.