New
Delhi, Nov. 26: Bridging technology and
culture, a unique multimedia interactive exhibition seeks to unravel the
mystique of music by exploring its scientific, artistic and spiritual
dimensions and its reflections in the Goddessimages across Asian
cultures.
National
Museum is hosting the pioneering exhibition, “Musical Landscapes & The
Goddess of Music: Recent Advances in Interactive Art”, mounted by Ranjit
Makkuni, a celebrated technical wizard and an accomplished musician.
Dr
Karan Singh, the ICCR President and a Rajya Sabha member, will inaugurate the
exhibition on Thursday (November 28). Mr. Ravindra Singh, Secretary, Ministry
of Culture, will be the Guest of Honour.
“The
exhibition presents advances in interactive art through an exploration of the
science, art and spirituality of Music, and its reflections in
the Goddessimages across Asian cultures. It provides viewers an
opportunity to enter into the world of Asian music through electronic
installations, digital images and recordings of performances by maestros,” says
Mr. Makkuni, who describes himself as a ‘tactile, interactive and computing
designer’.
“Music
is essential to the ritual of temples, whether the altar bell, chants or
prayers of spiritual seekers or as a sacred precinct for performance. In South
and Southeast Asia, the temple may be seen as a buzzing musical instrument,”
points out the artist, an alumnus of IIT, Kharagpur and University of
California Los Angeles (UCLA).
The
exhibition presents both traditional and new instruments based on Indian Sitar,
Burmese Saung Harp, Thai Xylophone, Korean Kayagum, Chinese Guzheng and Pipa,
Vietnamese Dan Tranh, and Javanese & Balinese Gamelan, among others.
New
instruments with embedded computation demonstrate interactions through gesture,
touch, pull, movement and gaze. In addition, through responsive computing,
people by their position, gesture and movements control musical events in the
exhibition environment. For instance, there is a sculpture, Abstract
Woman. Embedded in the waist of the sculpture is a representation
of Sri Yantra, which, upon touch, plays back the 1000 names of
Goddess Lalita.
“People
spend so much time interacting with the dull computer, but we are trying to
create a richer experience so that modern society still has culture in its
life. By putting culture back onto your desktop, you get to interact with
beautiful objects, and that helps you remember your inner God,” says Mr
Makkuni, whose works have been displayed at leading museums and won top
international awards for promoting culture, peace and environmental protection.
The
project demonstrates a perfect synthesis of technology and culture, of
modern and traditional, of celestial and mundane, of physical and virtual.
Itshows that it is possible to develop culture-friendly technologies and how technology
can become a vehicle for preserving cultural identity, not replacing
it.
“The
exhibition is exquisite and enthralling. It shows a convergence of culture
and computing in a very innovative manner,” said Dr Venu V, Director General,
National Museum. “It is a fabulous show of art and culture as well as a
research exploration into Asian musical traditions and ancient instruments
through modern computing methods.”
The
exhibition comprises several sections, showing Goddesses of Music and their
Iconic Transformations; forms and sculptures suggestive of the scientific and
mythological imagery of sound; and the compassionate Goddesses who listen to
people’s prayers. There are sections on
Goddess
Sarasvati, the goddess of wisdom and music; Kinayi, the Angels of
Music, from Burma; and The Compassionate figure of Bodhisattva
Avalokitesvara from Japan. There is also a section on Breath,
Voice and Healing, which explores the healing properties of singing and its
relationship to breath.
A
visual splendour, an aesthetic delight and sheer tech wizardry – the exhibition
is an amalgam of all these attributes that define the work of the multimedia
artist. As the director of New Delhi-based e design think tank, the Sacred
World Research Laboratory, Mr. Makkuni is engaged in pioneering new
applications in culturally rooted computing design.
“I
try to explore innovative ways of building bridges between techno and
traditional cultures. I believe engagement with culture is a valuable
process to spark off technological innovation. My works show that the
wisdom of traditional communities can positively negate the homogenizing
aesthetics of modern media technology and help inspire new forms of indigenous
information access devices,” he says.
Overall,
the project presents a compelling vision for indigenous design, the redesign of
new economies centred on Innovation, Well Being and Compassion, he
points out.
The
exhibition will be on display till 16 January 2014.
M D NICHE - Media Consultants
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