What is a home?

I realised today how I have come to reserve my entire life to my bag pack that I carry everyday, everywhere, most of the times. My bag has the ingredients that make my world. It contains my laptop, its related accessories, a little stationery pouch, some note books to write, basic amenities like my medicines, cards, keys, etc. One section of my bag is merely reserved for lunch boxes that my mother prepares for my day. On some days, that section remains empty. The other things I need are stuffed in my pockets - my vollet, kerchief, and mobile. What else do I need over the day? Practically nothing. I can perhaps live by this set of things.

As I come back from work, I recluse into my room. Still in my own virtual world of people and material accessed through my mobile or laptop, I don't feel the need to make any contact to the physical reality of my home. i exhaust myself of this virtual Life and eventually go to sleep. Nothing more. Nothing less. This has been my everyday over the last four years. 

The place where I stay - my parent's place - is hardly a true reflection of me - in any way. I store my parapharnelia there - the objects that I have created over my lifetime, and the objects that I have meaningfully collected over the thirty two years of my life. Those remain closed in boxes, baggages or cabinets. They come out when I am digging into memories of my own. My surrounding physical space - my room - is not me. I cannot claim ownership over anything that's built in this house. I don't live by my rules here. These rules are those of my parents. What time to get up, to eat, to behave - literally everything. I am a constructed body in my house. A body that conveniences my parents' existence. I do not write this with any ill feeling. I write this towards the understanding of what we come to be. How we come to become what we do. I write this to suggest that human condition which we perhaps try to escape while still being within it.

And here my wise, bold friends would suggest me to snap out in order to find a space of my own...a space that can become the physical expression of my psychological inner being. And to that, it takes so much mental effort, for I will need to fight the cultural codes that make up the social structure here. I have tried it in the past. It's easy to think of living alone by yourself, however, it lands you then into a strange circle of loneliness...slowly making you  into an  island. To make one's own microcosm against the expectational environment of those closest to you must require some amount of courage and clarity. I am not sure if I have it yet.

But we all live in these weird in-between environments of the negotiated self. Some of us realize and stay back to observe. Some of us act to experiment, exercise and experience that (desired) change. I meant to also suggest how the mind thinks within certain frameworks in such places like an others' home. A house that you have grown up in but is no longer yours. A house which makes you feel an other even if it accommodated your growing body. A space that changes its meaning with your own inner self realization. A place which tells a story that shall no longer represent that way in which you would want yourself to be identified. A house that no longer reflects the values that you have come to live your own life by. What kind of expressions do these homes become then - discordant, disconnected, strange environments that have mashed up their expressions into diverse ideologies that remain insular to each other. What heterotopias are these?

I am able to write this post from home because I am completely alone today - and I do not have the pressure to behave in any particular way, or abide by a time schedule (even at home). And this is not to say that there's a fixed time schedule to my life. But we all know that domestic life is that of a routine which is set by hundreds of other parameters. In the social context we live in here, it will be the morning chores that have to be attuned to the maids, the sweepers, the news paper wallahs, the hundred incidental things that keep your house going! These are needlessly further entangled into rules that every household sets for itself. And your life ends up getting inscribed in these impositions leaving you with no time to get deeper into your thought pools.

How does home happen? When does it happen? A home will also not happen being alone. And a home with people will always be these negotiations. How does one reconcile? How does one be?

Tujhse Naaraz Nahi / English Translation

Song: Tujhse Naaraz Nahi

Film: Masoom

Singers: Anup Ghoshal / Lata Mangeshkar
Lyricist: Gulzar
Music Director Rahul Dev Burman

Hindi:

तुझसे नाराज़ नहीं ज़िन्दगी, हैरान हूँ मैं
तेरे मासूम सवालों से, परेशान हूँ मैं

जीने के लिए सोचा ही नहीं, दर्द संभालने होंगे
मुस्कुराये तो मुस्कुराने के, क़र्ज़ उतारने होंगे
मुस्कुराऊं कभी तो लगता है, जैसे होंठों पे क़र्ज़ रखा है
तुझसे...

आज अगर भर आई है, बूंदे बरस जाएगी
कल क्या पता किनके लिए, आँखें तरस जाएगी
जाने कब गुम हुआ, कहाँ खोया, इक आंसू छुपा के रखा था
तुझसे...


--

Tujhse Naaraaz  Nahiin Zindagi, Hairaan Hoon Main
Tere Masum Sawaalon Se, Pareshaan Hoon Main

Jeene Ke Liye Sochaa Hi Nahi, Dard Sambhaalane Honge
Muskuraaye To, Muskuraane Ke Karz Utarne Honge

Muskuraauun Kabhii To Lagataa Hai
Jaise Honthon Pe Karz Rakhaa Hai

Aaj Agar Bhar Aai Hain, Boondein Baras Jaayengi
Kal Kyaa Pataa Inke Liye, Aankhein Taras Jaayengi
Jaane Kab Gum Kahaan Khoyaa, Ek Ansuun Chhupaake Rakhaa Thaa

Zindagi Tere Gam Ne Hamein Rishte Naye Samajhaaye
Mile Jo Hamein Dhoop Mein Mile Chaanv Ke Thande Saaye

--

English Tranlsation

I am not upset, just surprised with you, Life

Your innocent questions keep me unsettled

It never occurred that in order to live, one will have to preserve (one's) pain

That smiling may come at the cost of repaying its debts 

Whenever I smile, I feel that someone has burdened my lips

If today, they are brimming, the drops will now fall

Who knows, tomorrow, (one's) eyes will crave for them all

When did it disappear, where did i lose that one tear drop that I had preserved

Life, Your sadness has taught me the new relationships

When received, we got the cool shadow of shade in harsh sunlight

C Bhagyanath

A student/friend had asked me the author of the artwork on my current blog header. I hadn't noted the name of the artist whose work I photographed from the Kochi Biennale 2016. Here I came across the work again, and thought it must serve a useful record:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBnUm7F4bPE

Kanhaiyya Kumar's Political clarifications

Politics becomes a medium to change social norms.

Political issues however are different, and social issues are different.

Time creates circumstances that bring out work from you.

sub-altern = alternative readings (of history)

Our society is gradually becoming an aspirational society.

post truth societies: societies for whom truth doesn't matter at all, where perceptions establish the truth.

We are not able to filter from the overwhelm of the information in this age. Information has its own problems. That doesn't mean we shouldn't even try.

'Welfare State' concept has been demolished to bring in neo-liberal concept.

One no longer knows what is the base and what is the super structure. Are Modi's decisions political or economic? What is the base - economic or political?

Reservation is kept to resolve the already existing inequalities in the society. It's not meant to bring in new equalities. So many people are born into economic backgrounds, through which they have access to facilities. Reservation is meant to revise this.

The bad people are shouting only because the good people are silent.

\\ more later

Young Subcontinent 2017 / Goa

Over the last six months, I had been traveling with Riyas and putting together the team of young artists from the different regions. The project involved two advisors - Amrith Lal, who is a senior editor of Indian Express and Dr. C S Venkiteshwaran, an award winning writer and film critic who helped frame the entire project within the regional politics of the Indian Subcontinent. Each of the advisors travelled with Riyas to one or two countries in order to understand the cultural tectonics through field research. I accompanied Riyas to Dhaka (Bangladesh) and Kathmandu (Nepal) and got a sense of the region of South Asia and the state of its cultural infrastructure. The travel gave me a completely new perspective of India as the superpower within the region, as opposed to what you imagine of it from the West. It also opened me up to the relationship of India with its neighbours more closely. We are often consumed only by the India-Pakistan political tension, however, there is much to be discussed with India's relationship with countries of Nepal, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Srilanka.

I spent the last month putting up the second edition of the Young Subcontinent project for the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa. This year, we selected 21 artists from the six countries: India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Srilanka and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, Pakistan had to be left out due to the political tensions between the two countries. However, in future, we do wish to include not only Pakistan, but also countries like Myanmar, Portugal, and other countries with whom India has shared historical and cultural links.

Communication was the most challenging aspect of the overall project. Firstly, the artists came from different countries of South Asia, speaking different languages. The non-confirmity of English on one hand, and the regional absorption of the foreign language produced a new dynamic of interactions where one needed to build patience towards understanding each other. I was perpetually conscious about the hegemony of English and the ironical way in which it still bound us together. (We may wonder if colonisation that once separated us on regional lines comes to bring us together today). Secondly, several artists came from regions with limited connectivity, with whom, communication could be established only intermittently. Lastly, what added to it all was the different schedules of each artist, who were all traveling to places for their own works. With different platforms of communication, different languages and their shades and lastly their incongruous and multivalent translation in English simultaneously brought us closer and repelled us apart.

Often, dealing with different temperaments and cultures becomes tricky since you can never understand or know the extents of being polite or rude. How does one gauge the amount by which one can be within the limits of being offensive? When does one break one's temper? How does one draw moral and ethical boundaries? To some extent, my teaching background helped, but being a teacher was the last thing I expected while on ground. My concern, however, was to enable all the artists (despite their language hurdles) access to as much parts of the festival as I could. I may have certainly failed in much parts, since one can not lend as much patience to every individual given the numerous crisis that emerge on site during all hours. Curation, as I understand by now, is an artful administration of people and space in a manner that things fall just in place for every one involved. One needs to take note of the scale of operations and expand the team judiciously. As much as one thinks of it to be an intellectual process, it all boils down to executing those stories in space in a manner that everyone, almost everyone involved is happy in the end. The curator literally, through the act of story telling, manages people and space.

I have come to learn how many ideas change shape as they touch ground. Such changes happen when real objects arrive in a given space and begin their dialogue with the place they inhabit and create an environment with the material around them. Our exhibition planning often doesnt give a clear picture on the computer screen. A lot of softer, invisible and subversive stories are hidden in the strategies and politics of display. A conscious viewer will be able to decipher them, and many more connections embedded in these unsaid and inexplicit decisions made by the curatorial team. I am however, sure, that established art institutions may not leave any exhibit/display decisions to site conditions, or do they? There is some surprise and excitement in working with space as material, and ways in which it prompts to talk to the objects of display. Some resonances occur, others create oblique manners to think of showing works. Spatial conditions often fold in new stories and reveal to us the artwork in novel ways. Since most artists selected for Young Subcontinent at SAF didnot have an opportunity to visit the site beforehand, the contents, anxieties and tensions kept on. The site was new, and wasn't available even to the curators until they arrived! Thus, the exhibit was a productive negotiation over the five days before the festival.

All in all, it was a successful show. It opened up several avenues for the selected artists and created a new geography of the subcontinent - that of friendships and new networks and openings. It allowed artists from the subcontinent to understand each others' cultures and forge new associations. Artists from the last edition of Young Subcontinent have already begun to plan newer programs and visits. It is quite fulfilling to see so many of them draw confidence in each other. For many of these young artists, coming to Goa is their first international visit, and the exposure of the city, navigating a new geography and culture offers them a lot for their future. I often let them to negotiate their difficulties and crisis; their freedoms and limitations - for it allows them to find their own selves.

There are several other aspects of the exhibition that I will include over a longer essay that I shall spend time writing for Serendipity over the next few days. I will update this space with more pictures soon.

Kaushik Saha at Gallery Mirchandani+Steinrucke

Tyres, Nails and Nozzles

published in Art India, January 2018

The overwhelming greyness of Kaushik Saha’s landscapes in Order of the Age at Galerie Mirchandani+Steinruecke, Mumbai, from the 5th of October to the 4th of November carries a lament for the side-effects of development and modernity. . Vast patches of human-operated natural territories get framed onto Saha’s canvases by means of flattened tyres.. In seeing his artworks, the viewer can imagine resource-rich landscapes of oil fields, coal mines or stone quarries that have driven the nation’s development, but have also been sites of exploitation of labour and land. The narratives of development are mirrored onto the lives of materials that go on to occupy and lend meaning to these landscapes. In juxtaposing these surfaces with iron nails,metal nozzles and delicate scenes of everyday life, a unique commentary on the state of development emerges in Saha’s artworks.

Saha’s work can be experienced and understood in various proximities. The abstract compositions soon begin to disintegrate into different textures and narratives over a prolonged gaze. On going closer, one is able to observe strange activities in these obscure landscapes. As one steps back, a layer of invisibly inscribed words and letters – almost like a substructure of survey, information and data that not only regulates but also establishes repression – becomes apparent. Narrative subjects within Saha’s artworks are thus entrapped within both – the physical geography of the terrain as well as the virtual bounds of infrastructure. His experiments leave the viewer to imagine the grim futures of a leftover landscape after its intensive extraction and exploitation.

--

Stained Geographies / Tarq

Access Catalogue Essay by clicking here
Many thanks to Saju Kunhan and Hena Kapadia for the wonderful opportunity!

Sumedh Rajendran's Work at Sakshi Gallery

Objects and their Alternative Biographies
published in Art India, Jan 2018

Everyday domestic furniture is liberated from its commoditized entrapment in Sumedh Rajendran’s Water without Memory at Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, from the 12th of October to the 8th of November. Doors, tables, chairs and grills take an anthropomorphic turn in Rajendran’s re-articulation as they draw inspiration from human gestures. Objects turn, melt, fold and animate themselves as if becoming conscious of their selves. Are they addressing their ontological futures, you wonder? Rajendran’s furniture pieces remind you of Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa’s invocation, “The door handle is the handshake of the building.” His works highlight the phenomenological by challenging our structures of experience and consciousness about everyday objects.

The contemporary urban environment is contested with constant redevelopments, slum erasures and demolitions; the artworks impress themselves upon the viewer as ‘leftovers’ of dilapidated buildings. Are these objects folding themselves in response to the harsh processes and injuries of urban transformation or do they awaken to bend within new outlines in order to reconfigure time and space? Rajendran’s artworks rethink the Cartesian utilitarianism imposed on everyday objects allowing them to write their own alternative biographies. In doing so, they provoke the viewer to reconsider her own relationship with domestic paraphernalia and the way in which it moulds and choreographs our bodies and spaces.

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Notes from Gubbi at SEA

In places like Germany, people are trying to find new ways of bringing land out from the developer's purview. Different ways of land pooling have been mobilized. Although most people in Germany dont live with the hope of owning land or property all over their lifetime. Unlike this, in India, we have a notion of owning something over your lifetime, this is also because there is no other form of social security.
Discussed Chitra Vishwanath and Sanjay Prakash

What are then, the different ways in which social security can be thought of?
asks CEPT Dean

What are the different ways in which the land over the road can be occupied?
asks founder of Good Earth

How can the structure of market and policies be changed by architects?
asks Himanshu Burte

The housing question has been hijacked by the question of affordability. A variety of conditions that are becoming context for housing, e.g. - the IT companies coming and going bringing specific people in the city, two friends coming together in a city - these are not often considered by architects, whereas the market has responded to it in different ways. Where do we thus reorient the focus of housing then?
articulated Prasad Shetty

Notes on Young Subcontinent Project 2017, Goa

Published in the Herald, Goa, December 17 (?), 2017
reported by Kishore Amati