| art.description.project | There is a growing trend for artists to show work in public spaces. Self organized or institutionally backed events bring art works to the public in the spaces they traverse on a daily basis. Art in the public space gives us new ways of contemplating the public space and the potantial for common experience in the space which is today largely appropriated by advertising. As one visitor to Drive By Video said ”When I come here in the future to the supermarket I will think of this evening.” This type of event gives the public an experience of public space that is an unusual type of shared experience. As an art work it is a performance rather than a monument. And perhaps part of its function is to point out that this is an uncommon use of a space that is the destination for so many each day. That our experience within communal space is actually quite limited. The city square was once a center for gathering for many purposes, that were not always defined or facilitated by commercial business.
In the context of Bangalore there is a sense of a city which has lost its identity through rapid growth and lack of cohesive planning/control. There are many initiatives in Bangalore that explore the possibility to rejuvenate the city through restoring the idea of ”the Garden City” with attention to urban gardening projects and by involving artists in large urban projects such as the building of the metro line, or water purification and trash disposal facilities. Many of these initiatives are initiatives from institutions such as the Goethe Institute, Jaaga, 1 Shanthi Road, Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology.
Building on this, Leslie Johnson, Smriti Mehra and Siddhanth Shetty, invited the public to view ”Drive-by video” a presentation in Yelehanka of video works of 14 artists. This event, Friday, October 30 was supported by Prestige Group AB who gave permission for the project to be shown in Prestige Plaza—a new shopping center on Yelehanka New Town Main Road. They supported the project by installing electric plugs for the 7 projectors/dvd players and the guards assisted with the installation and public. The public were invited via mailing lists, a press release and flyers and posters in the local area. The timing of the event was coordinated with an event at the local art school as well as an opening at a local gallery.
Located near Mother Dairy Circle in Yelehanka New Town, Drive-by Video could be viewed in the future commercial spaces of Prestige Plaza from moving vehicles, passers-by or artists and culture workers that came specifically to see the works.
Artists were invited to submit videos a month earlier via an open-call with a description of the site and the event. The final program did not specifically address the issues of shopping, but instead reflected aspects of the neighbourhood—the small shops and businesses of a pre-glossy shopping mall neighbourhood.
The participating artists are Aileen Blaney, Tahireh Lal, Matt Lee, Smriti Mehra, Chinar Shah, Ujjwal Utkarsh, Abhishek Hazra, Alison Byrnes, Abhiyan Humane, Leslie Johnson, Siddhanth ShettyRachita Rao, Otto Mogren and Upasna Bhatia. The event was curated and produced by Leslie Johnson, Smriti Mehra, Siddanth Shetty
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• Nyckelord/Subject keywords (fri text) Public art, Independent curator, Video art
• Övrig beskrivning/Other description (fri text)
Benämning och beskrivning av återgivet delverk/Description of work included (fri text)
The videos which I included of my own work were ”Travelling Anyway” a 4 minute video about bus travel in Russia over a bumpy road at high speed in an old bus. It beginss with the singing of ”We are travelling anyway” sung as a hymn. The cacophony of people talking on the bus becomes the background to the camera gradually zooming and focussing on the items hanging in the front windshield moving with every jolt. A surreal lapse into a spinning ride at an amusement park is edited in and the film concludes with the passengers filing off the bus and the sound of rain.
The second film I showed was entitled ”How to Pack a Suitcase” and consists of two actors ceremoniously packing a suitcase. Clothes are handed from one actor to another and considered, folded and packed into a travel bag. At the end the actors bow a little stiffly in front of the suitcase
in acknowledgement of their achieivement. | sv |
