Neha Jiandani

2011-01-11T22:20:00.000-08:00

Docile 2

Soft Pastel & Charcoal on paper

3.5' x 2.5'

In the fast paced life of today the handloom is aptly monumentalized as an extraordinary feature in the midst of the city life and visual culture that now prevails around us. This simple device that sustains many through their small scale industries has grown to become an icon that is honored and glorified as in this illustration itself. Its large size and absurd position on a street is very intriguing in that it has become a monument but doesn’t dissociate itself with the common, the everyday. Though it has grown in position it has not lost touch with the earth (pun). It boldly identifies itself with those very few who are magnified yet not moved. In fact its bars are well grounded in the earth and even appear to be deep rooted. All its intrinsic mechanisms are intact and functional. Being so well grounded, it does not fear coming in the way of the traffic of the street, instead it has established its authority to redirect the traffic just by it rooted position irrespective of whether it is functional or not. In fact its position itself carries out a function automatically by virtue of itself. It even seems to challenge the structures around itself by its dominating presence in a silent, non-violent fashion. There is a mutual co-operation between the different structures even if there is an air of hostility. Even in (or because of) its simplicity and transparency the handloom has become an icon in through the artist whose attention it has managed to captive to the point of such an intense and magnificent expression.

12/1/2011

2010-12-13T02:20:00.000-08:00

This diptych of roots against a backdrop of books almost seems to compel the viewer to establish the link between them. The labyrinth of root projections resembles the maze like structure of the brain where thousands of impulses are constantly shooting back and forth. Interestingly it is the labyrinth of the human brain which is the instrument that turns experience into books as well as books into experience. There is also the link of the material where trees are the source of the paper of the books. The history of the relationship between the roots and the books goes far beyond the history of the history of the creation of these books where their word content is concerned. They seem to meet again in this picture not for a functional purpose but rather as friends. The silent dialogue between them is not one of strangers but one of estranged friends.

2010-12-13T02:17:00.000-08:00

Over the neat beds lie the remains of something that was once alive. Suspended from a bamboo stick lie the bones, particularly the head of creatures that were once moving and breathing as if the artist wants to emphasize something of the past in as loud a manner possible. There is something about the past lingering in our present like a ghost that is invisible but strongly experienced. It is usually in the quietness of the bedroom that the ghost of the past comes to touch the senses of the living. If one’s present condition is secure and strong, the remains of the past will either have to surrender to the present or disappear into oblivion which is just another form of surrender. Something very encouraging about these skeletons of the past is that they are bound yet they boldly threaten one like as if they have some legal or birthright in this bedroom. The serenity of the bedroom is so empowering that the hanging skulls seem to be finding themselves out of place. Perhaps they presumed that they could create a presence here but instead they experience a sort of intimidation that was not planned but has turned out to be so due to the difference in stature of the bones and the bedroom. Perhaps the gap between the beds is due to these remains of the past that are lingering even after the passage of time.

2010-12-13T02:15:00.000-08:00

The most outstanding and intriguing feature of Madhu’s work is the depiction of a contemporary image in a conventional medium. Instead of keeping his artwork as an installation, he seems to take the image of an installation and turn it into a painting in such a meticulous manner almost like he is trying to drive a point in. He seems to take the present (installation) into the past (pigment on paper), considering new media to be more contemporary that painting, thus projecting a very new idea in an old window that belongs to a different position in the timeline. The dry leaves support this idea as something of the past coming into the present in that it has been created with paint only a few days ago. Madhu is playing with the whole human concept of time to dismantle it and bring in some new perspectives on the idea of time itself. He brings the past and the present together in a methodical manner with such ease of flow that one needs to be very careful in concluding that he has just fabricated something. One must see deeper to know that he is actually throwing light on something that already exists but needed to be unveiled in the way he is doing it here. The human concept of time is a superficial one that is followed for the sake of convenience. But Madhu with his shuffling of the then and now seems to be poking this thing called contemporary art to reconsider its name. He defies contemporary art while parading in the sphere of it fooling those who do not care to look beyond his surface. Thus contemporary art has embraced its rebel in its disinterest to discern those it calls its own. Fortunately here the rebel is closer to the truth than the community he is in. He has the potential to win the community not just because he is true but due the way he carries himself in their midst.

Trumpets and Seeds?

2010-12-13T02:11:00.000-08:00

Madhu’s creations throw light on the relationship /link/interdependence between the natural and the fabricated (from the natural). Normally what do trumpets have to do with germinating seeds? But Madhu’s painting challenges one to dig enough to see their co-relation. As they hover over these sprouting plants they seem to inspire life and energy into them to follow the upward direction of the trumpets themselves. Correspondingly the growing plants seem to support the trumpets (visually and in essence) through their co- operation. In a very subtle way the growing shoots seem to be upholding the trumpets. It is something not seen but sensed. The way the trumpets are positioned breaks the monotony of the linear walls in a very assertive way yet they are not there of themselves but have been placed there by another. They assert themselves not in an imposing way but rather in an obliging way. The dialogue between the sprouts and the trumpets is peaceful but not intimate. It is obvious that as they grow there is going to be intimacy. There is a strong likelihood that the mature plants will interfere with the position and function of the trumpets unless there is mutual respect and compromise. Here Madhu brings out the point that with growth there must be increasing mutual understanding, respect and compromise for the growth to be sustained.

Neha Jiandani
18/10/10

Off -beat Art in Off-beat Venus II

2010-10-11T23:37:00.000-07:00

Samuha( 3rd Floor, A.D.A. Rangamandira, J C Road, 26th -31st Aug 2010) is currently hosting a show of eight women artists (Smt.Y Jayama, Smt. Devaki, Smt. K. S. Bharati, Smt. Sumitra Y. Putti, Smt. V. Vijayalaxmi Sundaresh, Smt. Nanda R. Putti ,Smt. M. A. Umalaxmi and Smt. Bharati G) who have no formal training in art. Their productions are childlike spontaneous expressions that are untainted by academic education. Their visual language and style is raw. They are emotionally charged with the enthusiasm of a child.
Charita (Mysore), the curator was inspired by the artworks produced by her aunt who is part of the show. Being impressed by the passion of her aunt she had the idea to have a solo show of her work which gradually developed into a group show including seven other women like her. The ambience of Samuha is charged with life as screens displaying documentaries of the artists work keep viewers engrossed.

Mysore Palace Entrance Portrait
-Nanda Putty -Vijayalakshmi

Even the arrangement of the artworks is raw and informal which seems to be deliberate to assist in emphasizing the overall essence of the work. They break some rules/norms of an exhibition which has been and intrinsic character of art ever since it existed. Nanda Putty’s ‘Mysore Palace Entrance’ uses water colours in different methods throughout the picture . The convenience of expression is what determines the strokes rather than technically correct way of using them. Vijyalakshmi’s portrait is not based on rules of anantomy but purely on observation as is evident in the strokes.

Slender Loris (thread) Bharati
Sumitra Putty Poster colour on paper

Bharati’s work is one that reminds the viewers of their own childhood or some drawing of their children done with great vigor and placed in front of their faces for appreciation. The fantasy image of bold strokes on notebook paper reveals some part of the woman that remains untouched by the discipline of demands of her environment.

Charita, through this show was keen to bring to light the intense artistic expressions of these mature women who are ignored in the mainstream art industry. Her passion to not allow this art to die in oblivion is what inspired the art event.

Neha Jiandani
28/8/2010

Off -beat Art In Off-beat Venus

2010-10-11T23:26:00.001-07:00

“Behind The Seen” at 1.shantiroad(27th Aug- 1st Sep 2010) digs into visuality and the very idea of ‘a show’. It has successfully attempted to turn the canvas to face the wall and coax the viewers to see what is hidden behind that beautifully painted picture. This is the display of the productions of four individuals who work as technicians doing numerous odd jobs at four dynamic art spaces in the city.

Prabhakar D.R. (Goethe Institute, ‘Max Mueller Bhavan’) has been exposed to art and artists for the past 40 years. His sculptures made of scrap machinery parts display a skill and commitment that far exceeds those of some trained artists. The symmetry and balance of his sculptures are striking in their imitation of traditional Indian lamps.

Mohana ,( No. 1 Shantiroad, art studio) the caretaker for the past decade looks like an excited little girl as she animatedly describes her artwork to viewers. Her sculptures, made of fabric, plastic bottles and old saree material look like puppets that are about to do a performance. Mohana inspires life into these dolls through her dynamic expressions and gestures. These dolls are the representation of coolies, vegetable vendors who are her friends.

Artist: Subbaiah
Subbaiah (Samuha, a one-year long artist collective) who has been assisting Samuha is also a vegetable vendor and mason from Iglur. He says ,” Once he began assisting the artists, he was lured to make art which resulted in photographs.” He portrays his world of flowers, cows and rabbits…..his experiences that the consumer world is missing.

Artist: Shivaraju Artist: Shivaraju
Shivaraju (No. 1, Shantiroad) has been managing this place for a while now. He is from a farming community and is a cop by profession. Due to the inevitable circumstances of his life, he could not pursue a formal education in art. But this has not deterred him from expressing himself through the medium of photography. “Physical Labour” is the thematic concern that runs through his pictures.
Curated by city based artist Surekha, “Behind the Seen” is in honour of the quiet ones who work behind the scenes making many of the major shows in the city possible. The joy and satisfaction on the faces of each of these four artists proves that this show has served to appreciate their constant services better than mere words would have.

Light & Shadow

2010-10-11T23:15:00.000-07:00

With Bangalore’s landscape transforming so rapidly, the current scenes in the city are sure to vanish before one can observe the rate of this change. There is already a great sense of nostalgia that is prevalent among us Bangaloreans as we move through the city even to get simple chores done. We suddenly realize that little shop has disappeared, that muddy road has now become a commercial street.
Srividya has captured scenes of the city in her photographic memory and reproduced them with the medium of charcoal, water color and paper. More than technical details, she focuses on the general visual culture of the city, the public areas that have not yet been touched by the mall culture of commercial market places. Her strong resistance to the recent constructions of Bangalore renders them non-existent when it comes to her artists productions. Yet it is a very easy process that comes so naturally to her.
Srividya’s illustrations of Dodda market (Mysore), Devraja Market (Mysore), Gandhi Bazaar, HAL Market, K R Puram Market, Malleshwaram etc with the raw look that charcoal renders express a desire to preserve these fast disappearing scenes at least in pictures. The process of registering these images of the city and reproducing them is something that comes almost unconsciously to the artist. Being fond of driving, as she moves around, the little bazaars catch her keen attention while the malls and huge bill boards just disappear into the background. In exploring the cityscape and expressing her observations she is also exploring herself and her own inclinations. Though her works are not technically experimental, they have a hint of it within them. There is a very slight tendency to push beyond what she has touched so far. The more this tendency develops the quicker will be her growth as an artist. There is also a strong need to break free from some traditional ways of seeing and expressing to come up with a production that would really catch the eye of not just viewers but even experts in the field.
The artist’s visual sensitivity to nature is very evident in her striking water colors. The bright pinks and yellows are very characteristic of the summers of Bangalore. The flower blossoms are painted very delicately among the thick brown branches. Even in these water colors there is the impression that the artist is preserving something of the city that at stake right now.
Having started off with water color she has gradually incorporated charcoal as her medium too. This shift is a positive sign as it suggests that she can move on to different mediums as a growing artist since new media works are more relevant in the current art scenario where it greatly contributes to the idea, content and visual language of the artist. Having had her bachelor’s degree from CAVA(Mysore) and her MFA from Chitra Kala Parishath, Bangalore, she has a good base on which she can build with her own expertise.
All said and done, Srividya is still at a very basic level in her career if she is aspiring to be known as a contemporary Indian artist. Though she has a keen visual sensitivity and a desire to express herself through the conventional mediums of artistic expression, there is a need for her to explore her concerns in a highly focused manner and become intensely individualistic in her subject matter. She is still to develop a characteristic style that would cause her work to be recognized as hers anywhere. Working earnestly and seriously on her style and content that reflects her typical personality will get her to the next level on her way up sooner.
Neha Jiandani
10.7.2010

Questionaire

2010-10-11T22:44:00.000-07:00

What do you understand by the term curation?
What has been your foremost source of information on curation? (eg. Lectures, books, galleries, residency programs etc)
In your opinion, how does a curator add at an artists’ expression and work in an exhibition?
What has been the best curated show you have seen, and what are the reasons you rate it as best? (example catalog text, display design, combination of works, etc)
If you were out in the position of a curator, what would your first exhibition be about?
What do you think are the main differences between a curated show, and a generally grouped or organized show?

Curation according to me is the art of presenting art. It is an artistic practice where objects of art are the medium. Curation as a function is a bridge that links artists and the market to bring about a fruitful exchange between the two that is mutually beneficial and satisfying. Curation gives/finds the context where the selected pieces of art thrive as a unit. A curator is the architect of a show.
Interactions/ discourses with art theoreticians, lectures by art critics, books such as “ An Introduction to Contemporary Art “ (Oxford Press) have been the primary source of information for me. Galleries surprisingly have not been a great resource on the subject of curation.
A curator raises an artwork to another level of impact through strategic positioning and presentation. A curator places an artwork into a larger context where it comes alive. When uninitiated viewers (not just any but the targeted ones) begin to get involved in art through what a curator has orchestrated, it’s a great success. A curator fills in the missing elements through articulations that bring the artwork to its full potential.
I have not been very impressed by the curated shows I have seen so far in galleries here. In fact I have found some artworks having intense curatorial skills involved in their production than entire shows have had. For instance, a graphic novel produced by an outgoing student as her annual show project display great skills of curation in terms articulation/ communication and display. Her little illustrations just came alive through the novel.
If I had to curate a show now it would be about the ironies and idiosyncrasies of the art industry. It would be a satire that would capitalize on the history of satire in art since the last two centuries and how much more seriously it repeats itself today. It would be a show on the truth that there is too much parading as the truth in art.
A curated show has a lot of thinking and strategizing that goes into it. The artworks selected need to be intense and authentic as well as have a demand in the market. A generally grouped show is just like any exhibition of products. It gives no exclusivity to art as something more than a commodity.

Neha Jiandani

An Endeavour To Understand Art

2009-11-12T10:37:00.000-08:00

From the beginning of time the realm of art has had and has a unique and strategic place and purpose both in time and space. There is no discipline (pun intended) besides art that contains the seed of eternity. Though eternity is boundless, it is also contained within the bounds of time. The unveiling of the mysterious connection between art and eternity is the essence of my endeavour. Art ( in the true sense of the word) is the exhaustive way to get to the truth. The relationship between art and speed (time) is extremely intimate and inter-dependent. The more the art involved, the more effective the method. In the process of practicing art the concept of ‘time’ changes. Art is the tool that redeems/reduces time. Art is the way of translating all theory into practice and vice versa. Art involves/engages skill, tact and strategy but the source of its power is too enormous for instant comprehension. With the passage of time, art through art has been gradually entering into it’s actual position and function in the fullness of it. The missing pieces of art are falling into place through the genuine practice of art. For all these centuries art has been breaking the borders that confine it. Every limitation imposed upon it was overcome. However through the demolition of these walls like a growing organism that has attained maturity, it is now discovering it’s actual walls that pre-existed long before and far beyond the imposed walls that had stunted it’s true image.
The opportunity for art to attain the fullness of its potential lies in the realm of warfare. It is here that art determines the total victory of one of the sides engaged in warfare. However it is only at the end of this entity called ‘time’ that the absolute victory will be known and announced as the ultimate.
When the practice of art can be fully translated into the theory of art and the theory into practice, this is when it can be said with surety that art has identified those pre-existing walls that marked out it’s position, shape, structure and function long before art came to life.
Interestingly, the success of an artistic endeavour is far too intimately connected with the motive behind it to escape the power of the intention. It is the source of the motive that determines whether the work is going to last or perish. One can deceive himself/herself for a while but will ultimately be found out embarrassingly often by his/her own words and actions. Someone has truly uttered that there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed.
Anything that is all inclusive loses it’s meaning, purpose……. Its very identity. Art has become all inclusive at the cost of diffusing its focus. It is difficult to determine whether art at its current state rejoices or pines over what it has forsaken in order to gain its current status. It is hard to say if Art in its true sense today is in a survival mode or a thriving ascent. Is there any sort of unity/collaboration in purpose and direction in artistic movements both locally and globally? (Here I am not referring to physical, emotional, intellectual events as much as I am targeting the spirit behind these faculties.)
What is it that really turns practice into art? Every practice contains an element of art ….yet practice just seems like a blueprint that is laid out for art to cover. Art definitely attains its purity through the impurity of practice, yet it needs to be fuelled and fed through various other resources. It needs to understand what it really needs. Since in any practice ‘time’ is of the essence, art becomes an uncompromising element to truly succeed. What then does art really consist of ? Apart from a strong desire to succeed it requires a violent resistance and a death to anything and everything that could come in its way. More importantly it requires a sobriety that becomes functional only after a certain degree of maturity is attained. Art in primarily engaged with the process and never with the product, ironically it is the products that are called works of art. The products definitely initiate other processes/practices that carry another facet of art (or at least the seed of it) but never contain the seed in themselves.
At this juncture I am reminded of the art of living courses that have become so popular. Personally I would like to attempt to understand Life and art as they are and just watch how art reveals Life to me and Life reveals art as is currently happening before my eyes. As I look back I realize that Life has constantly given me chances and opportunities to understand it. The opportunities that I have ceased have given me much but those that I have missed have brought about loses that I am perhaps permitted to not fully understand as might perish because of the intensity of it. The more I understand what I have ceased the more I see what I have missed. Perhaps this is what keeps me in check. I can neither become too arrogant nor too dejected.
I am always glad when Life reveals to me that I have a choice. The sense of responsibility that this revelation brings about is perhaps what causes me to make the right choice. I have come to realize that no amount of experience, head knowledge or passion can do to and within me what a revelation does. The permanence of the effect of a revelation is so intense that even my will cannot undo it. This is when I am totally convinced that I have gained victory because even if I want to I cannot undo what has been done.
This gives me hope because I begin to see that I do not need to push things with physical effort to see results. Though physical effort may play a role in getting a revelation, it is hardly ever with this sole intention that the effort is made. If I can recognize and catch a revelation, I know that I am not the same person anymore.
It is in revelation that Art finds its ordained place and function. Outside of it Art will never reach its full potential but rather be misused and abused to its ultimate capacity.
For a long time Art has been trying to find its meaning and purpose in itself. The autonomy that it claims is perhaps its deepest self-deception.
Art offers opportunities for refinement, for purging and purification if only one will yield to its true purpose.
Art has its limitations and recognizing its limitations is what will give it unlimited potential.

Neha Jiandani
14th April 2009
Final Year Project

Virtual verses Real

2009-11-12T10:18:00.000-08:00

Concept Note

The mechanics of life today appears to have its control room of the virtual (the wireless- internet, mobile, i-pod…). What results when the created begins to pull the strings of the creator?….quite a pathetic situation. Becoming a slave to the virtual medium/media has caused one to lose a status that (s)he ought to have guarded jealously. It is precisely this phenomenon that is reflected in genuine artistic productions.

Artistic intentions range from being highly emotional and subjective to being political, economical, manipulative and even aimless. With such a mixture of abstractions motivating the productions of artists, who is not facing a dilemma on how to decipher this mixture and sort it out into a structure that is clear and directional as a whole(at an individual as well as corporate level)? The fake and the real actually can never be mixed but they are surely presented as a package where the responsibility of discerning is left to the receiver.

The field of art is one of opportunities rather than a discipline. The artist, the curator and the buyer are all presented with opportunities. In a scenario such as the art market, it is the one with foresight rather than the informed with the advantage. The educational system worldwide has taught people how to gain information but has not trained us on how to see clearly. Insight is the key to identifying the real and recognizing the fake.

Comment on the Display

It is well understood that images produce images. What people see is what they produce.
With artists moving from so called rural set-ups to cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, the impact of this shift is evident in their choice of subjects as well as style. The visual culture of cities is almost harsh to the sight of those who have only a few decades ago been introduced to the television or even electricity for that matter.

The alternative lifestyle offered by the city determines the styles of most contemporary artists. The works reveal a strong nostalgia as well as a struggle to cope with the current demands of city life. The relationship of memory and experience is manifested in the imagery in a conscious and unconscious way. Genuine art inevitably weaves together history (subjective and objective) into the present pointing towards the future.

The art works are a product of a process of yielding and resisting to impulses, thoughts and inclinations. The artists who are aware of the process have a greater control over their work.
The works on display here juxtapose the rural and the urban, not as belonging to different time periods alone but also as belonging to different geographical regions at the same time.

Neha Jiandani

September 2009

Art show at GBS

2008-12-30T04:36:00.000-08:00

Culture’s Course through Discourse

The eccentric, intriguing nature of the word culture and what it is believed to embody perhaps was what led to the emergence of Cultural Studies as an academic discipline. The human pre-occupation (often obsession) with the elusive, the mystifying is what triggers and sustains every intellectual discourse in this arena. It’s a zone that has been created to meddle with insecurities and engage in the uncertain. Every question that the world shuns as idiosyncratic is brought up for dissection and scrutiny here. Is this done just to pacify/satisfy the need/greed of the intellect? Does it have a very strong sense of purpose before it launches into a discourse or does it aim to acquire/find its purpose through the discourse? Usually there arise no clear answers but instead more questions that are instrumental in causing one to live the answers of yesterday’s questions, though one may not realize it.

Cultural discourse is not so much about culture as it is about the agents that carry it. Culture always takes on the form of the agent hence understanding the agent is imperative in order to understand the cultural content and the mechanism of the relationship between carrier and content. For instance, Cinema gives a certain personality/dimension to culture which significantly differs from the culture that Drama carries. The individuals involved in these specific agencies, both, take on and give a characteristic to this specific culture…. The dynamics of this mutual exchange give this culture an identity that shapes up in a manner that is very similar to the way a human identity is built and as mysterious too. It carries the influence of so many other agents within itself but attempts to create for itself something beyond these influences.

Interestingly, the human identity is a micro-unit of the cultural identity thus always carrying the potential to alter it, even revolutionize it. All vehicles of culture like Drama, Literature, Music and the Arts consist of a network of people functioning in a particular/peculiar manner. This manner determines the route the agent takes/adopts to chart out for itself a niche within the larger framework of Culture.

A historical study of Culture reveals how this region acts as a buffer to the confining/conforming nature of the political/economic framework of which it is indeed an integral part. It’s a place of exploration, of indulgence, a place where there is no room for plastic formalities. It’s a region that welcomes, that allows. It’s a place that aims to give room for growth. Ironically it is also a place of excuse and a place where ignorance is excused. Culture is that place where the private is welcomed (not exposed) into the public.

What then makes culture different from Art? Art too is a place/space that accepts and includes much more than it rejects. Perhaps culture is the creation of a few master artists who chose to be the medium rather than use a medium to initiate a process of creation. Artists of culture always attempt to know the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end. Cultural artists create while curating.

The role of language in culture is too integral to ignore. The language is not only the tool of communication but an entity that carries the very essence of the culture. It is the thread that always linked and continues to link the intentionally/unintentionally fragmented units of time and space. The nuances of the language reveal the beliefs, fears, assumptions of that culture. The tone always reveals more the words themselves. The tone is the body language of the culture.

The almost hilarious ability of culture to both unify and diversify makes it indispensable. The popular saying, “familiarity breeds contempt” is probably what makes culture work so well. Due to the diversity it can withhold within itself, it appeals even to the most uninitiated. Culture always comes as a package that commands attention.

Culture was initially outward looking. Over the course of time it has come to embody such a vastness that it’s look has now shifted inward. What is within its premise is now demanding more attention than what lies outside of its boundary (if there is one). It now looks at itself as a vehicle where different kinds of passengers walk in and out leaving behind something and carrying away something with them as they move on.

Cultures need each other in order to survive. They keep a check on each other and sort of prune and refine each other. For instance the culture of the media checks the culture of the cinema and vice versa. Yesterday’s culture cannot survive today. It has to be repeatedly interrupted in order to be sustainable. Culture has shifted from minding other businesses to minding its own business.

Earlier culture used to deal with what could be understood and therefore known. Now it has come to realize that there is far too much that it does not know and needs to deal with this issue. The times of today demand this and culture carries a responsibility to deliver the answer. Having chosen/fallen to embody what it does today, it cannot afford to escape these demands. With the kind of knowledge and power being generated outside its premise, there is a dire need to break through into the next level of function. It cannot afford to lose its relevance within the larger framework of society. It has a choice to either rise to the occasion or move into oblivion….. perhaps forever.

The multidisciplinary aspect of culture is now interdisciplinary or both. Culture now has to challenge itself in order to survive the onslaught of the next decisive moment. A time and space where it needs to give an account of its responsibility as a realm of expertise involving numerous occupants and functions. We need to know what culture is doing here at such a time as this.

The section of society most affected by cultural studies is the one that affects cultural studies. The intellectuals carry a certain kind of responsibility in their realm of influence. Keeping tract of the alternating expansion and contraction of this realm is part of this responsibility. There are intense and desperate needs that need to be addressed. There are political needs, economic needs, social needs, individual needs that have been neglected for so long that ignoring them has become a thinking pattern, a mindset. It then comes to a point of having to address thinking patterns that need to be bent and renovated. Its too painful, almost impossible to discard the insensitivity that has been harbored or/and hardened through time and experiences .We need to deal with what we have lost while gaining so much, what we have compromised through what we have appropriated. Much of this realm of erasure has been contemplated if not addressed by writers like Foucault and Derrida. Post-modernism has basically been in the business of breaking down mindsets yet escaping the responsibility of replacing this vacancy that it has brought about. Is it the calling of some other –ism or enterprise to give us an appropriate thing to believe in, something to lean on?

Culture like all other enterprises has a mandate to fulfill. Recognizing and charting out the details of this agenda or updating what already exists has been long due. Culture has been a region where excuse richly dwells. But excuse enters this realm expecting to be dealt with and not entertained. It is a space where refreshing/revival is expected. Culture though always prevalent, was never understood the way it is now. With the evolution of its understanding, hidden demands have been unveiled though not necessarily recognized. Culture’s methodologies and motives need to fall into alignment with each other. The non-convergence of the two diffuse the focus and disrupt the functional process. Though culture is an enterprise in itself, it is also a part of every other existing enterprise. Every decision taken here has a ripple effect, thus affecting every other section under its mantle. It’s a domain that covers numerous sites and these sites have given it the authority to make crucial decisions regarding themselves and how they ought to function.

Cultural dialogue in constantly determined by the prejudices and desires of the agents involved. Yet because of the diverse sources that generate and sustain the dialogue, the course it takes is most often very unpredictable and hence enlightening. The content may be clichéd but the direction the dialogue takes may be highly innovative thus reorganizing the content into something more sensible and relevant to today. The purpose of dialogue has always been to generate new ideas that are practical and that work. There are very real and grave factors influencing dialogue which cannot be totally grasped during dialogue since the focus is mainly on the content rather than the intent. However, trained minds constantly seek and attempt to decipher the intent as they know that that is the core issue. The content becomes merely a means to know the intent. Knowing the intent sums up to nothing unless there is a way to alter these intentions so as to fit a purpose and plan that deeply convinces the minds at work. Unless there is a way not only to think but also to communicate and present this plan effectively to bring about persuasion, conviction and performance of the highest degree, dialogues can be excruciatingly frustrating.

It is established thinking patterns that are the real target of dialogue. Flawed mindsets have limited our perceptions, experience and the quality of our life. Depraved minds have persisted in society for too long leading and misleading too many individuals who trusted in the experienced. Thinking that they know better we have fallen prey to a system that is far more destructive than we could ever imagine since our imaginations too are subject to this system. Often, some of our most disturbing experiences bring about a breakthrough in this system of thinking. When the revelation dawns that our understanding can fail us, a door opens for a new thinking pattern to enter. Both the patterns are then tested to see what really works not just mentally but practically as well. If the new one comes through then the old one dies forever in that mind. There is no turning back from then on, unless one deliberately chooses to stick on to the old even after experiencing its failure. It is not surprising that many make this choice as it is easier to live a lie than risk the new. It takes immense courage to take this leap. There is always a price to pay for something of worth.

Culture lies in performance, even the performance of theorizing culture. The culture of cultural studies is like a camera that from a bird’s eye view captures, edits and sometimes even manipulates the recordings it has taped. To know whether the position it holds was obtained or ordained needs some intense study.

Since culture is the behavioral manifestation of beliefs, fears, assumptions and suppositions, a single approach to understanding it would not suffice. Every aspect of its composition needs to be approached individually yet contextually to produce an understanding of what it really means. Every aspect of culture is supported by a certain world-view. It is these big-picture/big-brother views that really hold the roots of culture. Unless we view culture within this larger context we are invariably falling short of a sustainable understanding of culture and its domain and methods of influence.

Culture can also be viewed as the consequence of a number of decisive actions. Could it be an unpredicted/undesirable by-product of certain uncalculated decisions? Is it an unwanted outgrowth that has occurred due to a dysfunction in the existing system? Perhaps certain ancient boundaries were transgressed…. carelessly. Is culture a necessity then? Can we live(not just survive) without it? Has it always existed or is its history shorter than we think it to be? Is culture capable of answering these questions or will they be answered by some other enterprise that’s already carrying the answers?

17/11/08
Diploma in Cultural Studies
CSCS, Bangalore
Assignment 1

2008-12-30T04:10:00.000-08:00

Default Screen

Introduction:

The visual always comes without warning. How do you reject the visual before it parades before you? Why should you reject it? It’s not worthy of attention unless it produces a vision higher than the one that produced it. The whole history of philosophy is a tale of the above sentence. The visual most often runs the show except when the vision supersedes the visual. Infact the visual are productions of visions. They are tangible manifestations of visions made available to our senses, intellect and emotions.

The visuals on display here are meant to produce visions. Quite obviously they are only tools to discover who you are, where you stand and what matters to you and is it really worthy a matter to think about? But then, are you what your opinions are? The visuals are prompts to assist in shifting one’s focus from the everyday to the power of a day.

It is not what you see in the image that really matters, but how strongly it affects the direction of your life and the duration of this shift. Every curatorial work has an agenda to affect either History or the Economy or both, but the success of it is measured by the range and duration of its influence and how well it has managed not be influenced.

Concept:

The visuals are a metaphorical comment on the DNA of cyber- culture. The frames are an imitation of the monitors in business settings. Expect here all the frozen screens reflect the freezing of culture brought about by the internet where the cyber-space is the only culture (though it ought to be called space) that experiences development, like a tornado that consumes all that’s in its way in order to move ahead. This is just one side of the Janus faced screen. What it screens is the pockets of world where time is frozen due to the lack of the web there.

It is the wireless that’s wired here. In a network every image is available in every system. The fact that one can glance at all of them at once that too full screen sizes suggests an advantage over the single screened computer. This aspect hints at the underestimated power that lies outside of the network. Though this power appears to be beyond the human ability to grasp as the eye cannot take in all the images at once, perhaps it is just a flaw in the way of seeing.

As the word suggests, the screen conceals aspects of the network of which it is a product. If we think we have seen something on the screen, a re-evaluation is necessary as it suggests that we have only just touched the border. Only in getting past the border can there be any real experience of the other and hence the potential for exponential growth in a direction that surpasses the borders of human imagination. The beguiling nature of the Janus face often makes it appear like the other when in fact it is always masking it from human perception and imagination. The sensationalism, sensuality, attractions of the screen is meant to distract, to disturb, to ensnare in order to protect what it conceals. That’s what it’s meant for. That’s who it really is!

There always are internal and external warning signals at the border. Borders are regions of conflict, turmoil and inevitably…. death. As it is true historically, even today victory lies in crossing the border. Contrary to most misconceptions, the endeavour here is not to break statutes but to innovatively breakthrough the border in collaboration with the rules. It’s about tact and skill in warfare. The only way to the other size is through the zone of terror.

Nevertheless (or rather hence), the surest way to know what really lies within this space is to look beyond its boundary. A show put up in an institute where the policies, the availability of space, the training or lack of it, the limits and the liberties prevailing determine the production of curatorial work. A show in a city that has no dearth of galleries and studios but where these spaces follow an economic and/or political strategy which excludes what springs up beyond the borders of its criteria, thus aiding in the institutionalization of site specific work. A show in a country that is still coming to terms with the enormous popularity its contemporary artists have gained beyond rather than within its geographic boundary, a space where the nature of art has changed too drastically for native digestion and assimilation.

Note on the Artist:

The Artist’s inclinations towards structures containing well-defined shapes contrasts with the otherwise captured emptiness of the skyscapes, revealing the human tendency to be extremists. The uncertainty that lies within the region of balance causes the artist to oscillate between the edges of the see-saw of situational crisis. The risk factor of the borderline where equilibrium exists is perhaps unconsciously avoided.

The photographer’s rejection of color and affinity for black and white images re-iterates the avoidance of the intensity that exists at the gravitational point where diversity converges. He personifies the general and widespread rebellion of the ideals of The University.

The two homes of the artist, the ancestral and the current are juxtaposed to counteract the diasporic effect of migration. Here is a display of the everyday as against the pilgrimage.

A place of birth and a place of growth entangled in a screened array! (pun intended)

Curatorial Work 1
Neha Jiandani
7th Semester
Art History Dept.
College of Fine Arts, CKP.

17/10/08

Commercial Advertisements and their Visual Langauge

2008-06-22T06:55:00.000-07:00

It is not unknown that advertisements are customized to create needs where they do not exist. They are tailored to make viewers feel incomplete without that product. Yet (and therefore) the best adds are those that deceive consumers onto believing that these implied 'needs' are real and genuine.
After industrialization , consumerism was bound to be the result. In between these two phenomenon are the commercial advertisements that control the interaction (and traffic) between the industry and the consumer. They play the role of traffic lights and policemen (with the more corrupt ones exercising more power), who are noticed yet not scrutinized. These street signals are metaphors of ads that determine the direction and density of traffic to a certain destination (the product).
The visual language in designed to target the vulnerable points of male and female sexuality in most cases. They target "the lust of the flesh" and "the lust of the eyes" , manipulating consumers into believing that the products and services being portrayed will satisfy these "needs". The fact is 'desire' is not the same as 'need'. The products probably satisfy desires, not necessarily needs.
The challenge for ads today is to fool the consumer into believing that he is not being fooled. The ads are forced to pretend that they are revealing more than they conceal. The visual language is the vehicle of these internal dynamics,but like a vehicle it does not reveal the mechanism. Only the end product of the attractive visual ad is shown (except for those who take the trouble to find out the process).
The visual language of ads serve either as:
a) A tool to know OR
b) An excuse for ignorance
Consumers are thrown (always) into a realm (the media) where either they control the influence of the perceived visual on them of it controls them. This interaction is not always a partnership. Often it is a subtle warfare that is constantly 'on'. At this junction, I am reminded of a client who asked his web-designer to create an interface whose concept would be derived from a book titled "Art Of War" that appropriates East- Asian strategies of martial arts to business management.I realized that this book has not only succeeded in advertising itself but has managed to enter the method of ads as well.
The challenge for consumers is to find out the mechanism of control in the information systems from within, as being 'in' the media is not a matter of choice anymore.

2008-02-21T02:01:00.000-08:00

What has this world done to us?

You know you are pretending
And I know that too.
But we pretend to be genuine
Or maybe we are trying to

When is the mask going to come off?
You don’t want to remove yours
Neither I mine
But haven’t we ever wondered why?

Perhaps you are afraid
Of being betrayed
Of again going through
The pain that you just got over

The pain is still there
But now in your mind
Warning you to defend yourself
With your mask as your shield.

I see it, I know it,
I too have experienced it
But I don’t tell you a word,
Neither do I ask you a thing.

We both walk our ways
Knowing yet pretending not to.

Criticism

2007-11-02T23:44:00.000-07:00

Article: Jacqueline Rose(b. 1943) ‘Sexuality in the Field of Vision’
The theory at stake in this article lies in the first sentence of this extract.
"[…] Freud often related the question of sexuality to that of visual representation."
The readers are initiated into the issues surrounding Freud’s theories with(in) the realm(s) of sexuality in a manner that places us on a fence where either side is black/white while the path(fence) is grey.
As the reader continues tracing this path, it appears to be a metaphor of the next sentence.
“Describing the child’s difficult journey into adult sexual life,…”
This grey path would correspond with Jacqueline’s opinions as a representation of “…..the complexity of an essentially visual space.” On this path the concept of sexuality is like beam-balance that is tilted more under the load of ‘subjectivity’ than the side of ‘content’. Since subjectivity gains more credit (here), it is only logical that, “The relationship between viewer and scene is always one of fracture, partial identification, pleasure and distrust.” Thus the viewer ends up creating his identity based on his response to the ‘scene’(according to Jacqueline Rose). I would like to stress the nature of creating being a process within which ‘identity’,(according to Rose) seeks to position itself when its very being is a process.
Jacqueline views Freud’s theories as an analogy of ‘sexual identity being an imagination.’
If ‘for Freud’, ‘ our sexual identities as male or female, our confidence in language as true or false, and our security in the image we judge as perfect of flawed, are fantasies’ then his theories are subject to the same analysis and thus fall into the category of fantasies.
Rose deliberately or unconsciously doesn’t draw this conclusion but chooses to turn ‘ these archaic moments’ into ‘ theoretical prototypes’ to subject the presence of the sexual in representation to new interpretations. She uses Freud’s implications to conclude that the ‘chief drives’ of art that address this issue is “to expose the fixed nature of sexual identity as a fantasy and, in the same gesture, to trouble, break up, or rupture the visual field before our eyes.’
Ironically, the statements she uses as a base to justify her conclusion throws this very conclusion into the category of ‘fantasies. Either she is aware of this and/yet chooses to move further or this fact has escaped her notice. This ambiguity will hopefully be solved in the remaining article.
From the way I see it, the term ‘staged’ implies something that is manifested in the physical. Rose then asserts that the ‘staged’ happens only under the condition that ‘that staging has already taken place’. She doesn’t specify where this staging should have taken place. This causes me to conclude that the ‘where’ refers to ‘the visual field’.
Rose asserts that the ‘encounter between psychoanalysis and artistic practice’ happens because it has already happened numerous times. So, Is the difference in this final/intermediate encounter and the past ones the ‘place’ where it occurs? Where it turns from a ‘happening’ into a ‘representation’? But again, how can the two be separated when they both belong to the category of ‘fantasies’ according to Freud’s theory stated earlier. It is evident that Rose sees this fact in her statement, “It gives back to repetition its proper meaning and status” as the “constant pressure of something hidden but not forgotten.” At this junction I believe that it more appropriate for this statement to be “… the constant pressure of something hidden, perhaps even forgotten but not erased…”
Rose appears to believe that this hidden realm will come into focus only when the visual field where “our normal forms” of self-recognition (which I prefer to call self-creation) take place, is blurred.
Rose does not elaborate on the term “normal forms”. Are these normal forms objective or subjective? Are they also subject to “a staging that has already taken place”?
Then Rose raises three issues simultaneously. Strangely they appear unrelated to each other. Possibly Rose is attempting to pull three chords from three different directions and knot them at a point.
The third chord displays Rose’s consideration of Freud’s demonstration that history is not “….some truth to be deciphered behind the chain of associations” but rather it “resides within that chain and in the process of emergence”. She propagates Freud’s redefinition of the term ‘history’ as something that lies within the process underlying the chain of language.
Rose further substantiates Lacan’s analysis of Freud’s demonstration. Lacan viewed the chain of language as individual units that come together to produce meaning. Lacan states that its truth belongs to that phenomenon that brings the units together and not to some external reference.
“Language rests on a continuum which gets locked into discrete units of which sexual difference is only the most strongly marked. The fixing of language and the fixing of sexual identity go hand in hand; they rely on each other and share the same forms of instability and risk.”
Thus Rose implies that sexual identity is a product of language and therefore cannot have an individual status (identity).She is also hinting that language is highly dependent on sexual identity to establish its nature.

Critical Comment

2007-11-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

“A work conceived, perceived and received in its integrally symbolic nature is a text.”
Roland Barthes(1915-1980) ‘ From Work to Text’

This is an attempt to come to an understanding of the term ‘work’ in this definition of it.
Is a work a product assumed to be finished , having gone through a process? Since… perhaps it may not have been released from it. It symbolizes a time period by its nature of being and having been. Apart from the time and space it represents, it symbolizes the process it was ( and is) subject to , not excluding future allegations. Since it represents more than a history of associations attached to it by continuing to exist in an environment that uses it , ‘Use’ in the sense of giving it a reason to still exist, can this ‘work’ be ‘conceived, perceived and received in its integrally symbolic nature’? If this nature lies only in the fact that it undergoes these three processes, be it in any context … probably then it becomes a text.
If its integral symbolism lies in the material that constitutes it, then every material understood and experienced as what it is is a work turned into text.

Neha Jiandani
3rd yr BVA
Art History Dept.
Chirtra Kala Parishath
26/4/07

A Museum Visit

2007-11-02T22:54:00.000-07:00

Creative writing

If a work of art needs only to have some characteristics that classifies art, be it in the contemporary or conventional sense, then I am justified in selecting any object present in this museum (this satisfying some of the requirements ). Now questions arise concerning the objects that were installed here to serve a specific function (which is neither artistic nor aesthetic).Not only these , but the very structure, architecture being an integral part of the museum- could they acquire the status of ‘art objects’? Considering even the humans who are strolling around looking in awe at objects whose status they have probably equaled ( if this argument stands) only by their physical entry into this structure even before setting their eyes on any object.
Knowing ( in accordance with ‘common’ sense ) that this argument would not stand , I used the word ‘some’ and not ‘one’ in the opening sentence.
Right now I sit before an object( a bulletin board) that visibly satisfies not only some but many conventional characteristics of art . Apart from being within a frame , its got shapes, lines , tones, text and even con-text. But it stands here not as a work of art which is too meager and clichéd a position . It stands here as a Triumphant Revolutionary having pulled down the very structure that supports it. Being on an easel, it has destroyed the identity of this place. It has proved that works in a museum are not art works but processes. Therefore if every frame is a process then this structure is not a museum.
Even this work on paper ‘being’ created by me is supported by this Revolutionary( the Bulletin Board).

Neha Jiandani
3rd yr BVA
Art History Dept.
Chitra Kala Parishath
25/4/07

2006-12-29T04:35:00.001-08:00

Cosmopolitanism

The word "cosmopolitan" seems so common today. It frequently appears in newspaper articles and magazines. Even the name of a particular magazine is "Cosmopolitan". Though we are so familiar with the word … what does it really mean?

The idea of "cosmopolitanism" is not very different from the idea of perfection. An ideal that every person (on an individual level) strives to achieve. But this can be achieved only to a certain extent since perfection itself is limitless. I would define "cosmopolitanism" as "social perfection at a global level". By "social perfection" I mean an unbiased mindset of people towards other people irrespective of their background, social status,history or appearance. How feasible is such an idea as this? Can one look at a so called " criminal" without any prejudice? Can a person look at his enemy as one not very different from himself?

Can we honestly call ourselves a cosmopolitan society? What about other issues that seem to be negating cosmopolitanism- like terrorism , which has caused unimaginable mistrust and fear. The atmosphere is filled with constant suspicion of all that which is unfamiliar and strange- be it people or objects.

In airports all over the world , security has been tightened to its limit since the increase of terror attacks. Every passenger is under suspicion. Tough this is inevitable for security reasons, can it be called cosmopolitan? The kinds of thoughts , feelings and emotions that run through the mind of every passenger while he is rigourously and meticulously checked , can they be termed as a result of cosmopolitanism?

"Cosmopolitanism" as of now is an ideal that the society is striving or wanting to achieve. There are numerous talks, conferences and articles expressing this common desire among highly conscious people. But has this fantastic ideal materialized at a global level?

2006-12-29T04:26:00.000-08:00

How Conditioned Are We?

What are the factors that cause conditioning?

To what extent can we free ourselves from this conditioning?

Creativity- as the erasure of conditioning.

How do we overcome conditioned thinking?

Lets start with human babies. Apart from genetic make up, the needs of it condition its behaviour. As it grows up its environment and society causes the second level of conditioning to occur. So now- apart from the natural or human traits(not anything new ofcourse) there is further conditioning caused by the surroundings. Interestingly, the human traits ( 1 st level of conditioning) are erased by the conditioning by culture apparently to make women " lady-like" and men "gentlemanly". Where these two terms are relative as their meaning, symbolism and implications are different in different cultures.

Come to think of it , almost everything we do is conditioned. We wake up , brush our teeth, shower, eat, read the paper, work , eat and sleep(superficially speaking) . it would be interesting to know who set this pattern. Why this order? How much of what we do is natural or genetic conditioning and how much of it is cultural conditioning?

Then comes the third stage of personal conditioning caused by past experiences, phobias and individual thought processes.

Conditioning is an inevitable phenomenon. As long as we live there will be constant conditioning and reconditioning like the ongoing process of technological growth.

How far can we free ourselves from this conditioning? Its hardly even possible to become aware of all the conditioning in the first place.I believe it cannot be undone completely but can be redone partially.

Mere awareness of this state is probably the first step to creativity( in the pure sense of the word). Creativity is the suspension of the conditioned state through an unconditioned(pure) state. I believe we often get into this state but it doesnt last very long becuase of the predominance of our conditioned patterns .

Overcoming conditioning is merely doing the unobvious. A drastic change in the way we think.Thinking beyond what we see, hear and read. A fresh look. A new view- the birth of creativity.

2006-12-21T09:28:00.000-08:00

Questioning a Moment

Can you see me there?
I was there just a moment ago,
Maybe I’m still there,
Among those lines that were with me,
And probably were a part of me.

I can see someone here,
I feel something now,
Is it you?
Are you trying to tell me your story?
Or is it my story?

Can you see me rising?
Or am I falling?
Will you tell me where I’m going?
Is this your home?
How long will you stay?

Can I…. do I stay with you?
Do we even stay?
Aren’t we moving?
Were we ever still?
Are we in harmony?
Or is it harmonious discord
Holding us together?
You just passed me….
Did you see me?

2006-12-21T09:23:00.000-08:00

My Cell or The Cell’s Me?

I see that you know how much I need you.
You slowly climbed up my priority list
Like a stealthy cat you ran up that ladder
Before it could even be made strong enough

You stand up there and laugh
You know my secrets.
You eves drop into all my conversations
You’ve figured how to grab my attention,
My time, my space, ME!?

Earlier I never understood you….
What you could do
You let me control you.
No, you let me think I control you.
You knew all along that it was all about you
You deceived me!

2006-12-21T09:12:00.000-08:00

An Art Work As A Metaphor To The Human Body
The Mirage

Gaganendranath Tagore
Watercolour on paper

This Painting deals with abstraction( not as a separate entity) but as an extension of the human body. The painting seems to attempt to connect abstraction with physicality by the method of perception by the physical entity.
The dark figure , centrally located represents the physicality of the human body. The grey portion seems to represent the abstract body-that invisible body that is never static. Its meandering lines and images representing constant movement and flow…the flow of thought and emotion that constitutes its very nature.
The overlapping portion of grey and black reveals the connection between the two entities that make up the human body-the physical and the non-physical. It reveals the undeniable interdependence of thoughts and actions. This overlapping portion states the symbiotic connection where one cannot exist without the other.
This frame of the human body depicts the duality of the human body. It represents the essentially static physicality and the dynamic spirit merging together to constitute the human body. Thereby revealing that the human body can never be only static or only dynamic. There can only exist a static dynamism or a dynamic static state.
The different shades of grey could represent the multilayered nature of human consciousness. The underlying layers are masked by the visible layer. The white of the paper being masked by the grey and the grey portion being masked by darker shades of grey, physicality being the strongest and thickest mask of them all-the dark figure.
The grey concentric circles on the black figure seem to convey the cyclic nature of physicality while the cyclic nature itself is abstract as the rest of the grey portion surrounding the figure. The two caterpillars and the butterfly forming a sort of triangle on the figure seem to depict the larger cycle of birth growth and rebirth of the physical.
The two roses springing out of the figure in two opposite directions represent the cyclic nature within and outside the figure as a unity- the unity of thoughts and physical changes.
There seems to be a dance of natural elements around the figure that is stirring it into motion……representing the dance of mind over matter. It is this energetic dance that seems to stir the resistant, unyielding figure(physicality) to dance with it and through it. The abstract force seems to manifest itself through the physical.
The side posture of the body is another depiction of the duality of the human body by being neither frontal nor dorsal. Infact it is quite ambiguous, thereby depicting another aspect of the human body- deception of appearance performed by the duality of the human body.
Therefore, in this picture, the human body is an interplay of abstraction and physicality. The movement of the physical body brought about by the dance of abstraction.
Finally , this is only a “mirage” as the title suggests. An illusion created by the mind of the one looking at it. Actually it is only black colour on white paper representing the thought , the breadth and the action of the movement of the human boby that did it. It represents all those actions and movements that took place during the time span of putting the black colour on the white paper.