Having done the first internship relating to sound, Sound being the first cause; the emphasis was more on sound and less on the nature of the installation art (due to my lack of understand of installation art). Yet, having a sense of admiration for the whole process, I decided to try to understand the scope and nature of installation art, this time the first cause being my lack of understanding of the installation art itself. My first stint with something like this threw open many questions, what is the purpose of it, what are the factors which decide its unity, is it ok to call something installation art or is it visual art.
Some answers were found, some were not. Hence, it was in this spirit I decided to see installation art from the lens of something, which was not my area of expertise in-order to have an objective view of installation art.
In this residency, I worked with Mr Atul Bhalla, an artist who has been extensively working with the water. The river Yamuna was the focal point of this residency and it was the engagement with the river, personal as well as public, which was emphasized.
We along with another fellow intern mapped the whole length of the course of the river form the point it enters the city to the point it leaves, on foot and at boat. It took us three days. We also bought 150 commodes and erected a sculpture at a place which is not necessarily on the radar of the general public at the river bank near Wazirabad at a village called Jagat Pur.
The residency was to culminate on two days, day one was the showcase of the sculpture at the site and day two at the Khoj Studio where the installation was to be woven around the concept of water. This was done by showing the overflowing of the commode in the bathroom of Khoj with a camera capturing the frame with the person opening the door and the water overflowing. To achieve this one had to block the water drains ( we had to do this in-order to save the water), put a pump in one the drains so that the water is recycled.
This residency also holds dear to me because I live exactly where the river ends and as a child I have spend considerable amount of time by the river. I always used to wonder what the river really looked like from where it is coming. I think I am one of the few people who can say I know my river and walked along it till my house.
In addition, taking part in this residency helped me broaden my conception of the discipline called Installation Art. While the previous residency was an indoor one, I realized this one was out and out outdoor experience. And not necessarily was the conceptualization of art for the people who were coming to watch it, it was beyond and more than that. The personal connection, which was the actual objective and its achievement, was what we hoped to achieve which was totally divorced from the whole act of producing and consumption, the sculpture was just a minute part of it, which the people saw. The rest were things only those who were in the process could find beauty in or place in context with.
For pictures and more info visit http://www.atulbhalla.com/images/thumb/instthumb/ecoart/1st.htm
