Arty route to rethink on rivers

That is exactly what the month-long DAMned Art Project hopes to achieve - by simulating this experience, of re-imagining spaces around our urban waterbodies, inside the Lalit Kala Akademi. 

Originally, the idea was a massive public art project, with installations dotting the Cooum river estuary and Marina Beach - to encourage people to look at their river from a different perspective and create a dialogue on collective responsibility and initiate action. “For two years, we met government officials from various departments, who were supportive of the idea, but the permissions didn’t come through. We didn’t want to give up. So, we decided to recreate the experience of art installations along the Cooum, within the premises of the Lalit Kala Akademi,” said Seema Massot, Project Coordinator, Goethe Institut, which conceptualised this initiative, as a part of their ongoing Embrace Our Rivers programme.

The onerous task fell upon artist, environmental activist and curator Ravi Agarwal (also founder of NGO Toxics Link) and curator Florian Matzner from Germany. 

The month-long project (February 2 to March 4) will feature music and theatre performances and 13 art installations by renowned artists, including Gigi Scaria, Gram Art Project and Shweta Bhattad and citybased Parvathi Nayar. 

Artist Parvathy Nayar undertook the time-consuming exercise of collecting trash from the mouth of the Adayar River, which will be used to create the live installation – a 15 feet by 15 feet giant kolam. “My work, Invite/Refuse is an invitation, as the Kolam signifies, and the garbage means we are refused by the sea,” said the artist, who also used algae from the river to create porcelain moulds. 

Curator Ravi said that art has a special role to play, bringing in a level of imagination to communicate relevant ideas. “Artists can think across disciples and have the capacity to rethink and break boundaries. They can play a key role in communicating the possibilities to the public,” he concluded.