{"id":59747,"date":"2012-11-20T16:28:29","date_gmt":"2012-11-20T16:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/test.tehelka.com\/?p=59747"},"modified":"2012-11-20T16:28:29","modified_gmt":"2012-11-20T16:28:29","slug":"cant-put-a-finger-on-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/cant-put-a-finger-on-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Can\u2019t put a finger on it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Performance art may exist in a moment, but\u00a0Inder Salim<\/strong>\u00a0tries to pin it down, says\u00a0Aradhna Wal<\/strong><\/em>
\n

\"Art
Art of unlearning<\/strong> Inder Salim
Photo: Arun Sehrawat<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nIN 2002<\/strong>, Inder Salim cut off his finger and threw it in the Yamuna to protest the pollution and slow death of the river. When that reputation precedes, it\u2019s almost fair to assume the man is a kook. However, for this 47-year-old performance artist from Kashmir, everything carries meaning. He deliberated for months, before the actual act materialised as a sincere, if dramatic, ritual. Life for Salim, down to his name, is a carefully constructed performance. \u201cI\u2019ve forgotten what my original name was. What does it matter,\u201d he says breezily.
\nDressed in an oversized black Kashmiri kurta, his jeans discarded on the floor, flowers in his hair and his buttonhole, Salim leans back against the wall. \u201cI started performance art in the 1990s after I failed as a painter. I couldn\u2019t sell a thing. Soon, I couldn\u2019t even afford paint,\u201d he reminisces. Now, he leads his collective Harkat: The School\/Unschool of Performance, which is holding a meeting at the Devi Art Foundation, Gurgaon. Currently participating in the Sarai Reader 09 exhibition, the Delhi-based artist works with a number of performance artists to enact, display and discuss their creation. His proposal for Sarai was to document performance art through Harkat\u2019s revolving door. This week, Ranjit Singh from Patna lamented MF Husain\u2019s death in exile, marking his chest, forehead and knee with dirt collected from different parts of India. Earlier, artists accompanied Salim to the dhobi community on the banks of Yamuna. As some interacted with the washermen, Salim climbed into vats of washing and bleaching fluids, to literally immerse himself in thesubstance of their lives. Both performer and observer, he plans to pen down these varied contributions to Harkat.
\n\u2018School\/Unschool\u2019 \u2014 unlearning preconceptions to better understand art \u2014 is integral to his work and he freely merges ideas and dismantles structures. He says, \u201cIt is a shift in the art world, where rules of aesthetics are being broken and different forms are coming together. I\u2019m trying to write down what is created when these different ideas meet. Let\u2019s see how it goes.\u201d That undercurrent of anxiety perhaps haunts all artists.
\nSalim keeps mementoes of every performance, pays special attention to pictures taken and is now trying to use words to impart them an afterlife. Capturing something as temporary as performance art could be an exercise in futility. Sarai Reader 09 curator Shuddhabrata Sengupta says, \u201cIt may be a paradox, but it is a productive one. Performance art underscores the relationship between memory and the ephemeral. The trace a recording holds may be valuable, as something to look back on as a memento of a moment of intensity and value.\u201d
\nHe paraded around in a perforated schoolboy uniform and a little red umbrella at the recent United Art Fair. The torn outfit subverted the sanctity given to institutionalised knowledge. Another umbrella poked full of holes, beachsized and black, is anchored by broken bricks at the Devi Art Foundation. Set under a light, the beams that filter through give the impression of a starry night. \u201cI got the idea while watching light reflect off lumps of coal tar a worker was beating into the roads at night. Everything comes from these workers, from these streets.\u201d
\nA large banner next to it, bearing a Duchamp quote, has been crumpled up and kicked around like a football. \u201cWe can play around with all the great things, change them. If there is no playfulness in art, how will anyone enjoy it?\u201d he says.
\nPerformance is not theatre for Salim; it is a far more intimate setting. Holding court in a small group, he becomes larger than life. There is no room for embarrassment, or propriety as he makes everyone part of his public performance. \u201cRight now, as people listen to us talk, we\u2019re performing. I could go whisper \u2018I love you\u2019 to people on a busy street and watch them react. That is art,\u201d he says, leaning in to confide a secret.
\nAradhna Wal is a Sub Editor with Tehelka.<\/em>
\naradhna@tehelka.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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