{"id":63647,"date":"2012-11-30T20:53:50","date_gmt":"2012-11-30T20:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/test.tehelka.com\/?p=63647"},"modified":"2012-11-30T20:53:50","modified_gmt":"2012-11-30T20:53:50","slug":"coming-to-a-screen-near-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/coming-to-a-screen-near-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Coming to a screen near you"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Video Wednesday II festival celebrates 20 years of video art,\u00a0Aradhna Wal\u00a0<\/strong>traces the medium from its early days to its tech-savvy present<\/em>
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Moving with time<\/strong> Stills from Archana Hande\u2019s Panorama<\/em>
Photo Courtesy: Gallery Espace<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nIN THE<\/strong>\u00a01990s, Nalini Malani, Vivan Sundaram and Ranbir Kaleka began experimenting beyond the traditional parameters of art. They incorporated moving images and television sets into a form, now known as mixed media, which has grown so diverse that whittling it down to Video Wednesday II, a new video art project, puts the motion picture back in focus.
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Moving with time Neha Choksi\u2019s Minds To Lose<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nA series of animated shorts play on loop, projected onto the main wall at New Delhi\u2019s Gallery Espace. Divided over three storeys, the false walls and black box rooms turn the gallery into a maze. Turn one corner to a beautifully eerie animated feature on Nagaland; walk into a room for a series of archival photographs intercut with the moon\u2019s surface; tucked under the stairs are videos exploring humanity. \u201cVideo allows a flattening. Unlike a biennale or a museum, we\u2019ve got established names and newcomers playing on the same surface. There is no separation in terms of size and how spectacular a work is,\u201d says Gayatri Sinha, the curator, who used only themes to group by. Sundaram\u2019s\u00a0Wigwam Tune\u00a0<\/em>shares space with upcoming artist Shaheen Ahmed\u2019s\u00a0Refuse\/ Resist.<\/em>\u00a0The genial older artist builds a wall of thick books representing constructs we live with \u2014 love, life, the city \u2014 till he collapses. Ahmed stands in counterpose, sullen and defiant, shaving her head as images of conventional beauty play in the backdrop.
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Moving with time<\/strong> (From top) Vishal C Dar’s Fire,<\/em> Sarnath Banerjee’s Sophistication is Fragile<\/em> and Atul Bhalla’s Alaap to the River<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThe surreal journey through the festival suggests shifts from the 1990s to now, from the performative to the animated. An early example, Nalini Malani\u2019s seminal response to the 2002 Gujarat riots \u2014\u00a0Unity in Diversity<\/em>\u2014 used Nehru\u2019s phrase for a work that morphs a Raja Ravi Varma painting, showing how women are primary victims of genocide. \u201cThat\u2019s performance. A plot or a reference to earlier works is subverted to show something new,\u201d explains Sinha. Shuddhabrata Sengupta, of the Raqs Media Collective, agrees. \u201cWith any new medium, there is a process of discovery. Artists turn the camera onto themselves and become the subject,\u201d he says. The \u2018self as subject\u2019 is still alive but evolving. Sonia Khurana explores the neurosis of the body image and the beauty myth, changing clothes frantically in\u00a0Closet<\/em>. Khurana could represent that middle generation of practitioners who straddle early performance and newer techniques, such as reportage and commentary.
\nSundaram cites Raqs and Amar Kanwar, documentary filmmakers who segued into art, as heralders of a new documentary-based narrative. Raqs\u2019\u00a0The Surface of Each Day is a Different Planet<\/em>\u00a0explores cosmonauts and old letters and photographs from the 1857 Revolt. Visually, it is not very arresting. But, as the images slide and the voiceover deconstructs the work it accompanies, it becomes strangely hypnotic. \u201cThe documentary mode produces a sense of curiosity. It invites the viewer to get inside our heads, to see what we see,\u201d says Sengupta. Animation creates a confluence of craftsmanship and technical skills. Steeped in memory, identity and mythology, Aditi Chitre\u2019s\u00a0Journey to Nagaland,\u00a0<\/em>a feature requiring hundreds of drawings, harkens back to spooky classic cartoons.
\nArtist Vishal C Dar believes if his video goes viral, giving millions ownership over their copy, that is a marker of success. BM Kamath argues the original DVD is protected by a Certificate of Authenticity, bringing the work back into the sphere of traditional ownership. \u201cArt is seen as object-based in India, something that can be owned, traded, displayed,\u201d says Sinha, explaining why buyers are not receptive to video art. As Sengupta says politely, \u201cThe most enlightened collectors also buy video art.\u201d Is that the medium\u2019s greatest strength? As it redefines art in form and content, it may find its highest expression in being unfettered by the market.
\nAradhna Wal is a Sub Editor with Tehelka.<\/em>
\naradhna@tehelka.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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