The second part of CIMA’s 25th-year exhibition, Response brings together over 35 artists who will respond to the history encompassed within the walls of Gem cinema with their new media and installation art. The display opens on January 27 evening. Some of the highlights...
What: CIMA presents Response, installations and new media
When: January 27 to February 28, 11am to 7pm
Where: Gem cinema, 159/8 AJC Bose Road, Entally
Veena Bhargava will show her first installation, Metallic Bloom, which uses mild steel sheet metal and tubular sections, terracotta and sand. In her first installation made especially for Response, Veena explores the processes of fusion and fission as a response to time.
Artist speak: “I have been working on contradictions and polarities for a long time and here, I have used materiality as a tool to emphasise my concept.”
Anju Chaudhuri’s Scroll responds to the space with the universal subject of nature, using motifs like leaves, petals and flowers in different mediums of colour such as oil, pastels and pigments.
Artist speak: “The charred interiors, the height, the texture of the walls, the entire space interested me a lot and I have always liked how time and space come together... my idea was to create something that merges with the architecture of the place.”
Chittrovanu Mazumdar brings After the Ablation with Dubai-based writer Avni Doshi that takes the place of where the screen used to be at Gem cinema and represents what remains of it — in terms of memory and of the images it registered.
Artist speak: “The screen is the focus because when people used to come in after buying their tickets, they would train their eyes on the screen where the magic would unfold and extraordinary stories would be told. My work represents what is left of it now — it’s black, uses metal, cloth and wood, to represent the cinema that is no more.”
Hiran Mitra’s Body Language plays with the concept of language and uses things like cloth, light, a visual element and a few letters strewn around.
Artist speak: “Gem cinema provided a stage for performance and I wanted visitors to interact with the elements in my work to communicate with the site themselves.”
Debasis Barui’s Sound of Mind reinterprets sound, which can be a tune for some and noise for others.
Artist speak: “Response is based on instinct and is a reflex action. But more the acceptability of the origin of any sound, the more will be the inclination to respond. Thus the ultimate and truest response largely depends on acceptance or rejection and that was the idea driving me to create my installation that uses iron, terracotta, cotton net and a silk screen, along with a video that will play.”
Samir Aich’s Turmoil uses fibre glass models of animals and human forms to represent how the universe is always in a state of motion. The installation will have an audio element — a mix of distortion and the sound of ‘Om’.
Artist speak: “When I first came to the location, the signs of time having ravaged Gem cinema were very stark to me. Similarly, nothing in the universe is static and change is the only constant and this is what I have tried to show.”
Jayashree Chakravarty’s Castor Bean Plant stems from her interest in the plant of the same name that, despite its medicinal properties, grows neglected on the roadside. It uses elements like castor bean leaf, pigment, tea stains, clay, acrylic and cotton.
Artist speak: “I wanted to draw attention to that neglect, which this space also experiences, through my work.”
Pankaj Panwar’s Shadow of an Aeroplane represents the shadow of a falling aircraft, painted with soot.
Artist speak: “When I first saw the space, I was overwhelmed! The dark, charred walls had so much texture that I decided to do something with that. Diyas will light up the place where the wing touches the floor, while the iron stumps on the floor near the nose of the aircraft are reminiscent of the casualties.”
Pictures: Pabitra Das
THE LINEUP
- Manas Acharya
- Samir Aich
- CAMP
- Debasis Barui
- Sumitro Basak
- Veena Bhargava
- Jayasri Burman
- Jayashree Chakravarty
- Utsab Chatterjee
- Anju Chaudhuri
- Kenneth Cyrus
- Ankur Das
- Partha Pratim Deb
- Avni Doshi
- Jaya Ganguly
- Paul Holmes
- Durbananda Jana
- Ranbir Kaleka
- Rathin Kanji
- Harendra Kumar Kushwaha
- Sukanta Majumdar
- Chittrovanu Mazumdar
- Hiran Mitra
- Madhuja Mukherjee
- Moloy Mukherjee
- Sumantra Mukherjee
- Pankaj Panwar
- Saurav Roy Chowdhury
- Prasanta Sahu
- Suman Samajpati
- Kingshuk Sarkar
- Rashmi Bagchi Sarkar
- Gigi Scaria
- Anjum Singh
- Bandeep Singh
- Surekha
