The focus of the talk held at Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art was the river Yamuna and both the artist as well as the moderator Ravi Agarwal have had several years of engagement with river Yamuna and the German artist Nana Petzet with river Elbe. It was a sneak peak into the ProjectY through images, videos and engaging talk given by the artist highlighting their relationship with the river on several levels.
Atul Bhalla (b.1964-) lives and works in New Delhi, India. Having studied Fine Art at Delhi University, India and Northern Illinois University, USA, Bhalla is known for his photographic work, although his interdisciplinary practice also includes paintings, sculptures, installations, photo performances and videos. His sustained preoccupation with the eco-politics of water forms the basis for his diverse practice. Questioning the distribution, regulation, commodification and pollution of water, Bhalla has over the years explored its physical, historical, spiritual and political significance in relation to the population of New Delhi.
 |
 |
Some describe Bhalla as an environmental activist, however his work may be considered not overtly political, instead socially concerned, engaging a poetic style of presentation. Bhalla describes his practice as an attempt to understand water, the way he perceives it, feels it, drinks it, swims in it and sinks in it.
His personal negotiation of water provides a stage from which to address larger political issues concerning bodies of water and the urban environment. Bhalla has exhibited internationally, most recently in ‘Paris-Delhi-Bombay: India through the eyes of Indian and French artists’, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France and ‘Water’, Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, USA. Bhalla’s exhibition On the Edge is also currently on view at Vadehra Art Gallery, D178, Okhla Phase I, New Delhi 110020
The second artist for the evening was Nana Petzet (b.1962-) was born in Munich and studied at the Art Academy in Munich and the Art College in Hamburg (HfbK, Masters 1991). Since her Performance ‘Rational Scientific Art’ at the Academy in Munich (1987) – a lecture on a fictitious physician’s theory of gravitation – the focus of her artistic practice is the examination of various scientific disciplines.
In 1995 Petzet started dealing with the issue of domestic waste and developed the ‘SBF-System’ (short for ‘Collecting Conserving Researching’, Sprengel Museum Hannover, 2000), as an alternative model to the national German recycling system ‘Grüner Punkt’. In an experimental setting for a period of six months she collected all waste produced by her four person household and investigated it‘s recyclability (‘Endurvinnslustöth – nei takk’, Reykjavik 1998).
On the occasion of the exhibition ‘einräumen’ (Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2000) she created an inventory of her comprehensive domestic waste collection with HIDA MIDAS, an elaborate program for museum inventories. In her most recent works Petzet turns to the world of animals, plants and ethology.
Images by Divya Dugar
No comments:
Post a Comment