'Site under Construction (Galli nali Gopuram )

OH! Where are you, my dear Bangalore?

I have been searching for you

In old buildings on city lanes,

Searching through the aroma of food and the scent of the city

Sparking memories and emotions

The houses and city lanes that marked your existence are no more

The path had a unique character that took us to memory lanes is lost forever

Now leading to nowhere

Where are you, my dear Bangalore?

Now you have a new identity with concrete flyovers under constructed sites

The operation for a makeover has torn your heart and soul

You are bleeding inside out

With the dust and revamped soil I

Through the dissection of the city (body and soul), we have lost you forever

You Cry out in a pain.

It is so painful to see you lose your identity I don't want your makeover

My heart and soul are looking for you my heart and soul are lost the scent of mallige jade

I want to see the same old Bangalore

With a heavy heart, I look toward the city

The soul lost under the spark of a thousand lights

Now replaced Sparkling Maggina jade with led lights

OH! Where are you Bangalore?

'Site' under construction is a performance-installation work developed during the project period. The idea is a response to the city of Bangalore which is always in the process of development of several 'sites' that are under renovation, and deconstruction, and where new structures are built to widen the roads or metros are constructed and old buildings are demolished. and splashing of led lights of the festival. I consider the 'site' as my body and as the city itself which is always in the process of deconstruction and construction. It is in between celebration, like a lighted street god, and the goddess-like lighted Gopuram in a mood of celebrating nostalgic, melancholic, humorous, and emotional attachment to memories of the city and childhood. It is an existential site to stay alive and awake, where life passes and the present ever keep moving.

Dimple B Shah 10 Jan 2023

Negotiating History- Finding Path of Jina

Mapping cultural Topographies through Body and Space

Performed on 16th Dec 2022

Jiwaji University Jaipur Art Summit 2022

The performance was a project to introspect the history of Gwalior city to explore the present and past through interaction and collaboration. It was about decoding history through cultural and spiritual lenses. I performed with headgear and costume to match Gwalior's cities' monuments, buildings, and sites ( like the Gwalior fort and Gopachal archaeological sites.

I was carrying a trunk full of city stones that have embedded the history of the city, photos of monuments, soil, flower essence, and soil for 500 meters. The walk collaborated with the student of the sports department of Jiwaji University, and a few students carried the stones along. The idea was to gaze into the city with The Latitude and longitudinal perspective giving an inside view to the Ecological- social-cultural aspect of the city, a city which emerged in the 8th century Ad has seen so much transformation and lived rich art, culture, and historical happening. 

The present-day city has clouded with the environmental issue of poor air quality. Gwalior has been breathing in and breathing out the changes from the ages. The idea is to observe, Live, and experience cultural topographies through body and space. This performance was also an attempt to see oneself through cultural and philosophical roots. This city has celebrated Jain philosophy for thousands of years and wanted to gaze at self through a Spiritual lens and wanted the audiences to see themselves through the same lens. I gave them a ball made out of wheat dough and asked audiences to create a Sculptural form of what they see in terms of self and asked them to place it in a site that forms one more historical site.

The performance enables an opportunity for the artist and audiences to read the soul of the cities from past and present. The concept opens up to decode the gird zone transformation over 1200 years. The metamorphosis has been gradual: few things have remained the same (Historical monuments. Palaces, temples, and archaeological sites), and the city has seen changes over the years. Every generation has added tone to the gird zone, which needs to be decoded, with Latitude and longitudinal perspectives through the body and live action. 

The concept gave scope to express mainly through the body: spontaneous or processed response to the Grid zone. This performance allowed audiences to look into local and global perspectives on the oral or written stories of the present and past, observe and respond to present ecological social-cultural context grasp through monuments, customs, and traditions learning and respond through body and space.

Dimple B Shah 9th Jan 2023

Seeds of Life

Resonating to the Whispers

Unurum Fest curated by Aakshat Sinha at Fakir Mohan University

(26th and 27th November performed in two parts)

I hear a song from far

The song comes from deep within

The song that can transcend to the world of spirits

The cry to seek answer cry to heal

Seeking blessing to protect them

Deep call to the eternal world

The world is not visible to the naked eye

I hear a whisper from far

I hear the songs from far

They call nature healers to the nature spirit

I hear the songs from afar.

Inspiration for the performance was shamanic prayers done by Saura tribes performed with the rice grains to make a connection to the spiritual world, the world that is difficult to understand by the rational world. For several weeks I heard these rituals and prayers it resonated in my subconscious for many days. The idea for my performance was in response to this resonance in my subconscious mind.

The concept for this performance considered the rituals and shamanistic practices of tribes in Orissa and the shamanistic ritual they performed. As a matter of interest, I did elaborate research on Saura Tribes and wished to work with the tribes of Orissa. The first-day performance was a solo as the tribe from the nearby region did not come, which allowed me to perform my ritual solo with paddy grains. A great atmosphere developed where all the energies synchronized for these rituals. The performance started with half a kilometer walk with paddy grain in a bamboo container dragged with a rope tied to my shoulder grains were falling on the road forming a trail of grain on the path I walked. The performance was to connect to nature spirits, seeds, and plants in the region.

The performance ritual was performed with an audio prayer by the Suara tribe and a live prayer to connect to 'nature's spirits. As part of the paddy grains were already placed in different circular forms on the ground after the rituals, I gave paddy grain to some of the audience and asked them to make some text forms. A large audience participated in this text ritual words were written, erased rewritten by many audiences, and then there was the closing of this ritual. This performance ritual was collaborated by audiences in large numbers with text rituals. The idea was mainly to connect to the land, Eco space, and the spiritual world to respond to audiences. The performance was an intense act to transform and transmit the message of conserving and respecting Mother Nature.

Part Two performance continued to 2nd day

The performance work continued on 2nd day to clear the grain on-site with a ritual. This time, I was lucky as the nearby mundri tribe came to perform with me and collaborated for the performance without making any changes to their act wanted them to be natural and perform their rituals as per their tradition to fit in their way as a custom, we both bowed to each other to show mutual respect. I requested them to perform to do their ritual dance performance as I cleared the paddy grains. It was a finishage performance act where I tried to clean the paddy grain spread earlier. The ritual was to protect the grains and respect them as our food. This two-day performance was experiential and transformational for both my audience and me. It was like experiencing catharsis and subconscious transformational experience to learn about their ritual and adopt it.

Dimple B Shah  12 Jan 2023