Karmic Connections I

Performance at National Gallery Of Modern Art, Bangalore.

As per Jain philosophy, I strongly believe in Karmic Connections. We come across many people in our life, good or bad, because we may have earlier connections with them.

This performance was about how we connect our self to others. I wanted my audience to see themselves in me, by interacting with me one to one in a time and space. 

Although my audience come from different origin, roots, environment, space and experience. During the performance we are going to experience a moment of time and space together and I  used few objects as my tool to look into the past, present and future. In this moment we are building our bonds and we will all recollect our memories of the past and will look towards the future. In this performance my audience or my fellow performer will not see my face but they will see their reflections (in multiples) on to the small mirrors tied around my face, thereby encounter me in multiple perspectives and connecting with me by seeing themselves in me. It in general understands that, what we are, we see in other people. Most of the time we don’t understand opposite person properly due to our own preconceived ideas and understanding, so sometimes we arrive at positive and sometime negative emotions, hence it might block our real understanding of the person.

In general human tendency is that most of the time we assume and sometime undermine and block our way to really connect with people, It is human nature to like and love our self all the time, visually my attempt will be to show their own multiple faces instead of mine so that they might connect with me.  In this performance I tried to make connection with my audience through object of memories and they are my personal objects which are placed in front of the audience and through that they will try to see me.

Dimple B Shah
2013

Performance, National Gallery Of Modern Art, as part of ACT (Artists Create Together), Co-curated by Lina Vincent & Seema Kohli, Photo Credit Lina Vincent, Bangalore, India.

Soul Purpose -Channel 6

BANGALORE GARDENS RELOADED

No Space To Escape -"TO BE OR NOT TO BE"

As the city growing bigger and bigger everyday and more and more people migrating from various parts of the country and making Bangalore as their home. This constant inflow is leading to a very different transition of development that the city is experiencing leaving the city in a chaotic, claustrophobic and suffocating space. Argument can be good development or a bad development but fact remains that the city has changed drastically and slowly becoming the city like others without any identity except being just a concrete habitat. The cityscape of Bangalore has changed to accommodate flyovers, buildings, roads and metro etc. slowly and rapidly replacing greenery with concrete.

This installation work basically evoke the feeling of helplessness of situation ambushed, suddenly attacked like situation where no space to escape and exit (a trap). In this work the audience will be forced to confront the situation which they normally do it in everyday life subconsciously, but here they will consciously face it directly, there by alerting there mind to counter the question and seek for answers.Visually this work is in form of concrete box, inside the box there will be 360 degree view of existing city they live in, which is with cement and other material. the work  bring in main essential characteristic of city in minimal form. The experience within the box (claustrophobic and suffocating space leaving no space to breath) represent the psychological situation of mind the mental space.

Over powering of concrete and its inevitable super imposed presence in our daily life which is symbolically represents mans thought and body slowly turning into concrete form with no space for nature and not being in touch with ourselves. 

The installation is  memorabilia of the changing phase. The smell of concrete initially will attract the audience hiding danger ahead. This work is a presentation of the dilemma - Development (a distortion) – Good, Bad or Necessary. My idea is to bring the attention where we really need to look and what we really need to think about? This work provokes us to question ourselves where we are leading to? Is this road leading to Utopian land or land where there is no space to live?

Dimple B Shah 2013