Art & culture magazine # 1

ART & CULTURE

Auroville

This article contrasts with the previously published one on the Tate Modern by Alain de Botton, in which he states that the building “is to evoke valuable states of mind which we theoretically approve of but forget in the run of daily life, such virtues as perspective, calm reflection, kindness and courage”. The current trend indicates that these momentary states are no longer enough, and that these “valuable states of mind” ought to encompass our daily lives, by broadening the scope from iconic architecture to the larger more complex picture of the “whole” that includes town planning, sustainability and collaboration.

STARCHITECTURE, A MODEST PROPOSAL Cathleen McGuigan (Extracts from Newsweek) The phenomenon of using iconic architecture to promote a city, an institution, or a real-estate development was a product of the economic boom that began in the late 1990s and ended with the recession in 2008.

As Western economies begin to recover, extravagant, eye-popping architecture is giving way to a subtler new aesthetic. In the U.S. and Europe, architectural values are shifting from can-you-top-this designs toward more efficient, functional building. Innovation and experimentation are increasingly directed at sustainability and new technology. For a younger generation of architects, in particular, “the spectacle building is kind of a dinosaur”, says the director of the Architectural League in New York. Architects, too, are engaging more in collaboration as they increasingly turn their attention to urban planning, civic projects, and the creation of public space.

What shapes new buildings will take in the next decade isn't yet clear, but fresh visions will inevitably emerge from the downturn. “It's like a forced diet, there's a certain healthiness when the profession has to cut-back, re-grow, re-imagine what it is we all are supposed to do which is creative problem solving”, says R. Rogers. (…) Patrons themselves are shunning iconic architecture. The Cincinnati Art Museum for example, in a city that already has one knock-out iconic arts center by Zaha Hadid, recently put on hold its plans for an addition by the hip Rotterdam office Neutelings Riedijk.

The Berkeley Art Museum in California canceled a stunning design for a new building by Japanese architect Toyo Ito after failing to raise enough money. Instead the museum will retrofit an old printing plant for new gallery space. And while global events like the Olympics often have been prime venues for showcasing dazzling architecture, the relatively modest 2010 Games in London will feature only one facility by an international star. Hadid has designed the Aquatics Center, with a fantastic roof that undulates like the swells of the ocean. Many of the structures for the Games will be temporary and pragmatic.

Nº1 - November 2010

(…) Such revamping of cities is a task now engaging many of today's top architects. Unburdened by the demands of developers to come up with quirky glass towers full of overpriced apartments, many of whose clients are now bankrupt, architects are increasingly involved in designing master plans for urban neighborhoods. (…) Yes these urban schemes include ambitious architectural projects, but when the economy is shaky, planning can jump-start the creative work while postponing the enormous expense of construction. However, Koolhaas, who's working on a number of master plans, believes that clients are focusing on urban planning “not just for economic reasons but because it's what they should really do. Planning is the ideal form of investment. “It's a process that takes into account an array of social, economic, and political factors in cities: geography, transportation, public space.

Growing concern with the environment is also motivating architects to engage on a macro not just micro level. Looking further into the future, the Museum of Modern Art in New York decided to take advantage of young architects with time on their hands and commissioned five teams to research and design plans to contend with the rising seas that threaten to flood New York City's shoreline.

As those plans, now on exhibit at MoMA, make clear, designing almost anything bigger than a birdhouse takes a village.

Collaboration is one of the strongest forces emerging in contemporary design culture, especially for the younger generation; in MoMA's show Rising Currents, teams such as ARO and dlandstudio brought together architects, landscape architects, urban designers, and engineers to come up with design solutions for a future lower Manhattan under water. “With the blurring of boundaries among disciplines, you're recognizing that you don't solve the problem with an object building”, says Burdett. “Everything belongs to a context in the city”.

The notion of collectivity strikes at the heart of the lone heroic starchitect. (…) The world's most inventive starchitects will continue to create spectacular buildings. It's not easy to dismiss the boom years and the brash experimentation they fostered. “I don't think we will see in our lifetime another era where both private and public clients are so willing to engage in architectural innovation”, says Alejandro ZaeraPolo a bit wistfully. Some of the architecture that resulted in Gehry's Disney Hall in L.A., Koolhaas's Seattle Library, to name just two was wonderful. Yet innovation as mere style is nothing to apprize; no one is going to miss the second-rate excesses of the era. Pointlessly pointy architecture is so over. And we can hope that what comes next will be thoughtful design that responsibly reflects the complexities of contemporary life.

Heist Train Station model by Zaha Hadid

Exhibition in Auroville ELEGANT 2010 An exhibition of paintings sculpture and installations.

'Elegant 2010', a group show of seven young artists from Pondicherry and Cuddalore opened on September the 25th, at Gallery Square Circle in Bharat Nivas, Auroville. It was a medley of sculpture, painting and installations. The last mentioned are now trendy in India. 'Installation' is a 1970 art genre that is alleged to “redefine space”; the tradition of sculpture and painting has been prevalent since man began image-making.

The walls of the Kala Kendra gallery had paintings on them; sculptures were laid on the floor; and installations occupied the space between the floor and ceiling. An assemblage, supposedly an ant (the square wood pile before it was imagined sugar!), had little resemblance to an ant unlike Picasso's 1943 sculpture called 'Bull's head' which was assembled with the simplest of 'found' objects, a bicycle seat and a handlebar. Originally, in this manner of art making, a found object was made to resemble something, but then a person's portrait had the likeness of the sitter prior to further developments in modern trends.

Further on, I was startled to see footprints in white and black on the floor. A closer look revealed that some bare footprints were painted on the floor along with footwear prints leading to nine almost new floor mats. Another installation was a sculpture in stone surrounded by strands of white strings which were held in place on the cement floor with some glue. Elsewhere, there were patches of crystalline powder, black and white. The basement area looked dim despite lights. Huge earthen jars were stacked along the walls. A showcase stood there arbitrarily, with some sort of clothing in a pile. The central area, the non-dusty part, was perhaps the installation proper.

It is difficult to say how it redefined the basement space. However, it is expectable that the work of a group show without an agenda would be varied in taste and manner.

E. Santhakumar, (born in Pondicherry in 1978) sculpted and painted and installed as well. His assemblage drew one near for a closer look at it. The use of found objects was often clever but not always so; there is wit in his art yet sometimes it is arty in its content.

His four-footed beast, made entirely of automobile parts, was placed attractively in the centre of Room One. There were colours there, rust brown and red and steel, which worked well. The chain defined the spinal column and various other automobile parts completed a well proportioned and solidly planted animal looking to its left from a raised platform. His other work was an installation with many dragonflies or moths. The insects were made with pop bottle openers, their wings, transparent fibreglass or plastic. The veins in the transparent wings were delicately drawn with a Vandyke brown marker. The heaviness of the bottle opener countered their delicacy, creating an interesting contrast. His canvases were abstract, reminiscent of the abstract expressionists, particularly Arshile Gorky. His palette was predominantly a combination of blue and grey with orange and other warm accents here and there. A sudden black stabbed a picture in places.

Although he is young, there is in this artist a firmness of hand and gesture. Santhakumar says, “when I see materials in front of me, I seek the colours and lines in my body, which transform into my soul of art.”

The show wrapped-up on the 4th of October, 2010.

Of paintings there were many, both in type and count, yet not one that would surprise the eye used to seeing modern art. There were childish doodles on largish canvases that were rather too contrived to qualify as child-art, and there were other figurative things and non-figurative things. None were impressive, but a couple showed promise.

A. Vasudevan's (born 1987, Pondy) paintings were of nature people and objects and nature seen as in life yet not life-like, but they bore the marked character of studio painting. Some of his landscapes were semi abstract but recognisable, not as 'landscapes' but rather as 'mindscapes' of the painter.

Indian Classical Concert DISAPPOINTMENT On Sunday, the 17th of October, there was a music concert in Bharat Nivas Auditorium featuring Jonathan Kay, Andrew Kay, Justin Gray, Shantanu Bhattacharyya, Durba Bhattacharyya, Mitra Bhattacharyya, and Debashish Bannerjee.

The audience, who rushed to be on time for the show, was kept waiting for 20 minutes outside the auditorium. Loud complaints were heard as people got uncomfortable and restless.

Inside, the stage featured Debashish, Shantanu, Mitra and Durba.

Upstage, behind them, sat Jonathan, Andrew and Justin. An odd arrangement that seemed to indicate that students should be 'behind' the teacher. But really distressing was the way Shantanu proceeded to control and direct all the musicians and the technicians. It was very distracting to see him gesture to the sound person to raise or lower levels that surely could have been checked during the 20 minutes that the audience was waiting outside.

Durba started the program with mantras, but she had a throat

problem that evening and was not able to share her full potential.

Mitra, Shantanu and Durba's young 8-year old daughter, then sang a khayal in Bhupali that was very good. After this, Shantanu led them in basic singing exercises (Palta). These were followed by a Meerabai bhajan sung by Durga and Mitra.

It was truly annoying to watch Shantanu constantly directing the child and even stopping the show when she went off rhythm. Mitra was forced to curb her spontaneity and kept a close eye on her father… (pressured by his emphasis on technique at the expense of joy?). Though she sang the khayal well, perhaps her contribution to the evening could have been limited to that alone. The choice of the Palta was nothing more than an insult to the intelligence of the audience and many started leaving at this point. The bhajan could have been better if the singers had explored the bhakti which was Meerabai's inspiration rather than the cold expertise that was being demanded of them.

This listener left at this point feeling sad and unable to take anymore of a concert lacking in soul.

AV JAZZ AV JAZZ AV JAZZ AV JAZZ AV JAZZ AV JAZZ AV JAZZ AV JAZZ AV JAZZ AV JAZZ AV JAZZ NURIA SINGS JAZZ STANDARDS Nuria presented a jazz concert on the 30th of October at SAWCHU. She was accompanied by Matt on the piano, Keith Peters on the bass and Suresh on the drums. Nuria, a trained classical singer, chose jazz standards that are not so well known. The selection of pieces were inspired by 'The Tender Trap', an album by Stacy Kent.

In this kind of concert, it is the vocals which give the necessity for a certain structure. Though there are jazz singers who improvise, Nuria chooses to remain within the suggested themes, and her accompanists, remaining within this format, don't stray far from the proposed canvas.

the busiest musicians in the country, he is highly respected in the field and plays with all the top musicians.

The opportunities to hear this kind of a traditional jazz program are not too many here and it is interesting to see the musicians keeping the foundation but playing the pieces in a way that makes sense to them. If you like listening to traditional jazz vocals, look for albums featuring Sara Vaugn, Billy Holiday or Ela Fitzgerald.

You can also check out the Shisha Jazz Café festival in Pune from November 18-20. Matt, Suresh, Mishko and Holger will be there…all playing for different bands!

The interesting thing in this kind of performance is the relationship between the musicians and the relationship they develop with the audience, The vocals present a strong need to stay within the structure; improvising without pushing the boundaries too much.

The solos need to be paced and reserved, not overly long or rambling explorations. The context must remain the vocal performance and the musicians remain thoughtful of each other.

The challenge for the musicians is to keep the improvisations fresh.

Matt says he does this better when he doesn't worry about it too much. He relies on the hours of practice he regularly puts in and tries to approach every improvisation as if he was meeting himself for the first time.

Keith Peters, the bass player, is well known in Auroville. One of

Exhibition TREASURES

presence of the divine in the anointed object. As punctuation marks in a sacred paraphrase, they clarify the artist's intention to express a feeling that is wholly positive. Writer says, “Somewhere in my subconscious, I connect the aesthetic of the red tilo with happy times. I get a lift when I smear it on pre-firing and a high when it shows up post-firing.”... Writer's tilo has shown up on large platters, on tea bowls, on “gypsy bowls” inscribed all the way around with psychedelic or sublime quotations, on wall plaques and even on his pottery's bread-and-butter production wares.”

(Deborah Smith. The article from which we have quoted has been previously featured in CERAMICS: Art & Perception, Australia, Issue # 67.)

About his paintings, Adil says: “... some, I categorize 'painted media'..... starting out as 'bad' pixilated photos on a small phone camera, these images I then Photoshop, later have it printed on canvas, stretched on wooden frames, and finally painted upon......... almost to a point where the original photographic images are past-life memories! Why do I then do this? Beats me!”

Adil Writer has just had an exhibition of ceramics and paintings titled TREASURES at Bangalore's Gallery Time & Space. Among the works on display were miniature treasure boxes, some made with a variety of clays. The paintings on show were either acrylic on canvas or “painted media” as Adil calls them.

With both mediums, Adil continues his exploration of 'the red dot'.

The new 'Crusade series' are his ceramic-painting combinations where he tries to bring the two mediums together in an unusual way. “The try here is to make the viewer come touch the works to figure out the medium. Sometimes the crusades panels look like paintings; sometimes they look like ceramic panels.”

About his exploration of the symbolic red dot, Deborah Smith, of Golden Bridge Pottery (in an article called “The Red Dot — Adil Writer's journey with an icon), explains: “The rough red daubs and streaks and smudges on these works mimic the red dots of kumkum that all over India acknowledge the

To see more of Adil's ceramic work visit Mandala Pottery at Dana; to see his paintings you may need to find his atelier in his house… or log on to www.adilwriter.com.

THE GENIUS BROTHERS STRIKE AGAIN The very elements could not compete with the energy of the Genius Incorporated, metamorphed from the well known Genius Brothers. Thunder rolled, torrential rain fell and at 6.30 pm on October 15th the phones to Paul's, Jesse's and Wazo' homes were jammed with anxious fans wanting to know if the show would go on. The outdoor arena at the Visitor's Centre, loaded with electrical equipment, is not a healthy place to share with lightning. But at 7 o'clock Ganesh stepped in, the black clouds rolled away, a silvery moon came out and the show commenced.

The stress of threatened exit must have added to the adrenaline content. It was fast, furious and phantasmagorical. An extremely loose thread of a story wandered through it. Rik (disguised as Paul) had just returned from a world tour to get funds for Auroville. He related his adventures set in luxurious hotels: “You have to stay in the top places to meet the top people,” (satire is a wonderful tool for making a statement via comedy), with detours to places like Chez Louis Tea Shop which brought on a tea shop song.

The plot lurched extravagantly into burlesque with the three of them shouting into their cell phones at their hassling girlfriends on the line. It sounded suspiciously like their mothers. This is one of the very rare references to girls. It is as if there is just no place for them in this maelstrom of manic alpha male energy.

The use of background video was extremely well done and cleverly shot. The first scene of Rik/Paul running against a background of Auroville forest which speeded up to fifty miles an hour, narrowly missing work trees, was hilarious. He then ran half upside down up the Town Hall steps and small children

screamed for his safety. Another video showed Wazo in the Botanical Gardens, frantically lost in the maze, sticking his hand into the cactus and gazing out of a tree house at a passing giraffe.

Wazo's delicate movements must have been born of a theatre school somewhere, sometime. His slightest gestures, like the crook of a finger or the raising of an eyebrow could be hysterically elegant. Paul was more physical, a raw good humoured greenbelt boy with a great sense of humour. Jesse kept the electronic madness going by constantly rushing over to his AppleMac and pressing the right button.

Of course it was too long, it could have been cut by a quarter. Of course it rambled with the exuberance of three fevered imaginations. Even their adoring audience felt a little battered by the sheer verbosity and length and intricate confusions. Some scenes, like the monopoly one and the letter writing scene, were just too rambling to make sense, which got a little frustrating. But the mixture of well shot video allowed for breathing space from the very in-your-face physical rough and tumble humour.

The hilarious Tamil references of their previous shows were lacking only one “illai” was heard. The mixture of Tamil brings yet another bizarre dimension and roots us in the particular crazy uniqueness of Auroville. The references to Aurovilian personages were fewer also, though the Banyan did get several mentions.

This long awaited Genius Brothers/Incorporated event strangely coincided with the publication of a little red book called “Sri Aurobindo Compassionate Grace and Laughter” where “Humorous scrutiny dissolves despondency, pain and struggle and only Light, Joy and Laughter remain.” I am sure he would have smiled at the show.

Photography GIORGIO Photography is the product of the human intuitive mind for the benefit of human kind and this is why we are all charmed by it.

Everything around us is a source of curiosity and interest for this current experiment in the evolution of the Cosmic Consciousness which we are.

To direct and focus one's attention on a particular detail also means choosing that specific element, detaching it from the whole of reality, and charge it with a meaning which can be shared with others through the specific language used to convey the piece of information we have codified.

Thus, the camera only becomes an expressive medium when the person who uses it cuts a portion of reality, interesting from his/her point of view and makes it available to everyone as a specific interpretation, a proposal, a hint of his/her personal point of view.

Whenever we press the shutter button of the camera - after we have taken into account the trivial mechanical and electrical process which are necessary to fix a particular moment or point of view regarding a physical medium which might be reproduced, copied, shared and preserved from the destructive effects of time - a creative action is taking place, establishing a deep relation with the intuitive conscience of the photographer on an esthetic, emotional and cultural level.

As for each and every creative action which requires the use of an expressive medium, a minimum of understanding and knowledge of the way the tools work is required in order to better realize our purpose. Knowing certain laws of physics, geometry and optics becomes useful in order to understand what is happening within the camera every time we shoot a picture. The distance from the subject, the sensor format in relation to the focal length of the

lenses, shutter speed and aperture, and their combinations, they all produce different outcomes. It is very interesting to observe how different a portrait of a same simple situation, i.e. a child playing in a room, can be if we invite different people to shoot one single picture of the scene they see. The interaction with the subject, the choice of the distance from it and the shooting angle, the relation between light and darkness as determined by the shutter speed, the focal aperture and the sensitivity of the film, all these elements produce different images which often tell us more about the psychology of the photographer than the subject.

All modern digital cameras incorporate all sorts of automatisms and such simple fact may lead us to believe it is better to let the camera shoot the picture with little intervention from our side. While this is one side of an effective marketing strategy, it undoubtedly dulls our curiosity and creativity.

Automatic settings seem to be the preferred tools for people more interested in having rather than doing, unfortunately reflecting a widespread human condition of our time. Nowadays some cameras even incorporate a face recognition program or they only shoot if they recognize a smile on the subject face: exhilarating.

That's all folks!

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Articles/illustrations/editing/design/money were contributed by: Charu, Dianna, Don, François, Future School, Gérard M., Giorgio, Krishna, Marco, Mauna, Miniature, Namoi, Olivier, Pierre, Ramesh, Renu