theblackyellowarrow.blogspot.com wrote:
Jun. 13th, 2008 06:17 am (UTC)
ethics and art
hi inder,his is to formally share by my extreme discomfort in the manner 'Mochi-ki-Dukan, ART AUCTION in support of Suraj & his family' was conceived and executed. more so because you said (in a private conversation) that since this work was towards charity, it should not be criticized. in that case inder no ngo will be up for critical scrutiny. among many at pallete that day i saw extreme discomfort on the faces of suraj and his wife as they were glared at and introduced in an alien st up. this is some thing you have refused to recognize, and i dont blame you cause you never ever bother to look at them.
your project would have been stronger if either you had the artistic capacity to take us there..to their house. serve chai, samosa and get us to spend. it might be even stronger if you had done a photography workshop with the family, and sold their prints to raise money form them. but such long involved process is not the nature of your work.what you did amounted to treating them like beggars. you made them into beggars.in the city's performance art circuit you are a stalwart. works of far greater merit are expected from you. specially since the platform was so large.if you indeed want to work with the public, i suggest you read Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public Art, edited by Suzanne Lacy.
regards
1 comment:
a similar (yet different in essence) lack of sensitivity towards the 'subject' central to a performance can be seen in Neha Choksi's Petting Zoo. Though she was herself in the same condition as the animals, she crossed the line by putting those poor animals in oppressive conditions and asking people, who are busy enjoying their rounds of drinks, to come and pet them. it was so pathetic to look at people line up to enter the enclosed space, with wine glasses in one hand, barely managing a few minutes inside as they themselves could not stand the stifling hot conditions. one could do little but pity the animals being made to go through such an inhuman procedure in trying to get a message across.
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