Sunday, October 25, 2009

Pictures of the Recycled Art Collage for International day for Climate ACTION



After collecting a day's worth of recyclable materials from home, a local recycler and a couple of tailors, a group of 12 motley souls, put their minds and hands together to bring you - WHAT a WASTE!

Composed at Bangalore Central Mall, the collage took 3 hours 50 minutes to complete. It was done in collaboration with the Indian Youth Climate Network [IYCN] as a symbolic gesture of our solidarity and synergy with 350.org's campaign for greener policies at the Copenhagen Convention.

WHAT a WASTE! is composed of

* a crescent moon of CDs bound together with binding wire
* an earth with trees of cork and a plastic loofah, a cloth moth, water bodies of cloth and wool, paper boats, ear bud water feature [can be taken off for reuse as user sees fit], paddy fields, water bodies and polluted areas of green, blue and black floppy disc covers respectively ; metal and plastic bottle cap trash, cigarette packet buildings and a few subliminal messages of hope
* a sun made out of bottle caps with braided cloth rays and red CD radiation and
* our atmosphere with shredded newspaper clouds, cloth air and smog, metal can satellites, a mobile phone space station, stars of aluminium foil, plastic plates and bits of CDs and a cigarette rocket

ALL this and MORE was stuck onto a recycled plank of plywood measuring approximately 4 feet by 4 feet using a mixture of fevicol glue and white cement.

WHAT a WASTE! is homeless right now. S/he or it will find temporary sanctuary in malls, performance art venues and other hubs for creative activity to coax people to 'donate' their recyclables. The materials collected will then be delivered to Saahas, a local NGO that disposes off recyclables and e-waste responsibly.

We wish WHAT a WASTE! safe travels through the city and congratulate 350.org and all the event participants on a wonderful show of solidarity! Here's wishing you a belated Happy International day for Climate ACTION and ALL a tonne of luck for the campaign! :D

Photo credits: Siddharth Chadha, Gayatri Ganju, Ridhi D'Cruz

General Credits: Bangalore Central Mall, IYCN, the De Nazareth's for immediately adopting WHAT a WASTE! and of course the beautiful souls for their generosity, time, energy and laughter - Gayartri, Namrata, Niyati, Nikita, Chitra, James, Deepti, Chocka, Tamseel, Siddharth, Shilo and Ridhi.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Recycled Art project for International day for Climate ACTION

Dear all,

Tomorrow is the International Day for Climate ACTION.

350.org has put forth the concept of conducting different 'actions' or events across the world. They intend to compile these different events to build a campaign for greener policies when our world's leaders meet for the Copenhagen Convention this December 7th - 18th.

The Indian Youth Climate Network [IYCN] is organising a BUNCH of 'actions' tomorrow across India.

Bangalore Wall Flower Project is collaborating with IYCN's Karnataka chapter in Bangalore bring you a Recycled Art Project.

Tomorrow evening starting 3 pm, we will be at Bangalore Central Mall. We are taking 3 hours 50 minutes [;)] to make a piece of art out of recycled material like bottle caps, Lays packets, tetra packs, etc by sticking them [with white cement and fevicol mixture] onto a large piece of plywood [recycled].

We have also organised a collection bin for recyclables from Saahas. I am told it is made of tetra packs :)

Please come on over :) And if you can, please bring along recyclable trash from your house like tetra packs, CDs, bottle caps [plastic/ metal]. Anything recyclable! :)

Hope to see you there

Monday, October 5, 2009

Pictures from the 29/09/09 Rest House Road Paint in Bangalore

......Three reasons for painting a wall

Ridhi asked me on Gtalk a few days ago

“What are your 3 reasons for painting a wall?”

And I replied,

“Number One. I have always wished for urban structures to be much nicer than their present state of concrete, plain white or as in the case of Rest House Road, covered with moss. And then, I saw painted walls on Chapel Street in Bandra, Mumbai. It looked beautiful. I want to do this in my own city now. ”

“Number Two : It's an exploration of my own artistic intent and ability. Working with Shilo and you [Ridhi] makes it so much more easier. I got to learn immensely yesterday. And I know if I goof up, its ok, it ll be fixed...and there is no sense of judgement on each others roles/work etc. except the Outliner. Destroy the Outliner!”

Ridhi replied, “Haan, cool reasons!”

The third reason is in retrospect. I was fascinated with the interaction between the locality and us, the outsiders. Passers-by stopped, stood back and looked at what we were painting, mostly throwing in a smile, an odd query, a thank you or 'can you paint my wall, too!'? Three children from the abandoned building, of which the wall was a part of, came and played with the paints. We had to send them back to their mother and give them mean threats so that they let the work finish! Everyone was cheerful to see the colors.

- Siddharth


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1. Starting a conversation

I like fuelling different kinds of 'conversations'. They might be with dogs on the street, trees lining a road, a wall, a person. The need for conversations comes from my desire to interact with the city CLOSELY. Feel its textures. Taste its flavours.

In Bangalore, we are experiencing a very interesting period of transition. Questions and conflicts of Identity and Culture are bubbling under a façade of modernity.

Painting a wall is a great conversation start point to explore these subtly hidden layers.


2. Talking about...

While painting with Dhanya and Nitya in Bombay, I especially noticed the kind of conversations it sparked off with passers by. Some people stopped. They said hello, watched us in silence, commended us, criticized us, questioned us, irritated us.

And it ALL felt GREAT because we were talking to people we wouldn't normally talk to and on terms that were not ordinary because the interaction was

* withOUT monetary exchange
* remained 'ungendered'
* AND, almost everyone walked away
with a smile on their faces :)

3. A thread of commonality

Often, I find it difficult to find a thread that ropes in a large number of people. It is very easy to disagree and draw borders.

But I find that painting a wall brings people together.
It results in a random assortment of people with a common purpose - to colour the cityscape.

No political message, no real 'hidden' motive. It is so... simple. :)


4. Having fun and spreading fun:

It brings art out of studios and onto the streets. It involves and includes people who are not usually thought of as artists. It lets you get paint all over your hands and experience the joy of living in the moment, the moment of that stroke.

Deliberate, meditative, cathartic, flamboyant, powerful, vibrant, superlative.


5. There is no border

I can explore my own personal artistic expression WHILE being under the public gaze. It's the most I've been able to share of my creative self without feeling completely overwhelmed by an 'audience'.

I can no longer draw a line between artist and audience. It blurs into one.

The 'stage' is thrown open to participation. The onlooker is no longer a passive spectator.

And everything becomes a riot of colour.

- Ridhi
[*who knows she's given 5 reasons instead of 3 :S]



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1. Love.

- Shilo

(more coming soon)