The curtains dropped over the the second edition of the Chennai Photo Biennale on 24.03.2019. The Biennalle opened on Feb 22, even though a year later than when it should have been due, it is something every Chennaite should be proud of and look forward to. It kept photography enthusiasts and art lovers in Chennai busy for almost a month with a variety of events and gave reason for one to run from one venue to another in a bid to catch up with all that was happening.
The first edition of CPB had made a big and beautiful impact on the art scape in the city with its big and novel exhibits in unexpected places like a sleepy Nageswara rao park and rarely stopped at nooks of bustling MRTS station. Certain works of the first edition still stay fresh in memory like the the series on Crows by Ronny sen that were displayed in a breezy corner of a Railway station, the photos from Bangladesh war by Barthalomeo that created a gloomy dark mood in an otherwise radiant LKA, etc. My blog entries on the first edition can be found here.
The second edition opened up with a lot of promise, assuring to be an even more memorable affair, with the CPB team inviting Bangalore based artist Pushpamala to curate the show and also braving many odds to host the show at some very interesting and long neglected Venues like the Senate house in Madras university and the newly opened Gallery space at College of Fine Arts (CFA). However, the curator, Pushpamala's concept of 'Fauna in the mirror ' a reference to a Chines myth, didn't help anxious audience much and made sure they were left guessing on what this show had in store, until the show actually opened.
Writing this piece just a day after the close of the show, its interesting to take a moment off to look back at the show and take stock of the thoughts and moments that the show has left behind. Firstly, Team CPB has to be congratulated and felicitated by every person in the city for opening up the beautiful Senate house at the Madras University for public viewing. the space has a long history of being locked up and falling into disuse. Anyone who stepped in it is sure to have been taken back by this so grand and immersive space, that one could hardly bring himself to take his eyes off its grandeur and look at the exhibits. Of the exhibits at Senate house, the room devoted to Kashmir works had a very sacred and solemn feel about it, a classic instance of how art can transform space.
The other blockbuster feature of this edition was the opening up of the magnificent gallery space at CFA, Egmore. The space had been recently renovated by the Public works department of the Chennai Corporation and handed over to the CFA. It is heartening to see the sapce debut its new avatar with a world class show. Hope this will set a precedent for the future shows in the space, and pave way for another happening art space in Chennai. Intervention by Architecture story from Ahmedabad, added new dimensions to the space and the viewing experience in the gallery.
One walked thru the caverns carved out by AS, entering in and out, unwrapping stories of countries, cities and people. One could decipher interesting parallels in haunted places like the Coal fields captured by Navjot Altaf and the Kodak Buildings of Catherine Leutenegger. Manit Sriwanichpoom's playing quirky witness to a gory period in Thailand's History and the performance implicit in Tejal Shah and Anna Fox' works offered a Triptych. Vivan's interventions on his family archive offered an interesting scope for layered readings, and more so against the launch of his Book 'Vivan is not a photographer'. while one was gazing at these works there was the constant embrace of a sprightly music trailing the viewer leading hi, to the corner featuring a video installation of Simon Lee and Algis Kizys of the USA, an assortment of found photos, accompanied by Ted Hughes' poetry and some absorbing music.
Sainath's works and the Photo Story around Farmer's suicides were a natural extension. The manner of display of Photos of Farmer's suicide story in a manner that is usually reserved for displaying achievers of economic and academic success, smacked of curatorial intervention in projecting the story and simultaneously mocking at Bourgeois and Business inclinations and tendencies.
The museum space within CFA resounded with the pangs of a palatial space that had been looted of it's treasures, venting painful cries at the viewer, complaining of the missing original exhibits that had adorned the space. The CPB works featured in museum space of CFA hardly matched up to the scale and brilliance of the place. Akhila Vijayaraghavan's work that was a story around women achievers of Chennai had it's more rightful place in the pages of a magazine, and one could hardly understand what was the point in putting those stories up in glass cupboards. One could only take little salvage by assuaging self that it was probably a curatorial intervention to put the stories of these lively women in glass jars where one normally expects to see an antique/mummified objects. a video of the space can be found here at Shri Mohan Hariharan's fb page.
The work called Film shots at Art houz threw intersting images of films, produced thorugh a rigorous shot captured by exposure of the camera for the entire duration of the movie. One could only wonder what was Ravender Reddy's life size photos of film shots from movies like Rangeela doing there in this show. The accompanying note did not help either.J H Thakker's stills that defined any fan's images of the stars, deserves a Hall mark in Film history. The video work around politics of late Chief minister J Jayalalitha offered scope for interesting parallels and readings.
This edition made one travel south of the city as far as Cholamandal artists village and also made one take the MRTS till Thiruvanmiyur. I took the MRTS this time, wondering why i had not rode on it in the intervening months after the previous edition. The unveiling landscape, socialscape, glimpses and stenches of the river and our civilisation all offer a panaromic experience in themselves while riding on the MRTS. The wroks by Srishti students featured in Chintadripet station were impressive in content and style; the works by NID in Kasturbhai station were rich in content but could have done with better display; the display by Nift at Tiruvanmiyur, though grand in scale lacked in engaging content.
Driving further south, the long drive down to Cholamandal was worth the sweat, getting absorbed in Munem Wasif's photographs of seemingly barren and repetitive landscapes from Indo Bangla border, deciphering hidden stories packed in them; and the disturbing images of deformed faces and repaired artefacts captured and interlaced by Kader Attia, weaving a story of indomitable spirits and questioning ideas of beauty.
One crowning feature of this edition was the brilliant line up of talks and the seminar on Light writing, hosted alongside. A brilliant line up of Artists Talks made sure Photography enthusiasts had the chance to learn straight from the artists about their works and techniques. This was also a rare occassion for the city to witness some brilliant scholarly talks by the likes of Gayatri Sinha. Gayatri Sinha talked about Ten artists who work around Performative Photographs. It was interesting that she brought together Anita Dube ( Curator of Kochi Biennale) and Pushpamala in her presentation.
While the seminar on Light writing deserves a separate article, the works displayed at the Museum are worth mention. One was very impressed by the captures of one Manikandan, from Government school in Sekkadu featured in the Students showcase section. The CPB's initiatives to take Photography across to different sections of the society in a very structured manner is very commendable and deserves a separate study on its impact . Manikandan's captures are sure to take him far.
The public projections at Besant Nagar beach were another brave effort by CPB, in terms of working with the Public authorities and obtaining due permissions . It was alos one easy way of taking the show to the public's shores. It was such an ideal venue that, one couldn't help fancying, what a wonderful venue for regular live music and dance performances could this corner in the the beach make.
One other major step this festival has taken towards reaching out to a broader audience is in featuring Tamil translations of artist texts. I had taken a keen interest in checking out these texts for their readability and content. It was a pleasure and a great relief to find these were very readable, convincing and thoughtfully put together, reflecting the depth in the content, and not the usual cosmetic glossing overs that these texts tend to be.
Movies on Photography was another bid to reach out to new audience. But unfortunately some of the movies screened in this section left a lot to be desired.
The show has left me with mixed feelings. I personally missed the excitement of stumbling upon fresh and upcoming talents among the exhibits, something like the joy of discovering Ronny Sen in the first edition. However, this edition had its fill of magnificent works and enterprising talks, and magical moments. I am very elated that Chennai has found its place firmly in the world art scene
The first edition of CPB had made a big and beautiful impact on the art scape in the city with its big and novel exhibits in unexpected places like a sleepy Nageswara rao park and rarely stopped at nooks of bustling MRTS station. Certain works of the first edition still stay fresh in memory like the the series on Crows by Ronny sen that were displayed in a breezy corner of a Railway station, the photos from Bangladesh war by Barthalomeo that created a gloomy dark mood in an otherwise radiant LKA, etc. My blog entries on the first edition can be found here.
The second edition opened up with a lot of promise, assuring to be an even more memorable affair, with the CPB team inviting Bangalore based artist Pushpamala to curate the show and also braving many odds to host the show at some very interesting and long neglected Venues like the Senate house in Madras university and the newly opened Gallery space at College of Fine Arts (CFA). However, the curator, Pushpamala's concept of 'Fauna in the mirror ' a reference to a Chines myth, didn't help anxious audience much and made sure they were left guessing on what this show had in store, until the show actually opened.
Writing this piece just a day after the close of the show, its interesting to take a moment off to look back at the show and take stock of the thoughts and moments that the show has left behind. Firstly, Team CPB has to be congratulated and felicitated by every person in the city for opening up the beautiful Senate house at the Madras University for public viewing. the space has a long history of being locked up and falling into disuse. Anyone who stepped in it is sure to have been taken back by this so grand and immersive space, that one could hardly bring himself to take his eyes off its grandeur and look at the exhibits. Of the exhibits at Senate house, the room devoted to Kashmir works had a very sacred and solemn feel about it, a classic instance of how art can transform space.
 |
| Art transforms space.. at Senate house pc: CPB's fb page |
The other blockbuster feature of this edition was the opening up of the magnificent gallery space at CFA, Egmore. The space had been recently renovated by the Public works department of the Chennai Corporation and handed over to the CFA. It is heartening to see the sapce debut its new avatar with a world class show. Hope this will set a precedent for the future shows in the space, and pave way for another happening art space in Chennai. Intervention by Architecture story from Ahmedabad, added new dimensions to the space and the viewing experience in the gallery.
One walked thru the caverns carved out by AS, entering in and out, unwrapping stories of countries, cities and people. One could decipher interesting parallels in haunted places like the Coal fields captured by Navjot Altaf and the Kodak Buildings of Catherine Leutenegger. Manit Sriwanichpoom's playing quirky witness to a gory period in Thailand's History and the performance implicit in Tejal Shah and Anna Fox' works offered a Triptych. Vivan's interventions on his family archive offered an interesting scope for layered readings, and more so against the launch of his Book 'Vivan is not a photographer'. while one was gazing at these works there was the constant embrace of a sprightly music trailing the viewer leading hi, to the corner featuring a video installation of Simon Lee and Algis Kizys of the USA, an assortment of found photos, accompanied by Ted Hughes' poetry and some absorbing music.
Sainath's works and the Photo Story around Farmer's suicides were a natural extension. The manner of display of Photos of Farmer's suicide story in a manner that is usually reserved for displaying achievers of economic and academic success, smacked of curatorial intervention in projecting the story and simultaneously mocking at Bourgeois and Business inclinations and tendencies.
The museum space within CFA resounded with the pangs of a palatial space that had been looted of it's treasures, venting painful cries at the viewer, complaining of the missing original exhibits that had adorned the space. The CPB works featured in museum space of CFA hardly matched up to the scale and brilliance of the place. Akhila Vijayaraghavan's work that was a story around women achievers of Chennai had it's more rightful place in the pages of a magazine, and one could hardly understand what was the point in putting those stories up in glass cupboards. One could only take little salvage by assuaging self that it was probably a curatorial intervention to put the stories of these lively women in glass jars where one normally expects to see an antique/mummified objects. a video of the space can be found here at Shri Mohan Hariharan's fb page.
The work called Film shots at Art houz threw intersting images of films, produced thorugh a rigorous shot captured by exposure of the camera for the entire duration of the movie. One could only wonder what was Ravender Reddy's life size photos of film shots from movies like Rangeela doing there in this show. The accompanying note did not help either.J H Thakker's stills that defined any fan's images of the stars, deserves a Hall mark in Film history. The video work around politics of late Chief minister J Jayalalitha offered scope for interesting parallels and readings.
 |
| at Chintadripet MRTS |
This edition made one travel south of the city as far as Cholamandal artists village and also made one take the MRTS till Thiruvanmiyur. I took the MRTS this time, wondering why i had not rode on it in the intervening months after the previous edition. The unveiling landscape, socialscape, glimpses and stenches of the river and our civilisation all offer a panaromic experience in themselves while riding on the MRTS. The wroks by Srishti students featured in Chintadripet station were impressive in content and style; the works by NID in Kasturbhai station were rich in content but could have done with better display; the display by Nift at Tiruvanmiyur, though grand in scale lacked in engaging content.
Driving further south, the long drive down to Cholamandal was worth the sweat, getting absorbed in Munem Wasif's photographs of seemingly barren and repetitive landscapes from Indo Bangla border, deciphering hidden stories packed in them; and the disturbing images of deformed faces and repaired artefacts captured and interlaced by Kader Attia, weaving a story of indomitable spirits and questioning ideas of beauty.
One crowning feature of this edition was the brilliant line up of talks and the seminar on Light writing, hosted alongside. A brilliant line up of Artists Talks made sure Photography enthusiasts had the chance to learn straight from the artists about their works and techniques. This was also a rare occassion for the city to witness some brilliant scholarly talks by the likes of Gayatri Sinha. Gayatri Sinha talked about Ten artists who work around Performative Photographs. It was interesting that she brought together Anita Dube ( Curator of Kochi Biennale) and Pushpamala in her presentation.
 |
| i gather, Manikandan is in the center |
The public projections at Besant Nagar beach were another brave effort by CPB, in terms of working with the Public authorities and obtaining due permissions . It was alos one easy way of taking the show to the public's shores. It was such an ideal venue that, one couldn't help fancying, what a wonderful venue for regular live music and dance performances could this corner in the the beach make.
One other major step this festival has taken towards reaching out to a broader audience is in featuring Tamil translations of artist texts. I had taken a keen interest in checking out these texts for their readability and content. It was a pleasure and a great relief to find these were very readable, convincing and thoughtfully put together, reflecting the depth in the content, and not the usual cosmetic glossing overs that these texts tend to be.
Movies on Photography was another bid to reach out to new audience. But unfortunately some of the movies screened in this section left a lot to be desired.
The show has left me with mixed feelings. I personally missed the excitement of stumbling upon fresh and upcoming talents among the exhibits, something like the joy of discovering Ronny Sen in the first edition. However, this edition had its fill of magnificent works and enterprising talks, and magical moments. I am very elated that Chennai has found its place firmly in the world art scene
1 comment:
Very detailed post! Thanks for this gives someone like me a good perspective from another eye
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