Talkablity Is the Key

Though art is endlessly changing, its ability to make worlds meet is constant: the worlds of the artist and the art consumers break into conversation, the subjects in a piece of art and the audience pause to converse.

Initiating conversations is perhaps the greatest modern virtue. Our world, in this era of alternative facts, propaganda, thought control, and post-truth, is more polarised and divided than ever before. Most are stuck in their own petite filter bubbles and echo chambers. We are diametrically opposed to each other on virtually every issue that matters -climate, citizenship, refugees, racism, caste, gender –you name it. Exclusive black and white, left and right, for and against is the new mantra for political success. The rest of the population, in between the poles, is ignorantly comfortable and indifferent. To be in a state of being talkable, or people to be in a position to converse is made tougher by people getting offended by the slightest of disapproval. Of course, the time when only a tiny group in society was allowed to get offended, and the rest had to just keep working and keep going quietly is far gone.

Art Questions Silence

Art is an expansive concept. The permanent possibility of change, expansion and novelty makes art what it is; it gives art its distinguished place in the world. Though art is endlessly changing, its ability to make worlds meet is constant: the worlds of the artist and the art consumers break into conversation, the subjects in a piece of art and the audience pause to converse. Art has the potency to initiate conversations. Even Dadaism, which was an anti-art movement, where art was deliberately made meaningless, had a strong anti-war message to the post First World War world.

Art conveys powerful messages across the linguistic and cultural barriers that so often divide us. There is no burden of convincing anyone with art, there is no pressure of winning an arguement. Sometimes it is too much to ask people to stop, think, and act. There are times when it is a challenge to make people even to stop and think. But with art we can at least ask them to stop; because art is attractive.

Art dispassionately and nonviolently breaks the spiral of silence. It makes the silent and indifferent uncomfortable. Initiating conversations is the biggest service of art to humanity. Art avoids, though not always, chronological details and geographical particulars of an issue, thus making an issue less personal to anyone, and so makes issues talkable, without offence.

Rights of Aboriginals

This Biennale Speaks a Language of Resistance As we enter the main venue of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2022/23 we are welcomed by an upset and unwelcome Aboriginal Embassy, an installation by the noted Australian artist Richard Bell. Bell’s installation is inspired by the first Aboriginal Tend Embassy pitched on the grounds of Australia’s parliament house in 1972 by four young men demanding aboriginal land rights. The work here brings the visitors face to face with the aboriginals of Australia who are now aware of the exploitation and land grabbing of the past and present; and are beginning to resist. The reality is no better anywhere. The adivasis, the tribals, the indigenous, the aboriginals of every land are helpless when the powerful walk on to their land, and occupy it in the name of growth and development. Whose growth and development would be an interesting question to explore. According the UNHCR there are an approximate 103 million forcibly displaced people in the world, of which 36.5 million are children below 18 years of age.

The Aboriginal Embassy sets in the thrust of this biennale –to make people think, converse, and act for aboriginal and indigenous people’s rights. Thus the curation seems to be deliberate in including a village swallowed by an ill-planned dam project, documentation of female genocide, Nepali women’s quest for relevancy and visibility, disturbing images of manual scavenging, showing light on the importance of indigenous people, and the list goes on. The relegated and banished have found voice through art.

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Art Movements: Modern Art to Contemporary Art

There is no precise definition of the term Modern Art: it remains an elastic term, which can accommodate a variety of meanings. Art historically, Modern Art means works produced during the approximate period 1870-1970. A s per artistic style, traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of experimentation . A tendency away from the narrative (which was characteristic for the traditional arts). Inclination towards abstraction is characteristic of much modern art. Study the PDFs below (only for academic purpose) Art Movements: Modern Art to Contemporary Art Part I PDF Art Movements: Modern Art to Contemporary Art Part II PDF Impressionism Originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence. Eventually became the world's most famous painting movement. Paved the way for the wholly non-naturalist abstract art of the 20th century. Impressionism focused on the almost impossible task of capturing fleeting moments

Art as Expression

For centuries, representation was taken to be the central, defining feature of art. The emphasis of Representation theories of art was on the outward aspects of things. In a loose sense of the word, art was primarily concerned with the objective features of the “ external ” world. By the mid 19 th century, artists began to turn inward ; they explored their own subjective experiences. Even while depicting landscapes (external realities) they attempted to register their reactions - the way they felt - about the landscapes. (they were not just mirroring nature) Artists were becoming more attentive to the subjective or “inner” world of experience . That gives birth to a new art theory, “Art as Expression”. Study the PDF below (to be used for educational purposes only) Art as Expression PDF Impressionism, though its an independent art movement, expressed more of the impressions of the passing moment and qualities of light as seen by subjective artists. We can see the beginning

Early History of Cinema

The late 19th and early 20th centuries witnessed the birth and rapid evolution of cinema as a new artistic and technological medium. Lets us examine the key innovations, pioneers, and early milestones that shaped the beginnings of cinema, from its precursors in motion photography to the establishment of narrative filmmaking techniques. Study the PDF below (for academic use only) History of Cinema PDF The foundations of cinema can be traced to experiments in capturing and displaying motion through photography. In 1878, Eadweard Muybridge's groundbreaking "The Horse in Motion" used multiple cameras to decompose the movement of a galloping horse into a sequence of still images. This technique presaged the fundamental principle of cinema - the illusion of motion created by rapidly displaying a series of static images. A pivotal moment came in 1888 with Louis Le Prince's "Roundhay Garden Scene." At just 2.11 seconds long, it is recognised by the Guinness Book of

Art as Representation

In different times and in different places and in different context Art critiques, thinkers have made efforts to understand the underlying essence of a piece of Art. Most were limited to their own times and philosophy of the world and human persons. Fortkochi, Kerala They were at finding ‘necessary conditions’ and ‘sufficient conditions’ for the truth of the statement that an item is an ‘art work’ . We go back to the first of such an attempt. It was the Greeks who first said, Art is Imitation of nature. And they broadened it saying, Art is Representation. Study the PDF below. (to be used for educational purposes only) Art as Representation PDF Most art we do and we encounter on a day today basis are all imitation of nature. Those who are able to do it best are the best artists. What makes them to be candidates for Art is the attribute of Verisimilitude they posses. More similar they are better they are appreciated. Nothing is an artwork, unless it is an imita

Art Movements: From Renaissance to Realism

Prior to Renaissance there were more of art era than art movements. We arrive at renaissance after Byzantine and Medieval art. Study the PDFs below (only for educational purpose) Art Movements: Renaissance to Realism Part I Art Movements: Renaissance to Realism Part II Renaissance was the golden era of Classical Art. Between 1400 and 1600, Europe witnessed an astonishing revival of drawing, fine art painting, sculpture and architecture centered on Italy, which we now refer to as the Renaissance(French for 'rebirth'). There was gradual move from grand high art to art that is more human and down to earth. The major art movements were 1. Renaissance In very simple terms, the Italian Renaissance re-established Western art according to the principles of classical Greek art, especially Greek sculpture and painting, which remained unchallenged until Pablo Picasso and Cubism, broadly, modern art. 2. Mannerism Mannerists introduced tension and

WHAT IS ART? Introductory Discussions

What is art? How do we find ‘ necessary conditions’ and ‘sufficient conditions’ for the truth of the statement that an item is an ‘art work ’? Art-work Vs. Mere real thing Study the PDF below. (to be used for educational purposes only) Art PDF In Indian Epistemology, when its complicated to name or define a thing or force, we don't say what it is. We instead say what it is not. Its expressed as neti neti (not this, not this). Here too we look around us and see everything that exists. Everything that exists is broadly categorised into two. 1. Nature : those that are already there. They came about through the big bang or creation or evolution whichever. In other words they are naturally there. That which is nature is not ART. Thus rivers, trees, pets, wild animals, human beings etc. etc. fall out of the umbrella of art. 2. Culture : Those that have come into being through human creation or intervention. Art is part of culture. though everything in culture is not art. Th

Art as Aesthetics

Art raises the viewers/audience/readers to an Aesthetic Experience. Art is in pursuit of beauty and elevation of taste. Study the PDF below (only for academic use) Art as Aesthetics PDF What is an Aesthetic Experience? Is it to do with beauty standards? Is it making art look pretty or soothing? Aesthetics < aesthesia (gk) Means the ability to experience sensation, perception, or sensitivity. The opposite is anesthesia -the loss of sensation, a state of non-feeling. Aesthetics is the way in which art addresses spectators . What capacity does a work have to open up viewers’ senses ? Here the emphasis is primarily on the experiencing subject rather than the object that gives rise to the experience.Art raises one to a contemplative state. This contemplative state is called Aesthetic Experience. Audience seek out art works for aesthetic experience. Going for performances, cinema, or reading a book. Through creativity and originality artists strive towards providing aesthetic exp

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