Know Your City: Once discarded metal that lay at VMC yards, these quirky sculptures made of scrap are Vadodara’s pride today

However, it is another installation that has turned into a popular selfie spot in the city – one depicting a lion sitting before an old-fashioned microphone at Vadodara Urban Development Authority (VUDA) Circle. Made by city-based artist Ketan Patel, the work is said to represent “the power of a leader”. Speaking to The Indian Express, Patel said, “The concept was to create a ‘leader’ whom everyone can notice… It has an aura. We have used metal to reinforce it due to its size. It also needed to be sturdy to withstand the change in seasons.”

Then, there is also a squirrel fashioned out of rusted iron bars at Kalali, now called Khiskoli (squirrel) Circle, and an airplane installed at a junction on the way to the airport in Harni. Years before these works made their presence felt in the city, Genda Circle had turned into a landmark when an imposing rhinocerous built from industrial scrap was installed in the posh Vadiwadi area.

However, it is another installation that has turned into a popular selfie spot in the city – one depicting a lion sitting before an old-fashioned microphone at Vadodara Urban Development Authority (VUDA) Circle. (Express Photo by Bhupendra Rana)

Among the new installations is Fatehgunj Circle’s massive charging bull made of clutch plates and other motor vehicle scrap, a banyan tree outside the Vadodara Railway station, a copper-coloured sculpture in Surya Namaskar pose near SSG Hospital, and a radio made of metal scrap “donated by residents” to a private radio station.

The workshop where it all began

In 2017, artists from across Vadodara city came together in two phases to create scrap installations that have now turned into city landmarks, besides catapulting many of them to fame. Under the aegis of the then VMC municipal commissioner Vinod Rao, as many as 47 city artists signed up to transform scrap that lay rusting for years at VMC’s waste yard in Mujhmahuda as well as waste metal from Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (GSFC).

Before long, many of the city’s lacklustre traffic islands got an artistic makeover, making it difficult to go past them without giving a second – or even third – glance.

The VMC recently inaugurated the second phase of the Sculpture Park in Harni. The first phase was inaugurated by the then Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani in 2017 after the civic body’s workshop had concluded. Inside the park, one can walk past quite a few quirky installations made out of scrap – a goat standing atop a jeep, a pink tractor covered with ant hills, an oversized black-and-white chair, an abstract roaring lion made of iron pipes, a figure of a man releasing doves, a seated human figure made of metal coins, and an abstract human figure made of iron mesh.

Viral Doshi, who curated the VMC’s workshop in 2017, told The Indian Express, “We had about 45-47 artists who came together to create different sculptures out of the scrap available at the VMC’s scrapyard in Mujhmahuda as well as from the GSFC… We did not find too much scrap at GSFC, but we did get a lot of plastic barrels that have also been put to use in sculptures inside the park now.”

“In January that year, artists had come together and created about 20 installations inside Akota stadium. After the VMC workshop in June that year, we had about 48 more installations ready… While most of them were already set up, some were recently inaugurated and some are still at Akota stadium waiting for their turn,” Doshi said.

In 2017, artists from across Vadodara city came together in two phases to create scrap installations that have now turned into city landmarks, besides catapulting many of them to fame. (Express Photo by Bhupendra Rana)

For years, industrial units in Vadodara have in fact been churning out scrap that have adorned people’s homes and offices, like a caprolactam resin sculpture or discarded porcelain insulators doubling up as planters. Doshi added that almost 97 per cent of the installations are made from waste scrap while some artists also used new metal to add sturdiness to the works. “Usually, sculptures made out of scrap in such big numbers would be for theme parks, such as the one coming up in Delhi currently where many of the same artists from Vadodara are working, he said.

‘Freedom to conceptualise’

“But the unique aspect of the installations in Vadodara is that the workshop had given the artists complete freedom to conceptualise and execute their designs. The VMC had also appointed a jury, including former Fine Arts faculty experts and prominent industrialists, to rate the sculptures. Almost everyone came up with unique masterpieces that turned into a matter of pride for the city.”

As far as the civic body was concerned, the project which cost Rs 25 lakh not only cut down the quantity of its metal scrap, but also elevated the public spaces of the city that is known for its art and culture. According to Mangesh Jaiswal, VMC officer for Parks and Gardens, the onus of maintaining the statues lies with the civic body.

Doshi added, “Once coated with a protective layer, the scrap metal statues are as good to go as new iron gates installed in homes. They are almost zero-maintenance and require upkeep as any other metal would…”

Criticism

Their popularity did not mean that the sculptures escaped criticism, especially from the royal family. The rockstar installation, for instance, was shifted soon after it was put up as Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU) Chancellor Shubhanginiraje Gaekwad criticised the sculptures at the ‘Reimaging Vadodara’ symposium on May 1. In her address, Gaekwad termed the metal scrap statues “unaesthetic” and said the VMC had “removed the beautiful installations that represented Vadodara and replaced them with metal scrap that are unappealing and unaesthetic”.

Fine arts experts, however, welcome the innovation using scrap metal. A senior professor of the Faculty of Fine Arts at MSU, of which Gaekwad is Chancellor, told The Indian Express, “Many of these sculptures are made by alumni and students of this faculty. Art is subjective and so if someone does not like it, it is a perspective that should be accepted too. But art, for years, has included making installations from the most unheard of waste materials… In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi started the movement to make the Statue of Unity from metal scrap. If artists, with their creativity, can turn waste into something beautiful and exquisite, then it is a welcome move.”