Show Stopper

For the past one year,regulars at Friends Colony Community Centre have routinely walked into Gallery Espace on the last Wednesday of every month to watch new video works.

For the past one year,regulars at Friends Colony Community Centre have routinely walked into Gallery Espace on the last Wednesday of every month to watch new video works. The screens always flickered with something new every week,from video works created by Gigi Scaria to those of Ranbir Kaleka. This week,the event popularly known as Video Wednesdays,ends with a festival to highlight the importance of the medium. The aim was to create awareness about video art through the works of several artists. We have been able to provide an exposure to the medium, says Renu Modi,director of Gallery Espace,as she prepares for the four-day video art finale that showcases works of over 25 artists.

While the videos showcased through the year will play on one screen,the gallery will also have video compilations put together by five guest curators Bose Krishnamachari,Gayatri Sinha,Nancy

Adajania,Arshiya Lokhandwala and Suresh Jayaram.

Bose Krishnamachari has chosen Anup Mathew Thomass Light Life,which questions the ban on bar dancers in Mumbai,as well as Sudarshan Shettys Six Drops,which revolves around the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in London. Suresh Jayaram addresses the issue of politics of the body through the work of six artists,among them Umesh Maddanahallis two-minute video Black Towel,which deals with perceived notions related to race and culture through an interaction between a brown man and white Austrian woman,and Ambuja Magajis video installation Body Desire discusses the desire for gender transformation through a eunuch doing make-up. Gayatri Sinha has selected Gigi Scarias Panic City that comments on the rapid construction in Delhi before the Commonwealth games,along with Manjunath Kamaths Talk,which deals with the issue of fear and desire through a dialogue between two animation figures.

As the videos play in a loop,the medium will be discussed in an open forum that will be held on August 1. Titled Video Art Now and Next,this will have on the panel,art collector Swapan Seth and artist Kabir Mohanty. A 20-page tabloid,meanwhile,will discuss the video works screened during the year. The video works will soon travel to galleries and educational institutions across India. There is a lot more that needs to be done. Exciting work is being produced,but the takers for it are still a handful, says Modi. Set for screening?

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