As a part of one of our assignments during a seven day art writing workshop we were shown a video of the installation exhibition ‘Facilitating the Beast’ by a well known Baroda artist and we were supposed to write an opinionated piece filled with our honest feelings about a short performance which was a part of the work itself. Time allotted was ten minutes and hence there was no scope for editing.
Before sharing my ideas about the so called art work let me describe it a little. The installation work comprised of various elements of video works, a sound piece, mixed media prints and last but not the least…rows of charred bread loaves (alluding to the best bakery case), all this to remind us once again of the much hyped Gujarat riots.
So here is the piece I wrote:
As I sat focusing on the screen and digesting the images, there was a strong sense of ‘déjà vu’.Public memory is short but not so short as to forget the much discussed, debated and used ‘Best Bakery ‘case which was the main theme of the installation work
Rather than delving into what I thought or felt about the piece itself I would like to share my utter dismay and disdain at using horrible human tragedies for any purpose and more so for political ones. As we all know the above mentioned case was a really twisted and much mediated right from the very beginning. Moreover it is so well known that I feel there was no need to shove it again on the public face and that too in such a dramatic manner.
I often wonder at the lack of sensitivity that media and political personals show towards the tragedies faced by a common man, but it is really sad when artists join this bandwagon. I am not saying that an artist should not address political or social issues but what I want to problematize and question here is the use of incident which occurred few years back and since then has been all over in the papers, on practically every news channel and extensively on net.
The only reason I think is the element of familiarity and sensation linked with the issue that would lead someone to go digging for it. Unfortunately there is no dearth of tragedies in India and almost daily we hear of something or the other…..but the “Best Bakery Thing” sells. It has a smell of familiarity; people don’t really have to exert their brains too much to understand the problem..People outside India shed tears and sympathize with the victims….where is this taking us…???.I wonder whether Nithari killings will be the next sensation for the artists?
Since I don’t appreciate the concept itself I don’t see how I can comment on the performance per se which to me seems like the extension of something hollow and pointless…
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