Over centuries, urbanisation has influenced creativity. Riding the vicissitudes of the contexts and sub-contexts of art as the soul of urbanisation,
Deepa Subramanian, founder and creative head of Galerie De’Arts and art consultant Franck Barthelemy, have conceptualised Urbanscapes, showcasing over 200 works by 60 plus artists in the sprawling 10,000 sq feet show area at 1 MG Mall.
Taking art outside its comfort zone in the gallery, Urbanscapes is a journey of how urbanisation has changed the context of creativity.
“Urbanisation is a cultural change and change is a process created through creativity. It has created a smarter society with attractive hubs, innovative architecture and a new lifestyle. We are all consumers of urban life and see creativity in every product we consume. While this is the good part of urbanization, new urban models have their inherent challenges. It is our responsibility to preserve and maintain the balance of a good life model for both us and the planet,” explains Deepa.
In view of garnering change towards a better living environment, Urbanscapes isn’t an art show alone. “It addresses the impact of urbanisation on the city, its environment and its people,” says Deepa, adding, “We are trying to engage duty-minded citizens, corporates with CSR initiatives towards the environment, prominent personalities who are involved in the city’s growth and development, NGOs, urban planners, architects, builders, environmentalists and school children, among others.”
“We are organising talks throughout the art exhibition and the debates we aim to create between city practitioners might influence our urban landscape,” says Franck.
“Some exhibiting artists have focused on the changes (present vs. past), some will criticise the wild urbanisation (planned vs. unplanned), some will take an environmentalist’s view (human vs. nature) and some will merge into the new cityscapes (consumerism vs. progress),” he adds.
Urbanscapes aspires to educate and appeals to the connoisseur as well as the mall visitor, at once.
“Deepa and I believe that art is for everybody and should not be limited to a bunch of happy few who get invites for art shows in the sanctuaries of the galleries. So bringing good quality art to a mall is about opening the doors of the biggest ephemeral city gallery to the largest number of people. I believe art should find a permanent place in public spaces.”
Published - August 07, 2014 07:52 pm IST
