So far the course had been about the self, and trying to figure out our own strengths and weaknesses in the medium we had previously chosen.
Suddenly, it became all about the world around us, and the issues faced by the society we live in.
We were sorted into two groups and told to discuss a number of issues that we felt we personally related to.
This led to a few funny conversations and controversial comments, but we finally came down to this list of social issues that we, as mostly upper middle class young adults could honestly say we felt strongly about:
- the LGBT issue and the consequences of section 377 in India
- animal rights in general
- the education of children and literacy
- the caste system and its prevalence in India
It was odd how the LGBT issue was the one issue that the whole classroom could somehow agree on, even if our views on the subject were somewhat diverse.
We had a vague idea of our ultimate goal with this social issue - to curate and conduct an exhibition, in either N3 campus, somewhere in Yelahanka or a gallery elsewhere in the city of Bangalore on the subject of LGBT and section 377. We were to make work of our own, not to mention get work from other people including peers, faculty and external artists, design the gallery space where the exhibition was to happen, make posters and create publicity for the exhibition. It did not seem like an easy task - and I have to admit, neither did it seem like an especially fun task at the time - but I could see exactly why it was necessary. It seemed important to first entrench oneself in one's own work, and then experience thoroughly the other side of the coin - the aspect of the audience, the whole process of exhibiting work, how it really is to be an artist. It is not enough to simply create work; perhaps one must also know what goes into the aftermath of creating this work, and how easy/difficult it is to exhibit it properly to a viewer.
I volunteered to be in the space design group, because I liked the idea of designing a space into a gallery space. However this course was obviously not just about the surface interest of any field; in space design, we were told to go completely into the specifics. If our exhibition was in the N3 basement, we had to measure the distance between pillar to post, between chair to table, get every dimension right and create a proper grid of the space. It was a systematic, although often frustrating process, but I thought it was designed to allow us to fully experience this aspect of an exhibition. Well, it worked.
Suddenly, it became all about the world around us, and the issues faced by the society we live in.
We were sorted into two groups and told to discuss a number of issues that we felt we personally related to.
This led to a few funny conversations and controversial comments, but we finally came down to this list of social issues that we, as mostly upper middle class young adults could honestly say we felt strongly about:
- the LGBT issue and the consequences of section 377 in India
- animal rights in general
- the education of children and literacy
- the caste system and its prevalence in India
It was odd how the LGBT issue was the one issue that the whole classroom could somehow agree on, even if our views on the subject were somewhat diverse.
We had a vague idea of our ultimate goal with this social issue - to curate and conduct an exhibition, in either N3 campus, somewhere in Yelahanka or a gallery elsewhere in the city of Bangalore on the subject of LGBT and section 377. We were to make work of our own, not to mention get work from other people including peers, faculty and external artists, design the gallery space where the exhibition was to happen, make posters and create publicity for the exhibition. It did not seem like an easy task - and I have to admit, neither did it seem like an especially fun task at the time - but I could see exactly why it was necessary. It seemed important to first entrench oneself in one's own work, and then experience thoroughly the other side of the coin - the aspect of the audience, the whole process of exhibiting work, how it really is to be an artist. It is not enough to simply create work; perhaps one must also know what goes into the aftermath of creating this work, and how easy/difficult it is to exhibit it properly to a viewer.
I volunteered to be in the space design group, because I liked the idea of designing a space into a gallery space. However this course was obviously not just about the surface interest of any field; in space design, we were told to go completely into the specifics. If our exhibition was in the N3 basement, we had to measure the distance between pillar to post, between chair to table, get every dimension right and create a proper grid of the space. It was a systematic, although often frustrating process, but I thought it was designed to allow us to fully experience this aspect of an exhibition. Well, it worked.
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