Installation at Vikhroli Skin
More than two thousand people arrived at the pop-up event Vikhroli Skin. I was amazed at how responsive and excited the audience was. This is the first time I am presenting my work, inspired by Mumbai, in Mumbai itself. I've exhibited at UK, Delhi and Bangalore so this was a bit of a homecoming for me and totally rewarding. A few photos are up in this post, and the videos will be posted soon. In terms of multiple layers, I got more than eight layers working for this piece, and increased the levels of abstraction. I also introduced a new concept of placing a small seat in front of the work so see how the audience reacts. It was setup so that a person does not have to enter the space to become a part of it. Anyone walking by in the factory warehouse is automatically detected and projected into the space, however standing or sitting inside the space allows the visitor to view multiple versions of themselves directly in their own shadow. In this way the city is literally fragmenting the visitor into multiple selves when they enter.
Observing the way various people interacted with the work was very rewarding. In a space like this the audience is completely different from that of an art gallery, in fact, the audience is so much more interactive and responsive, they don't care too much about politeness. Couples used the opportunity to share the tiny seat provided, families used it more as a photo op than anything else and the amazing kids played with the space as it was meant to be played with. Several people had a lot of interesting interpretations of the work, which will inspire me to make more experiences like this.
A young girl from Mumbai sits inside the installation, watching the city and her shadow.
A girl in a saree poses in the installation. Photograph by Anil Kulkarni.
A couple watch the busy city go by, in their shadows.
Girl in Installation. Photograph by Gaurav Chaturvedi.
The space without people. And yes that's a Mumbai taxi in the background :)
Press
Warehouse transformed into cultural hub for a day, Hindustan Times, Dec 12th 2013. Link.
Find your cultural skin at Vikhroli, Dec, Mid Day, Mumbai. Link.
Lassi for the soul, Mumbai Mirror, Dec. 16th, Link.
5 Cool Things at Godrej India Labs Pop Up on Dec 14th, Miss Malini. Link.
Gear up for Skin Show, Asian Age. Link.