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Pages of a Mind: Raja Ravi Varma
The Art X Company developed a series of live events for the Pages of a Mind: Raja Ravi Varma – Life and Expressions exhibition (RRV Exhibition) organised by the Piramal Museum of Art from 21 February to 30 April 2016.
The Live Events programme included performances, talks, demonstrations and workshops that were aimed connecting late 19th century Indian artist Raja Ravi Varma and his legacy, however controversial. It sought to explore the impact of the artist’s legacy – mythology and the idealised female form – in contemporary times.
The W in V | 21 February 2016
Our first event was held in collaboration with EyeMyth Media Arts Festival of new media and visual arts (文化庁メディア芸術祭 ｜ Japan Media Arts Festival and UnBox festival, India). With Japanese artist and curator of EyeMyth, Ukawa Naohiro, Dr. Padmini Ray Murray, Avinash Kumar of BLOT & Quicksand Design Studio we examined the interplay between gender, technology, media and gaming.The session was followed by a panel discussion moderated by documentary filmmaker and visual artist Afrah Shafiq.
Photography by Siddharth Gundawar
Meeting the two Giants - A workshop on recreating Raja Ravi Varma & Dadasaheb Phalke | 14 and 18 March 2016
Raja Ravi Varma and Dadasaheb Phalke are considered to be two of the most significant art creators and influencers of the early 20th Century. For our second event in our series of live events for Piramal Museum of Art 's Raja Ravi Varma exhibition, we had the pleasure of hosting an intimate workshop with acclaimed filmmakers Kamal Swaroop, Hansa Thapliyal and Renu Savant as they guided a group of artists through their projects Tracing Phalke and Phalke Factory. The workshop inspired the artists to create new work with the material.
Photography by Siddharth Gundawar
CSMVS Museum on Wheels at Piramal Museum of Art |
16 to 18 March 2016
The Piramal Museum of Art hosted CSMVS’s Museum on Wheels – a moving museum bus outfitted with a special exhibition on The Magic Workers of Harappa. The team took the visitors on an exciting journey into the Harappans’ world, their techniques and technologies which we continue to use even today.The visitors also participated in a workshop ona pottery workshop where they made their own pots and Harappan Script Crypt, where they learned to make Harappan seals and took them away as souvenirs.
Photography by Siddharth Gundawar
A tale of Two Giants – A talk on the Raja Ravi Varma and Dadashaheb Phalke Relationship by Kamal Swaroop followed by the film screening of Tracing Phalke | 18 March 2016
In 2013, acclaimed filmmaker Kamal Swaroop released Tracing Phalke, his mammoth 20-year research on the life and times of Dadasaheb Phalke documented in the form of a film and a book. Taking a leaf from his research, and highlighting the relationship between two giants, Kamal Swaroop took the audience through a “careful chronofile of the developments in Phalke’s life” juxtaposed with that of Varma’s. Through text, art historical references, national history and the history of image making technology Kamal took the audience on a journey to discover the art and times of early 20th Century Bombay. The talk was followed by the first ever public screening of the film, Tracing Phalke (2015)
Photography by Siddharth Gundawar
Secret Performance: Tell No One | 16 April 2016
The key to the past, and entry to the evening was a physical photograph of the audience’s grand or great grandparents—long lost aunts, quirky cousins or that distant relative whose name no one remembers. The event was targeted towards film, history, photography, theatre buffs, in search of new thrills, and their only hint is the title of the exhibition next door, “Pages of a Mind”.
The performance was revealed to be the Mumbai debut of actor Anuja Ghoshalkar’s Lady Anandi, as the secret performance.The performance was followed by a discussion with art critic and Editor of Art India magazine, Abhay Sardesai.
Photography by Adrian Roche
Body Politics - Deconstructing the Male Gaze in the Visual, Literary and Performative Arts | 29 April 2016
Taking cues from the legacy of Raja Ravi Varma and the visual idealisations of womanhood he portrayed, author and columnist Rosalyn Dmello and visual artist and Bellevue Salons curator Sharmistha Ray deconstructed the male gaze and the pleasure of looking in the final event for Pages of A Mind at Piramal Museum of Art . The evening concluded in a scintillating Lavani song and dance, Sangeet Bari, performed by Sunita Dhondraikar & Shakuntalabai Nagarkar and written by Bhushan Korgaonkar with direction by Savitri Medhatul.
Photography by Siddharth Gundawar