Programme Report

Chaos or Congruence - Public Forum conceptualised and coordinated by Pooja Sood and Sheba Chhachhi

The open forum attracted a large and committed audience of artists, writers, photographers, architects and others of the cultural community in Delhi, as well as including the specially invited participants from the region. Despite a rather long and tightly packed programme starting at 10am on a Sunday, it was most encouraging to see the hall still full and alive with interest when the seminar ended at 7pm.

We began with a short invocatory performance by Navtej Johar, a dance/performance artist trained in both classical Indian and Contemporary Dance who choreographed a series of movements in response to musical excerpts drawn from across the region. Beginning with an artist's response to the notion of Asia/South Asia rather than the usual speech/inauguration did contribute towards setting the tone for a more flexible and open-ended atmosphere.

The day's deliberations were opened by a presentation by Sheba Chhachhi ; a Delhi based artist and co-coordinator of the forum, which outlined the main issues before the house. Within the broader context of the need to develop a basis for intraregional comparisons, she argued for an examination of the commonalties and differences in the wide range of art practices and attendant dilemmas facing the contemporary cultural practitioner in Asia/South Asia today. This dialogue was located within a rich history of cultural connections on one hand and contemporary questions of cultural authenticity, identity and hybridity/globalization on the other. The current use of 'civillizational ' discourse to justify war, as in Afghanistan, made the articulation of a non- dualistic cultural perspective even more urgent.

Dr. Kumkum Sangari, Professorial Fellow in Contemporary Cultural Studies, who chaired the morning session, further developed the conceptual frame for an Asian/South Asian dialogue, reminding us of the large movements of people/labour across the region through history. Locating this dialogue in relation to the destruction of ancient cultural centres such as Kandahar and Kabul, and the role of memory in the creation of culture, she welcomed the opportunity for cross- border, cross- discipline dialogue. Speaking from a cross- disciplinary framework, she spoke of similar situations in other disciplines such as literature and the social sciences as she welcomed the speakers of the first session.

The first country speaker, Salima Hashmi, artist, curator and previous director of the National College of Art, Lahore, made a powerful, richly illustrated slide presentation of women artists in Pakistan, locating the emergence of feminist art practice within the country's social and political history. This elicited a lively discussion, in which the need for vigorous and sustained independent cultural exchange between nations like India and Pakistan, who have difficult and hostile political relations ,became specially emphasised. Many of us were struck by the courage and struggle of artists who have had to negotiate repressive regimes (as during the period under Zia-ul-Haq) when cultural expression is explicitly or implicitly policed. Also significant was the role of the institution in nurturing and supporting the emergence of dissident voices.

After a brief coffee break, Jagat Weerasinghe, artist and professor of Archaeology, SriLanka, presented his analysis of the emergence of a politicised contemporary art practice in SriLanka. With the help of slides, he described the political context which led to a significant number of artists breaking away from an established Western visual arts paradigm.

Influenced by a radicalisation of conventional art teaching these artists seek to engage with political and personal issues arising out of the 20 years of war. Violence, machismo, the cult of the soldier-hero and the militarization of daily life are some of the dominant themes. In the discussion that followed, questions about community responses, relation with Tamil artists and the violence of the works themselves arose. The relationship between art practice and the larger socio-political context, already raised by the first presentation got further underlined as was the fact that many of us, specially within South Asia are confronting an increase in violence and conflict. However, this is has not always found direct expression as reflected Sri Lankan contemporary art.

The next presentation by Gridhtiya Gaweewong, independent curator and Director of Project 304, brought in a new note. She traced the evolution of Thai contemporary art practice through the prism of art institutions, their absence and the creation of alternative spaces. She showed a wide range of performance, installation and video work where Thai artists are dealing with issues of exoticism, patronage, and sexuality within an increasingly commercialised cultural context. A critique of religion/religious institutions, social attitudes and a desire to take art out onto the streets, creating more a more alive relationship with audiences and ordinary people were also significant concerns. Chumpon Apisuk, a performance artist and founder of Concrete House spoke of the continuing struggle of the art community against the absence of museums/art institutions. This presentation showcased art practices, which seemed new and even outrageous, yet were rooted in a cultural context bearing much affinity with the rest of the region.
The lunch break saw many small informal discussions continuing on the IIC lawns, and we were able to herd people back into the auditorium to start the afternoon session by 2.30 PM.

Ms. Gayatri Sinha, art critic and curator, chairperson of the afternoon session, opened the second half of the forum with a historical overview of cultural relations, especially between India and China. She argued that the fertile exchanges of the past had faced a major rupture in the post colonial era, symbolised by a statistical analysis of intra-regional exchanges organised by the Indian Government, where a greater emphasis was laid on exchanges with the West rather than with neighbors in the region. Questioning the validity of an affinity based on geographic proximity, she raised several provocative points challenging any complacency in thinking of Asian/ South Asian linkages as self-evident.

Ye Yong Qing, artist and teacher from China, although handicapped by having to rely on a translator, presented a large number of slides showing the shifts in Chinese contemporary art practice upto the present day. Towards the end of his presentation, he showed images representing a recent trend named' self-hurting' art. These artists physically cut, inscribe, pierce or surgically operate upon their own bodies as a form of performance art- arising as much out of a lack of resources (where the only 'material' an artist has is her/his own body) as out of social conditions. The most extreme example was of an artist who actually killed himself as a performative act. Going even further were artists who enacted a kind of cannibalism, eating dead babies as part of an art action. Naturally, these images caused a furore! A number of those present were disturbed and even horrified by this work, and questions of morality, ethics and audience reactions were heatedly raised. That the good reception of this work in the West may feed into the Orientalist view of 'barbaric others' was debated along with a host of other issues. The process of translation, necessarily slow, had already led to the presentation taking double the allotted time, so the discussion was brought to a close with difficulty.

Passionate reactions continued over a hurried tea break, after which Prof.Abul Mansur shared a historical overview of the development of contemporary art in Bangladesh. His presentation focussed on painting and sculpture, tracing the relationship between changing, unstable political situations, nationalism and the search for identity within art practice.

Unfortunately, as time was very short, there was no discussion and we went directly to the last country speaker of the day.
Prof. Gulammohammed Sheikh, artist, writer, Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda, India, presented a radical inversion of the way contemporary art practice is generally viewed. The presentation used a vast number of slides, projected simultaneously on two screens and dwelt at length on craft, artisanal and urban popular image making practices before linking these with the work of a few contemporary painters. This analysis of contemporary Indian art reversed the normal hierarchy which locates art school/gallery based art practice as 'contemporary', relegating expressions emerging in other sites, such as the home, bazaar, shrine to the realm of craft or popular art. A dense and brilliantly argued presentation which had the complete attention of the audience, this paper unpacked one of the key questions facing contemporary art practice in South Asia today.

(Responses to this paper were taken up in the panel discussion.)
As the panel was being constituted, Ms. Pooja Sood, coordinator Khoj took a few moments to describe Khoj activities and vision, the building of links within the region through artists workshops and the communication network workshop which had just preceded the open forum. She also took the opportunity to give thanks to the sponsors and collaborators.

Suddenly, the sound of a bicycle bell rang out from a corner of the auditorium. Chumpon Apisuk, performance artist from Thailand moved around the hall distributing bells and horns commonly used on Delhi bicycles to various members of the audience, instructing them to keep playing. Soon a sort of musical collage emerged which he described as a 'sketch' or impression of the city. Introducing himself, Apisuk then went into a reenactment of a participatory performance he had previously done in New York in the wake of Sept 11. Getting half the audience to shout 'War!'(in Hindi) and the rest to shout 'Peace", he built up a tempo into which he then began to fling bread (roti), a comment on the situation in Afghanistan.

All the speakers of the day then assembled on stage for a final panel discussion. A number of questions came up -some pertaining to the points raised by Prof. Sheikh's presentation, with participants from other countries drawing links to their contexts, some on more general issues. The speakers commented on the similarities in the issues raised by different presentations. A few critical questions were raised about the danger of seeking a 'pan-Asian' identity, the relationship with the West and the reasons for a dialogue such as this, beyond 'filling in gaps' in our knowledge of each other within the region.
The panelists affirmed the urgency, need and value of an Asian/South Asian perspective and solidarity, particularly in the light of the current political situation. The session ended with Salima Hashmi and Gulam Sheikh who made strong and passionate statements about the value of building an intra-regional dialogue and their appreciation of this effort by Khoj.

The forum provided a special opportunity to learn about and understand contemporary art practice within the region as well as provide a platform for diverse views.

Although there was not enough time to develop intra- regional comparisions beyond marking commonalities, perhaps such a detailed analysis can only happen after an initial exposure such as this. While every effort had been made to interact individually with the speakers on a precise set of issues, many of the presentations tended to be rather general 'overviews'. On the other hand, for a large number of artists present, this viewing of work from six countries from the region was what held their interest. In the final analysis the presentations and discussions did provide a necessary backdrop for a more issue -based discussion which could emerge as a next step.
As often happens, time ran short and the possibility of vigorous discussion with an engaged and active audience remained only partially used. Perhaps a two-day session would have allowed greater time for discussion as well as the inclusion of other members of the region such as Nepal and Bhutan.

Also the link between the closed door communication network workshop would have been better made if the open forum had preceded the workshop.

Speakers:

Mr. Abul Monsur, Bangladesh
Ms Salima Hashmi, Pakistan
Mr Jagath Weerasinghe, Sri Lanka
Ms Gridhtiya Gaweewong, Thailand
Prof. Ye Yong Qing, China
Prof. Gulammohammad Sheikh, India

Chairpersons:

Ms Kumkum Sangari, India
Ms Gayatri Sinha, India

Performances by: Navtej Johar, India and Chumpon Apisuk, Thailand
Film Screening: 'Amir', 'An Afghan Musician's Life in Peshawar, Pakistan'. Dir. John Bailey.

Sheba Chhachhi
Dec 2001