Last December, St+Art India Foundation returned to Sassoon Docks after a gap of five years. The ever-running Mumbai Urban Art Festival (MUAF) features large murals around old warehouses, abandoned shrimp factories converted into industrial art galleries, and fish with children and the occasional pet. The streets are flooded with visitors encountering the smell of. behind.
Instead of formal, clean white cubes – where visitors discuss art in ever so much as a whisper – the energy at the docks is palpable as crowds move in and out of public spaces, laughter cutting through the noise. Even art shows up in the most unexpected of places, such as the bathroom. Nikita Rana’s mixed media work in the men’s toilet, for example, this is a photo dumpWhile the women’s toilet plays host to Brahmatmaja Very beautiful?
Naman Saraiya and Nikita Rana this is a photo dump
, photo credit: Sohil Belim
This year, Mumbai is a testament to the power of public art and how it can break down barriers and bring communities together, with projects reshaping the city’s landscape after lockdown. The first edition of Govandi Arts Festival, an initiative led by Design Studio Community Design Agency, recently drew attention to the artistic talent flourishing in Mumbai’s most neglected areas. Across town, in the Fort, the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival returned this week, aided by government sponsorship for the first time in two decades of existence. And over the past few months, art platform Floating Canvas Company (FCC) has been setting the stage for the first, city-wide Mumbai Lights Festival to celebrate the country’s emerging new media talent.
Art installation in Kala Ghoda | photo credit: special arrangement
cameras are welcome
“I think, during the pandemic, people wanted to explore their artistic side,” says Thanish Thomas, co-founder of St+Art and project director of MUAF. “Probably more people than ever are willing to come to public spaces and engage with art.” When St+Art hosted the festival for the first time in 2017, it peaked with around 3,500 visitors over the weekend. In contrast, this month, the festival drew over 12,000 visitors. “We thought it was probably people who were just dropping by,” says Thomas, “because they were already in the area, but they came looking for specific artifacts, with a very specific agenda to experience art. “
Thanish Thomas | photo credit: special arrangement
Art has long been acknowledged as a force that ignites change, and public art makes it accessible to all – adding value to the cultural, aesthetic and economic vitality of a community. “I think a lot of people are still intimidated by the gallery space,” says Hena Kapadia, founder of the city-based Gallery Tarak. “So, public art festivals allow artists to reach a much wider audience.”
Three artists represented by Tarak – Parag Tandel, Sameer Kulvoor and Philip Callia – are showing at MUAF, and all three are experimenting with scale and presentation that a traditional gallery space would not allow. Tyndall’s work Vitamin Sea A stunning array of luminous resin sculptures that are accompanied by a haunting sound installation. Kulvoor’s collaboration with Sandeep Mehar recreates the sprawling metropolis of Mumbai through large architectural models. “Public art festivals are an open space that gives artists an opportunity to express themselves in a great way,” says Tandel, “For artists who are not immediately selected by galleries, festivals can be a great source of exposure.” Can ,
Parag Tandel Vitamin Sea
, photo credit: Sohil Belim
Establishment of Khyati Trehan. photo credit: Sohil Belim
light up the city
Similarly, the Mumbai Lights Festival promises to expand the public’s vocabulary of what art can be by transcending the traditional canvas. “The concept of light-based art is taking off globally,” says FCC co-founder Shakti Swaroop Sahu, referring to the Light to Night Festival in Singapore and Vivid Sydney. “But technology is new, and most galleries are not equipped to show light-based work.”
Projection-mapped installation at Rajabai Tower | Photo Credit: Floating Canvas Company
Part of their motivation for putting together a light festival was to give new media artists the platform they so desperately needed. And in doing so, they hope to contribute to the larger cultural ecosystem of Mumbai as a whole. The festival, which is slated to begin later this year, will take over over 15 prominent landmarks in the city, including the Gateway of India, Marine Drive and Elphinstone College. “We aim to make this festival a part of the annual cultural calendar,” says Sahoo. “This, in turn, will impact Mumbai tourism, creating jobs.”
Most recently, he collaborated with Kala Ghoda on a projection-mapped installation at Rajabai Tower. “It’s amazing that there are so many initiatives,” says Brinda Miller, chairperson of the Kala Ghoda Association. “I hope this kind of awareness spreads across Mumbai. Distant suburbs are so neglected, and we really need to create more such public spaces of cultural value.
Mixed media installation by Sameer Kulavoor and Sandeep Mehar | photo credit: Sohil Belim
Live murals of trespassers in MUAF | photo credit: Sohil Belim
The government is slowly acknowledging the fact that public art is a worthy investment, but some believe we still have a long way to go. “Right now, his idea of public art is just color and light,” says Thomas. “They don’t think about the deep connection, or the duration that it needs. But there’s certainly been a huge change over the years.” Still, efforts are being made by art practitioners to make art accessible and to bring it out of gallery spaces. Policy-makers seem to have found common ground with the need to beautify the cityscape. As a result, somewhere amidst the shroud of construction dust and rutted streets, art finds a way out. Has gone.
Freelance writer and playwright based in Mumbai.