Public art has found its biggest patron in the national Capital’s administrative bodies and it’s a win-win for both. Team Viva reports
If the sheer volume of people descending on just concluded India Art Fair are any indication, the art scene in the national Capital is on a major upswing. How much the jamboree is truly connecting with whatever’s on display is another story, for now feel good that it’s seeking something out-of-the-box. Even better, the authorities are heeding to it.
Weeks before the fair, the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) proposed a public-private-partnership project under which artists can produce and sell “live paintings and sculptures” in the Capital. The “art space with three amphitheatres” is likely to come up in the next two months near Rajiv Gandhi Handicrafts Bhawan in Connaught Place.
In alignment, the Delhi Metro has tied up with the India Habitat Centre for “Metro Art”, a three-month long exhibition of photographs, art prints as well as video and digital works from the colonial era. The Delhi Metro has been experimenting with public art since a while now. last year, the DMRC, the NDMC and the Embassy of France held a pan-India “Fete de la photo” exhibition with works of over 22 photographers.
In a related development, the Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC), for its 40th anniversary, is planning a design competition where citizens will be asked to conceptualise something “related to the city.” It could be a model, an app or a video on safety, cleanliness or anything related to public works. A public art initiative is also planned on select street. “There is a plan to introduce public art and later, a public art network for Delhi”, says a DUAC member.
Paint the town
This administrative leaning towards public art has been in the works for over a year now. But it wouldn’t have been so strong had it not been for some sustained creative efforts — by big ticket events like India Art Fair as well as little known graffiti signatures like Daku, Pyaaj, Bond who repeatedly took to public walls to change the way they looked and read, in an expression of the public mind. Perhaps it was the persistent — though illegal — work done by these artists on city roads that actually pushed the envelope.
“lodhi Gardens was the first project for which we approached the Delhi government in 2013. But their initial reluctance, which was understandable given the anti-system reputation of the graffiti subculture, gave way once we convinced them that what we planned was nothing distasteful or controversial but something that will give the park a character. All the 150 garbage bins in lodhi Gardens became public canvases for amateur and professional artists. Today it’s a unique public park with art works conceived, created and displayed within the premises,” says Yogesh Saini of the Delhi Street Art which, in a way pioneered the state’s involvement with street artists and has been involved with several such endeavours since. Transformation of some of the cities prominent landmarks like the National Bal Bhavan, Shankar Market, Nehru Place and the Janak Puri District Centre are among them.
St. Art festival, another public art effort, that has worked with the NDMC, PWD and the lieutenant Governor’s office on sprucing up places like the Delhi Police HQ, Shahpur Jat, Hauz Khas Village and Tihar Jail, in its first edition last year, is collaborating on refurbishing Khan Market as well as seven other spots including women and night shelters, flyovers, underpasses in 2015. “This year we’ve partnered with government bodies like the MCD, NDMC, PWD, Department of Women and Child Development, Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board and there’s a marked receptiveness for art among them now. However, some monetary help would’ve been equally welcome,” says organiser Haneef Qureshi.
Happiness high
Elaborates OP Mishra, director, NDMC, a major partner in all these ventures, “One per cent of every public structure in the city is towards public art, only it never gets used because nobody knows about it. As a public body though we do our basic administrative, welfare and culture duties, art some how has been a distortion. Our chairman Jalaj Shrivastav thought of giving some attention to the city’s “Happiness Quotient” as well and so the lodhi Gardens project was started as an experiment to find out how participative the citizens are in art. Following the success of that, we started trying it out at other places. This year, we’ve opened two subways near Connaught Place to tribal artists and in the next step we plan to put up screens in subways where people can vent their creativity in graffittis. We also plan to get some budget allocations made for artists to decorate some open market spaces. Our history shows that great empires were always great patrons of culture. We’re only working towards creating a happy cultural atmosphere.” Sums up Alka Pande, curator for “Metro Art”, “The authorities have to be supportive of us. Ultimately we’re all on the same page — we all want to reach out to the people and sensitise them to social, political, cultural concerns through visual imagery.”