Articles by Lina Vincent Sunish

As I write this, I hear the noise of yet another borewell being dug on my street. This is the ninth one since December 2011; all within a radius of less than half kilometre, in Kalyan 1st block, HRBR Layout. This is happening at a time when the newly formed Karnataka Ground Water Authority is trying to gather force.45 houses in HRBR layout were surveyed informally for this piece. Ground water levels, availability of corporation water, implementation of rain water harvesting (RWH) are some of the things that were looked at. What I found out could be the reality across…

The Chitrakala Parishath art complex is a landmark on Kumara Krupa road, its distinct stone façade and portico stamping itself on the memory of most visitors. This week however, viewers will be in for a surprise - the entire set of buildings has been swathed in diaphanous white cloth as part of an art project by a student in the college, twenty four year-old Ashray Dravidian, currently pursuing his Bachelor's Degree in art History at the institution. The ongoing students' annual show within the galleries seemed an appropriate time for such an experiment. Chitrakala Parishath on Kumara Krupa Road, shrouded…

An urban space is like an immense melting pot into which something new is added and subtracted everyday, causing a perpetual sequence of reactions, and consequently changes. Five visual artists in Bengaluru express their encounters with the fluctuating urban, working in different mediums. Clockwise from top left: Krishnaraj Chonat, V.G. Venugopal, Murali Cheeroth and Clare Arni. Murali Cheeroth paints vividly coloured canvases that reflect the frenzied, throbbing sensations of urban living. “..my working process is a kind of extraction system, that draws on tiny concerns about uber (extreme) urbanisation” he says. He constructs his compositions in the manner of a…

Cantonment Railway Station, Bangalore is currently housing a unique train – The Sanskriti Express Exhibition Train, hosting in five coaches an exhibition on the life and works of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). The exhibition, which will travel through different parts of India over the period of one year, is part of the celebrations of the 150th birth Anniversary of ‘Kabiguruji’ as he was fondly called, and is running as ‘a tribute from the Indian Railways’. Tagore with his children, displayed in the Sanskriti Express. Pic: Lina Vincent Sunish. Curated under the direction of Saoli Mitra, Chairperson, Committee on Heritage and Culture,…

The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) is suddenly becoming a hub of cultural activity with the ongoing adult and children’s workshops on art, and the curtain raiser for the Dhaatu Puppet Festival taking place on its premises. This activity perhaps coincides with the instating of a Director for the Bangalore NGMA, Sobha Nambisan (IAS, Retd).A small audience on May 6th had an introductory glimpse into the ongoing Puppet Festival which is being held at different venues around Bangalore from May 7th to 16th. Dhaatu is a non-profit organisation which began in 2004 with an aim to bring about awareness…

Religious faith in a country like India is not a matter to be trifled with. If it doesn't actively move mountains, it does manage to move millions in population- physically and emotionally. India's multireligious identity provides for its secular political outlook, one that is questioned and turned upside down everytime communal tensions take over the public psyche. But we have to just look around us to see the things people d,o to assist their relationship with the divine. Fawzan Husain has done just that; in his exhibition of photographs at Tasveer, Kasturba Cross Road. He successfully captures the essence of…

Art can grow out of the most mundane and unexpected situations. Who would think that two girls diligently working on their French and discussing the intricacies of environmental conservation would hit upon a plan to make art installations?This is exactly what happened with Ramya Upadhya and Aisha Siddiqa, both currently associated with the Alliance Francaise de Bangalore. An initial enthusiasm to experiment with recycling and utilise discarded materials as a means of generating public awareness and discussion somewhere along the way turned into a full-fledged exploration into the aesthetics of art making and enquiry into the simultaneous existence of imperfections…

Colours swirl and mingle in echoes of the natural world – sky, ocean-beds, foliage and feathers – organic dreams trip lightly over real things, exchanging identities and producing new worlds. Anuradha Nalapat’s paintings are spaces inhabited by plurality – of thought, feeling and experience, of life itself.With a desire to place her art on common ground with the masses, she has made an attempt to open her exhibition to viewers. She wants viewers to share their thoughts, scribbles and writings and contribute to a session of shared discussion on Saturday December 19th between 5 PM and 6 30 PM at…

Following a long wait, Bengaluru inaugurated its very own National Gallery of Modern Art earlier this year. Functioning under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, National Gallery has its head quarters in New Delhi, and another centre in Mumbai. Originally established in 1954, NGMA developed as a premiere institute for the housing and display of modern and contemporary art objects, of which they currently have more than 17,000. Over 500 items from this collection – paintings, sculptures, prints - were selected to be part of the inaugural exhibition at the Bengaluru centre with the title of ‘Signposts of the…

On October 15th evening, residents of HRBR Layout were shocked to see trees being cut by BBMP workers in yet another park developed by BBMP's Horticulture Department. These were fully grown trees and the park is located at 9th G Main Road, HRBR Layout, 1st block in Kalyannagar (Ward 88).On enquiry, we were told that the workers have the permission from Range Officer of BBMP. When we asked them to show the permission they did not show this, telling us that it is with one Purushotam, who was not there. The reason they gave for the cutting the trees was…