Sound and fury signifying something

Art in Kerala has been assuming some novel forms of late. The ‘Poetry Installation’ at the Durbar Hall Art Gallery, Kochi, that combines elements of sculpture, sound, literature and poetry, is the latest innovation to catch art lovers’ eyes, and ears too.

The novel installations explore the implications of the aural element within contemporary sculpture and strive to expand and redefine art. The creators claim it is the first of its kind in India and perhaps in the world. Interestingly, people from diverse fields have joined hands to make it possible: Advocate P. Raveendranath is the project designer, Director Vinod Krishna is behind the concept and installation, Gabriel George is the art director, Bollywood sound designer Renganaath Ravee is behind the sound and Ajeesh Dasan and S. Kalesh are the two poets whose poems have been incorporated in the installations.

Of the two art installations, one is of a 20-foot high rearing horse and the second is a 15-foot tall male figure lying horizontally with his torso buried in a huge microphone with loudspeakers attached on his body. The two interactive installations are based on two poems — Desiya Mrigam by Ajeesh Dasan and Sabda Mahasamudram by S. Kalesh respectively. Explaining the two installations, Vinod says, “An artist cannot use a gun to protest against the wrongdoings in society; what he can do is to let art do the talking and in this case, it is done through these huge 3 D installations with sound and literature playing vital roles!” Gabriel, who did the sculptures, took a month to make them and they have been made using metal, scrap and foam.

The concept of sound has moved up the ranks to be recognised as an art form in its own right here. Renganaath explains his part, “In Desiya... I have followed the text and incorporated diegetic sounds to match the poem, but Shabda… is my interpretation of how I conceived the poem through the medium of sound! The challenge for me is that I work in films and there is a visual element present, but here the visual element is the sculpture and I had to interpret and match the sound to the exact vision that the poet wanted to convey.”

Desiya Mrigam is a soliloquy by a horse which claims to be the National Animal and is based on the poem by Ajeesh. A recorded version of the poem will be played as if the horse is reciting it and besides the horse is a broken pair of Gandhian glasses and a globe. Vinod says, “The horse is trying to establish that he needs to be declared the National Animal and boasts that his father has seen Gandhi. Though he has fought in many wars and played a very important part in the freedom struggle, he has not received due recognition and needs to shout out his achievements to all, but all that is in vain as he is still not recognised. The horse represents a citizen who is reactive at home but silent in society.”

Throwing light on Sabda Mahasamudram penned by Kalesh, Raveendranath explains, “What we want to highlight is that the world today has been listening to the clamour and din of fascist and political voices. The narrator begins to hate such voices and then listens to the minute sounds in everyday life like the stringing of a needle by a seamstress, of birds pecking at mobile towers and footsteps of those who walk on the streets. There is a sea of minute sounds that begin to be heard only when there is complete silence!” He adds that the attempt has been to highlight issues — big and small that happens today through the audio-visual medium of art and says that these two poems are the ideal voices for the installations. Poet Kalesh adds, “The loud voices could be those of people in authority, police, politicians and a man decides to close his ears to such loud voices and instead listens to small voices.”

Vinod adds, “The installations cost around '3 lakh and Raveendranath sir has put in a lakh and a half of his own money into it. The other artists too have put in their time and effort without looking at any profit making aspects.”  Renganaath mentions, “We approached a lot of people here with this idea but got no support or encouragement. Mallika Sarabhai is inaugurating it for free because of her interest in such endeavours. I feel more people should be supportive of such novel ventures.”