[En]counters: The Fluid City | Public Art Projects

In a megalopolis such as Mumbai, the role water plays is paradoxical and contradictory, it being scarce and abundant at once. It surrounds the city and is an integral part of its landscape; yet most people have limited or no access to it. And when it is plentiful during the monsoons, it either washes away or invades people’s homes. There is a constant tussle between desire, denial and rejection of it; in the city, water is both a blessing and a curse. Our querulous relations with water are closely connected to our own associations with Mumbai. This is the fluid city, perpetually in motion, amorphous, out of control, incapable of categorization, beyond repair.

[En]counters: The Fluid City emerged out of this context of water and/in the city. Organized and co-produced by the Mohile Parikh Center and ArtOxygen, it invited a group of artists to investigate and interrogate the spiritual, historical, ecological, and economic significance of water in Mumbai.

Hypohydro-Hyperhighrise
Artist: Tushar Joag | Interactive Performance
January 9, 2011 | 10.00 am to 5.00 pm
Marine Drive, Dadar, Parel and Carter Road Promenade, Mumbai

Through a performative fountain mimicking the city’s popular Gokul Ashtami festival, Tushar Joag assembled a human pyramid in the form of a fountain at multiple locations. Recreating a festive mood, the formation of the fountain was accompanied by all the paraphernalia – drums and whistles. Each collaborator forming the fountain was dressed in clothes printed with bricks and in the middle of the pyramid, a tank with a mechanical pump, spouts and ends of rubber hoses provided the necessary water for the fountain to be activated. Hypohydro- Hyperhighrise is an ironic comment on the current spur of luxury buildings across the city, and ridicules the incapacity of developers to provide adequate water facilities in these structures.

Flowing Freedom
Artist: Pradeep Mishra | Installation
January 6 to 9, 2011 | 11.00 am to 6.00 pm
Sewri Fort, Mumbai

Built by the British in 1738, Sewri Fort overlooks a mangrove forest and is renowned as a watchtower for flamingo sightings and other exotic bird species. Along the fort’s boundary walls, Pradeep Mishra interrogated the dichotomies and the imbalance created by urban development versus the natural environment. He placed a series of 10 to 12 flags embroidered with red images of birds and other sea creatures that visit the site. The flags then became “guardians” protecting both the architectural heritage and the natural landscape that surrounds it. The work is a metaphor for unconditional freedom, like wind or water – life’s most natural elements and a fundamental human right.

Tracing a Disappearance
Artist: Prajakta Potnis | Interactive Performance
January 8, 2011 | 11.00 am to 2.00 pm
Siddeshwar Talao, Thane

Shrunk by the rapacious concrete development and poisoned by excessive chemical pollutants, the district of Thane, known also as Shri Sthanak or Lake City, today runs almost barren. In one area a lake relic remains, the Siddeshwar Talao. In this area, Prajakta Potnis’s intervention aimed at mapping the original lake’s boundaries on what is now the new, ‘developed’ area. With stenciled powder, she retraced the lake’s contours, documented through photographic imagery. Her work will be pieced together in a collage piece, thus illustrating the stripping of Thane’s natural identity.

Mrigjal: The Mirage
Artist: Sharmila Samant | Interactive Performance and Installation
January 6 to 7, 2011 | 4.30 am to 6.30 pm
Annabhau Sathe Nagar (Mankhurd) and Kalaghoda (Fort), Mumbai

With a forked rod, Sharmila Samant took on the role of magician. Collaborating with Amar Joshi, a geologist and water diviner, she investigated the existence of water treasures hidden in the underground of the city. Her tracking path took her through sites that include a slum, new developed areas, gated colonies and open spaces. At each place, she left a sign indicating the existence of water which, as ineffable mirages, appear and disappear.

Paaninama: Stories from the City
Artist: Vijay Sekhon | Interactive Performance and Monologue
January 6 to 9, 2011 | 4.30 am to 6.30 pm
Oberoi Mall (Goregaon), Carter Road (Bandra), Flora Foundation, BMC Headquarters and Asiatic Society (Fort), Mumbai

Vijay Sekhon staged multiple nautanki performances in different urban spots. His street-based actions were aimed at questioning Mumbai’s inhabitants’ perception of water – its value and function in their everyday lives and how this integral yet rare resource has led man himself to lose his dignity. The artist then closed his performance with an audio-visual projection, juxtaposed with sound recordings of water collected in various sites around Mumbai. The sound bytes will mirror the clash between water and city, city and man, water and man.

Kuberanige Niru Beku (The Sea God Wants More Water)
Artist: Uday Shanbag | Interactive Performance
January 6 to 9, 2011 | 5.00 am to 10.00 pm
Juhu Beach, Mumbai

Focusing on the symbolic and functional meaning of water for the Kolis, Uday Shanbhag inscribed the invocation ‘kuberanige niru beku’ (The Sea God Wants More Water, in Kannada) at dawn and dusk on the sands of Juhu beach. Through this auspicious incantation, he pleaded to the Sea God for good weather and good catch for the fishermen as they embarked on their daily journey. During the day, Shanbag set-up a tea shop in one shack on the beach, where he listened to the stories of the Kolis and entertained the passer-by in a relational performance. The time spent with the fishermen and the daily incantations was documented in a 10-minute video.

Big Catch
Artist: Parag Tandel | Installation
January 6 to 9, 2011 | 11.00 am to 5.00 pm
Thane Calwa Creek, Thane

A member of the Koli community, Parag Tandel ventured out to sea with fishermen, collecting not fish but garbage that pollutes the Thane creek. He then applied the waste caught in the net onto steel armatures with shapes of fish, and transformed them to sculptures. As a symbolic gesture of allegiance to his community and heritage, the artist highlights how several species of fish have become extinct. Along with them, the fishermen community itself is threatened with extinction with loss of habitats and closure of textile factories in the 1980s. Today, with the factories closed and the creek’s fauna severely decimated by pollution, most remain without jobs while only a handful still follow the profession.