Chittrovanu Mazumdar is making waves at the Kochi Muziris Biennale 2016, running in Kerala, India, until March 29, with his large-scale light and sound installation supported by 1x1 Art Gallery. The untitled work, which is spread across several rooms, addresses the curatorial theme of the Biennale, Forming in the Pupil of an Eye, by referencing the journey of a river and the ebb and flow of life. Using scrap metal, lights and sound, the artist explores the intrinsic and elemental force of water as it appears in the human psyche and surrounding environment. He contemplates the meaning of water as a space of transition and passage, as a medium of cleansing and an element for ritual.
It begins in a darkened room with a black metal passage leading nowhere in particular. With incandescent lights surrounding the passage and electrical wires running inside, the bridge seems mesmerising as well as treacherous, inviting visitors to decide whether they want to go across this abyss of light on a journey to the unknown.
The next room offers a moment of reflection, with a wall covered with lights placed in metal bowls, reminiscent of the votives offered to the River Ganges, which is worshipped in India. These lights are reflected on the few lamps placed on the facing wall, evoking the artist’s memories of his home in rural India, where electricity is scarce, and a burning light bulb is akin to a deity.
In the third room the artist has placed a metal book on which is projected a film of the water of the River Ganges lapping upon the steps along its banks. The water flows and ebbs, and the remnants of floral offerings and other debris, including dead bodies, move in and out of the frame, evoking the evolution of traditions, mythology and culture associated with the river.
A projection on the floor in the next room is a compilation of footage from Mazumdar’s hometown in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand with the chirping of birds and sound of flowing water in the background. The images of leaves, water, decay, reflection and light evoke the idea of memory, which is never static or controlled.
The last room contains seven large boxes, filled with metal and other materials such as pages from his diary and a blank book, sculpted and welded together in various compositions. As opposed to the fluidity of the earlier images, the solidity of these objects suggests the sediment, rock, or conglomerate forms of diverse landscapes that are unified by the force of a single impression, a single image, that binds them together.
Jyoti Kalsi is an arts-enthusiast based in Dubai.
