Film Stils

It's been two years since I got interested
in Kunstkammers, or the glass cabinets in
museums, and it has resulted in a little
animated film. I am yet to think of a
title for it.

My inspiration has been Trésor de l'histoire
des langues,(Cologne 1613).

That spoken word is the female part of
language because intellect is passive.
Writing on the other hand is the the
active intellect, it alone harbors truth.

Probably the reason why oral tradition
died out with the intervention of printing,
and the "Looking Glass" and the urge to seperate
the natural world from its cauldron of myths
into facts. The modern interpretation of the
cabinets are a Victorian hand me down- it's
functional, clean ( neutral ) upon which sit
objects that produce their own acoustic language
but no one to hear it?

visual diary

These are one day illustrations in response
to my observation of people in museums.

I am really fascinated by the glass cabinets,
the way ethnographic objects are classified
even though we see cross cultural aesthetic
among the displayed objects. I am trying to
create visuals that document the contrast-
live conversation among visitors, their
fleeting presence and the eternal stillness
within the glass enclosures.

The following are 29.7 cm / 42 cm




A handful of people





detail- gouache, pencil colours, pencil, chalk.




Reflection against pots.




detail- gouache, pencil colours, pencils, chalk.




The talking tree




detail: gouache, pencil, pencil colours, enamel, Rotring




Reflection 2





detail-gouache, pencil colours, pencil, cellotape, chalk

People of sand rarely stand still

Capturing really really mundane moments
at the museum

Part 1of Part 1

Once, a peepal was born out of a branch. She grew arms
and could swing from it.




wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!



Suddenly, out of her own carelessness she fell into the
unknown below.



Unknown.




ploop!



Her father, the bilva tree was standing there, he let out
his hand. All if us, he said came from that tree.




Give me your hand, he said. Soon they were connected.

Playing at the Museum

For my animation, I am trying to simplify the museum,
from the glass cabinets to the people. I don't want to
make the images too complicated because it will get
difficult to animate in the restricted time, this limitation
is actually proving to challenge my comfort zone in
image making.

I am taking ink impressions on paper, which are the
people who visit the museum. I like the way the ink
gradually becomes an incoherrent shape and vanishes,
like our transient nature.



glass cabinets:




The famous Mummy, surrounded by our curiosity:



I am playing with the artifacts on people. Sometimes the
glass cabinets create interesting links between the visitor
and the exhibit.


Our heritage has two parts- the tangible and the intangible.
The tangible is what is encased in glass cabinets in the
museum. The intangible is what is passed on from one
generation to the other-through different media of storytelling.
My experience of the museum has made me realize how
obsessed we have become with collectibles. I want to look
into the songs of Kabir, the Sufis, or the Baul which I feel
form a connection to what I want to say especially in the
museum space. The traveling bards in India, that form our almost
disappearing folklore culture have been around for centuries.
Their songs talk about establishments that encase mute statues.
The statues do not speak. But around the statues, are wonderful
stories unfolding. The stories that are live, the stories that become
us. The stories that die and are reborn again.

Could someone help me regarding this? I was trying to find songs
of Kabir, but unfortunately haven't found much response from the
people I mailed to. If you have any folksong that you like, mail
me! I will show you my animatics and you can tell me what
you think of it.

Prior to Exhibit 1

People in Museums : I am looking for fodder for my narrative.













Candid moments, relationships, conversations.














Juxtaposition, altering meaning. I find the glass cabinets fascinating!
They create connections in the space


I am looking at the map, as
a narrative tool. I am trying to
see if I can create a collage of the
space with the map, since it is the
blueprint of the space. It is pure
information. How would we
incorporate emotion? The
moments that people leave
behind?How can a map be
any different?














Have you seen the work of
George Widener ? I saw him
at the Museum of Everything.
He uses existing satellite
images and maps to create
his own topography.

I like his madness. His attention
to detail. It is in the concept
more than the execution, which
sort of changes the idea of
"attention to detail".








part of a Greek sculpture.

















Woman and boy. Part of a Greek sculpture.


When we change the order of structured information,
and make it more random, what are the connections that we see?

Exhibit 1

My MA project at the moment, focuses on the museum
space, mainly that of the British Museum.

I find the museum as a giant, in the realm of
open source learning. It is a cross-section of a library,
a classroom and a park. Also, the fact that the
knowledge base is created from retrospection
or reverie. I find the interaction between the visitor
and the exhibit fascinating and how would that space
react if we removed the formal boundaries between the two.



















Egypt
Rotring ink and Correction ink on discarded postcards from the Museum.
























Videography.
Rotring ink and Correction ink on discarded postcards from the Museum.

























Silence
Rotring ink and Correction ink on discarded postcards from the Museum.


"you came into this world as Goddess Lakshmi"

From the conversations with my father which I have posted
below, I am beginning to illustrate bits of that.


















The initial bit of research involved looking at Aindri, and
the other matrikas (mother goddesses) in Indian folkart.

I was playing around with different media, for me it was
not important to illustrate her.

I am interested in why some deities have so many arms
and eyes? The reason is, I think (which is also used in
video gaming structure) that each deity is assembled
from other deities, their attributes, just like how you
would create an Avatar from a library of attributes.

It's fascinating because we are not looking at
a character, but a family tree!

























Aindri
Ink and acrylic on rice paper



I want to see if I can use this concept ( the many arms, etc)
in my character design to re-interpret:

"you came into the world as Goddess Lakshmi"
























You Came into this world like Goddess Lakshmi
silkscreen
























detail




















digital