Modern practitioners of art confront form and sometimes the conventional aspect of meaning underlying a concept. In the process, at times, they dramatically blur lines of demarcation between art forms. Two postgraduate students of arts and communication at the new premises of CEPT’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities near Commerce Six-Roads did that with a piece of performance art installation Burn Doors’.An unusual spectacle greeted invitees, visitors and passers-by right at the gate the entire day on Sunday. On the right of a rostrum covered fully snow white was a navy blue door slightly damaged at the top. In the centre were statues of two human figures covered with faded yellow sheets of cloth. A closer look revealed them to be two still and mute persons, represented by two students, Narendra and Hansil.At their feet were a variety of books, fiction, mathematics, yellow pages and all open, but their pages half burnt. Thick large borders of pure white enclosed the rostrum area. The word performance’ roused anticipation, but there was no movement, no sound. Those who had gathered round the novel work of art started figuring out keenly what it signified!Portals to conventional preserves of knowledge a library, a shrine, a heritage site, a museum, for example do not open to infinite knowledge and wisdom. They lead to enclosures within enclosures. The performance art installation, involving space, time, performer and viewer, stops at making the statement. The viewer, normally a passive one at a gallery, gets animated and activated for a participatory experience.Sneaking up to performers when they were left alone, I tried to assess their role. They were agreeably sensitive and articulate. “We are experimenting communication with silence,” they said. On being asked, how many people understood their work, they answered, “There were only a few who heard and understood Buddha.” One of them added reassuringly, “Today the whole world listens to him.”SD Desai
Times of India
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