The Hindu : Kerala News : Museum of knowledge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 24, 2006
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Kerala

Kerala

Museum of knowledge

Bose Krishnamachari always defied norms.

Like `AmUseuM,' the first 'mega project' of the Mumbai-based Malayali artist, that took the art circuit by storm or `De-Curating: Indian Contemporary Artists,' which questioned the conventional notions of curation.

`Laboratory of Visual Arts,' with a tangy acronym of `LaVA,' also turns the conventional notions on art exhibition upside down. The project, which opened at Kashi Art Gallery in Mattancherry last Saturday, contains no typical `works of art.' Instead, a mind-boggling array of books displayed enticingly in specially designed shelves welcome the viewer. You are free to explore the shelves and settle down to indulge yourself. Or, treat yourselves to a feast of movies and rare interviews from a collection of CDs/DVDs arranged with multi media units, complete with earphones.

Plainly speaking, this is a collection of books, CDs and DVDs, on a variety of subjects, including art, architecture, photography, fashion, computer graphics, etc. The DVDs range from movies to rare interviews of artists.

The viewers can spend any length of time in the gallery during this month-long show. But, sorry, no borrowing from this library.

Conducive environment

'LaVA,' opened at Museum Gallery, Mumbai, in September this year, travelling to many cities, including Bangalore and Kolkata before reaching Kochi. From here, the show will move on to Baroda and conclude in New Delhi's Bodhi Art Gallery in March, 2007. All the displayed collection will become part of Krishnamachari's `museum of knowledge,' which he plans to build. So, what prompts this artist to throw open his personal collection of rare books to the public, unmindful of the threat of pilferage and dog-eared pages? For him, art does not start or end with conventional `objects' of art. Art includes providing a conducive environment for all those interested in exploring the nuances of human creativity; providing an `ideal place for visual art practitioners and theorists.'

For centuries, knowledge had remained the province of the select few, carefully sheltered in the highest echelons of academic structures, away from the probing, grimy hands of the public. Knowledge was to be protected under lock and key. `LaVA' throws open a treasure house of precious knowledge to the public. Interestingly, books had always been part of Krishnamachari's art, all the time. Books had appeared in various incarnations in many of his works. In `AmUseuM,' spiral-bound books, pages glued together and painted over, covered with poems were framed in glass, like museum pieces. `De-Curating' was conceived as a book, with the individual portraits designed to resemble pages.

Now, in `LaVA,' books appear in their most concrete, living form. To fulfil the exact purpose of their existence, to be read by people, to be held in hands, to be leafed through. `LaVA' also reminds of Krishnamachari's affinity towards the human. He had always valued the human, the hand-made, over the computer. In this era of micro-chips, he values the good old Book over the chip.

Renu Ramanath

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