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Surreal exploration
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Reconnaissance, an installation combined with movement arts, would have been enjoyable had it been more accessible
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It was as surreal as it could get. The installation combined with movement arts by Raheema Begum at Gallery Sumukha, was so abstract that it was difficult to comprehend.
Called “Reconnaissance” the installation had a large, spiral construction with fabric in the middle of the gallery. In the middle of the installation was a steel ladder.
Raheema and her dancers take their positions. They are five and look a part of the installation, being as still as statues. They gradually start moving as the music comes on. The whole room becomes a stage when the music starts.
As audience, we can not see every thing from where we are sitting. There are too many things happening in different corners. And Raheema’s voice, where she recites a few lines amidst loud music does not carry through.
She is surprised when she hears that. “Generally my voice carries, but must have failed this time because of my bad throat. And the performance was supposed to be an interactive one where the audience is supposed to move around the hall and be a part of the show, but they were so passive,” she says. Now you know why she came to you during the show and gave you a pen asking you to write on the body of a performer who was sticking post its on his bare chest, hands and legs. We were supposed to actually go and write something on his body!
Dressed in a a hijab, Raheema’s movements during the show imply wanting to break free. “I am trying to reinvent the hijab. I am trying to work with it as a performer. You also can’t wish away your traditional baggage. So I am trying to work within the boundaries given to me,” explains Raheema.
Then she goes on to explain the meaning of Reconnaissance. “It means aerial scouting around to gather information. It can be applied to military, medical, scientific or intelligence-oriented information gathering. The idea is to create an immersive environment that is a physical manifestation of the labels paradigm. This show is a space where you are invited to go through the entire narrative cycle of the online gaming environment,” she adds.
SHILPA SEBASTIAN R.
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