< Back to Negotiating Routes:Ecologies Of The Byways 2014
NR 18: Bungalow ki Kandi Hygroscope,
The Bunglow ‐ Ki ‐ Kandi Hygroscope Project, starting out in the form of research with the help of local experts such as farmers of the community and institutions such as the Forest Research Institute, DehraDun, took the form of a series of artistic interventions by a group of artists within the forest. A unique aspect of the approach was that each artist had a direct, deep and personal involvement with the natural material, and the works did not demand to be catered to any particular viewership. Like nature, they were open to any passing keen observer. This allowed each individual to work freely and experiment. An abandoned pump house at the site became of centre for many artistic interventions. Anirban Dutta worked with the relief on the walls of the old pump-house, and the various animal forms that trees and forests formed in their barks and trunks, framing these forms by erecting wooden frames for members of the community to interpret. He also framed the various burns within pine barks. Chirantan Mukherjee, a performance artist, undertook a series of actions, such as engaging with flying patterns of local butterflies in a performative piece. In another such piece, he worked on a story of the Himalayan water circle, binding himself in a transparent tube to draw out water from a stream, which the viewers could splash on their hands. Navdeep Sharma, another artist collaborator, worked on creating micro landscapes representative of the local ecosystems. Harsh developed a “garbage shop” by foraging the various garbage dumps that had accumulated within the streams of water in the surrounding areas.