The structure of the final piece has changed since there has been a change in my content after losing the tapes. And also new idea have struck.
The initial ideas were leaning towards cartographic explorations.
subverting the form of the map to depict the contrast.
This is what the roughly what the content and structure of the book was, based on my qualitative researching attempts and conversations with people i could come up with the following :
[ Contrast :
in writing
in textual description of two states. as well as the style or type of writing
in image- reportage vs. illustration
montage vs. photography
it is a recording of a tangible and an intangible
look at atlases and maps. what is the difference?
Need to make the contrast, and the In-between come alive. through juxtaposition.
The context is only relevant or required while dealing with the subjective or qualitative aspect of mapping. specifics.
The visual elements as such are more or less generic, and contextless, and yet being in that context and space are juxtaposed naturally to create meanings that are not intended / spectacular and therefore not seen or noticed or 'read'.
These natural juxtapositions don't mean anything more than being a live illustration of our spaces and the larger stories. like markings on walls or decorations they are equally meaningful and representative.
Storyboard/Progression:
one baseline - time
one day.
events building up- past present and future.
physical progression overlapped with progression in time. night-day-night. beginning to end.
a progression of 24 hours day and night. in one space.
night and day mirrored.
opposites sides correlate in terms of physical space but are contrasts of each other.
contrast- subjective- peoples stories thoughts agendas objectives aims and goals. purpose reasons connections. attachments or non-attachments to the space/place.
objective- static visual elements and direct description/representation.
Form:
double accordion mirror-fold. like that of a map. ]
Since the loss of that information and general unsureness of relying on my memory to quote interviews or draw meaningful conclusions that could be converted to text i had to re-look at the content structure and form once again.
This is what stands now:
This endeavor started with my explorations to look at the visual language of public spaces, in order to capture a visual personality and and gain an understanding of it, which could then be manipulated/subverted in order to create a visual dialogue in spaces. As this visual dialogue, in the form of physical interventions in spaces, involved a very direct physical and conspicuous interaction with spaces and the people in the space simultaneously, my exploration and understanding of the space became highly experiential and very detailed. Through this attempt at interacting at such close quarters with public spaces, a very stark reality became clear. The platform for what i was attempting did not exist.
As I began with looking purely at the visual , and how this pervasive visual environment interacted with and was perceived in the lived environment, there was a constant element of disconnect that i encountered. This element of disconnect ,between the construction of a space and the lived space within it, and therefore the contrast between the constructed and the manifested visual languages, persisted as a constant phenomenon of contrast across various types of public / built spaces that I explored .
In order to work with an environment it is critically important to understand the physical as well as the cultural dynamics of that space.
On approaching the field with a generalized set of notions regarding public space, from experience and postulation, and it resulting in the much more intimate, direct and detailed interaction with the spaces that i went through, the experience brought to light many finer details and nuances of these dynamics that revealed a conundrum i found hard to solve.
The possibilities for this visual and environmental dialogue lies in using and controlling- to manipulate or subvert- a language that is recognized, accepted, and present in the collective perceptive subconscious.
But as i looked closer at the visual and its context became increasingly aware of this very gap. As a general observation -The lived reality is very much present outside of,inspite of, associated with or aspiring toward the built reality and its implications . Thus the constructed reality is in general contrast to the lived reality.
This observation slowly started to be substantiated by experiences, and i began to see it visually manifested in public environments as a very physical contrast.
This contrast was almost metaphorical and representative of the split personality of these spaces. The represented reality and the lived reality i could see manifested in the visual elements in spaces which contrasted each other in the way the space was visually represented or built and the immediate physical personal experience of the space.
The actions and inactions the presence of the visual in the space triggered, represented as the visual elements themselves.
This led me to documenting, observing and dissecting space visually, and therefore literally, metaphorically and allegorically and at an abstract level.
This observation and experience led me to create an experiential visual exploration dealing with the idea of modernity expressed in our built environments and the contrast the visual environment in our public places presents in relation to our lived socio-cultural reality.
An observation of visual and attempt at understanding the nature and dynamics of public space.
Looking at the visual elements in public environments.
Visual elements as two-fold.
A manifestation of the projected modernity, and the lived space that contrasts with the built space in these environments.
How this reflects the current scenario of Indian modernity.
Looking at how we affect our environments, our footprints in our spaces reflect the contrast between the projected modernity and the living social state.
Capturing the contrast in the basic visual elements of line color and shape in our built environments.
Modernity as a projected way of being, of perceiving the world.
The gap between the built environments - the aspirations and ideals they represent and the lived social reality and the contrast between the two.
The Form :
An artist's book. A sculptural/structural exercise involving treating the paper ( or other material ) surfaces as tactile structural surfaces, that can be touched and experienced going beyond experience in the visual or graphic sense.
Looking at experimenting with- Printing techniques and collage. to produce tactile graphic explorations that work in a structural format, creating a narrative in a progression of layers.
The experience of contrast depicted - the lived space versus the constructed space. through a tactile graphic compositions.
Materials : Art boards. Collected imagery, photographs and materials.
Compositions and images taken and inspired from photographic material collected.
Juxtaposed or composed with Small pieces of text. The text itself is not descriptive but adds another layer to the graphic and tactile compositions.
Structure and composition of the final piece:
The book will work with the two core concepts of layering and Contrast.
Sculptural treatment and progression of images.
The two main characters in contrast and conflict here will be
The Lived space: Human figures in action in environments as well as displaced.
The Constructed space: Point line plane shape and colors - in the form of grids. textures, structures, blocks of color. experimented with through printing and paper techniques - overlaps, textural treatments, cutouts, transparencies etc.
Progression:
(Rough- in the process of finishing)
Creating surface >
Space >
Human action and interaction with space- Space is constructed and moulded by human thought > Pathways. Grids. Segregation of space into an imaginable controllable geometry >
zoom in-The lack of control and the overlay of the organic over the inorganic - the human footprint in concrete >
Time:
1) The daily cycle- Timings, Shadows, light, sound levels, people and mobility-
2)Old and new- layers over each other. Layering over time-Styles of images overlapped >
Our spaces outlast us- We are more ephemeral than our streets- Our actions layer spaces and the collective consciousness as we pass through- The layers only add never fade.
Visuals coming up soon.
