rumbling on 05 May 2016, Eindhoven
It was an unplanned visit to the Van Abbe museum in Eindhoven on a lazy Saturday afternoon. The museum was celebrating its eightieth anniversary by curating European art of the 1980s under six different, yet resonant themes. As I would discover, the 1980s was the frontier of strong societal and political shifts across the world and especially in Europe. Communist USSR was coming to an end, dragging with it several communist States; the feminist movement was in full swing; the LGBTs were fighting the social stigma that were attached to them; the scars of apartheid and racial segregation were predominant in Britain, its colonial legacy still influential – the better part of the world was fighting for individual identity and freedom.
Later that evening, I left the museum with a much richer experience and understanding of the shifts in our social and political views, the great oppositions and difficulties liberal thoughts have gone through to win a way of life that we, at present, take so much for granted. In fact the works of art curated, offer a historical reading of the tumultuous times and the strong currents of opposition, not through a factual perspective but through an experiential one.
The part of the exhibition that particularly affected me deeply was the South African Colouring Book series created by the South African artist Gavin Jantjes. The series under the ‘disguise’ of a colouring book draws, as I experienced, one of the strongest criticism on the apartheid system of South Africa and also the exploitative, social segregation that colonisation has brought upon – in South Africa and also in other parts of the colonised world. Grouped under the theme, ‘Thinking Back – A Montage of Black Art in Britain’ another art work that draws strong criticism on the colonial legacy of the British Empire is the ‘Lay Back, Keep Quiet and Think of What Made Britain So Great’ by Sonia Boyce. In fact, being from India that shares a common history of colonial abuse, I have, for the first time explicitly seen in works of art, dissent against the colonial past and the stubbornness not to easily forget that history.
My thoughts reeled back to find such examples in Indian art, that when in times of distress has come out to champion a cause; that in its rigor has rattled the conscience of the public; that in their substance becomes a strong tool for criticism but also hope! My search only lead to disappointed reminiscence of many personal museum and exhibition visits whose art have exhausted clichéd themes or only propagate themes that are careful not to incur the wrath of the immature public and the polity.
I’m aware, and even guilty in instances, that contemporary India and the Indian society is anxious and therefore allergic to any forms of criticism, that it over-reacts at the first sign of dissent. And as its mind-set grows narrower each day, it is the function of art to give it a shock. The art movements that were featured in the Van Abbe museum were not ones that came about in the luxury of a peaceful society. They were voices born out from and against the forces of their adversaries. The artists involved in those movements were opposed and even attacked, their movements banned and yet in the face of their opposition they found strength in their ideology and in their solidarity. Indian art (and as an architect I might also add architecture) has an ideological vacuum that makes it a body without a head, an entity without a soul. Our fear of criticism has blinded us to the great heights we could possibly reach.
A healthy, mature society, like a person, is one that is neither afraid nor hateful of alternate views and faces criticism squarely with the genuine aim of improving its state.My casual visit to the Van Abbe museum only highlighted, to my disappointment, the non-existent state of contemporary Indian art!
Image References
- South African Colouring Book – http://www.tate.org.uk/
- Lay back, keep quiet and think of what made Britain so great – http://theconversation.com/museums-have-long-overlooked-the-violence-of-empire-51269
- Poster for the Youth Day – http://bloganubis.com/2008/03/27/statue/
- LSD, Es-Cultura Lesbiana/Lesbische Sculptuur, Madrid, 1993 – De Jaren 80, Exhibition catalogue, VanAbbe museum, Eindhoven
- cover image – And this ladies and gentlemen was the deconstruction of six Thonet chairs tied with a rope into a circle and several eggs, 1980 Monek Toebosch – http://vanabbemuseum.nl
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