SECTION 2. Curatorship in Action
Upon my arrival in Kathmandu, the non-central urban setting became immediately evident: a prematurely crumbling modern architecture contrasted against the agelessness of thousand-year old temples and stupas and the powerfully imposing nature of world’s highest mountains and holy rivers.
The Bagmati river in particular captivated me.
Coming from a metropolis (Rome), with a neglected prominent river, such as is the Tiber, once associated with the attribute ‘blonde’ and now literally a deadly feature of the city, and living in another (Singapore), which only in recent past rescued its own river from its polluted state, the painful affinity with the Bagmati was a natural connection within the urban theme proposed and in relation to the direct experience of daily living space as a memory and as an aspiration.
Many from Singapore’s first generation artists, such as Georgette Chen, Chen Wen Hsi and Lim Tze Peng to name a few, approached the river as site central to the heart of the city and its most vibrant life and culture. Over time, the insistent, and often romanticised, choice of topic caused it to become something of a convention[1] and this, in turn, seemed as if it spurred a debate that culminated with the exhibition Not the Singapore River, organised by a private gallery in 1980s.
Human life is often experienced in antagonistic ways and the Bagmati river, in my eyes, was no exception: the quality of holiness is clearly maintained, particularly at sites such as Pashupatinah Temple, where the ablutions of the corpse prescribed by the Hindu funerary practice continue to be carried out into the river, despite its pollution further into the city.
The river thus appeared as a dualistic site of self-reflection and aspiration, as a blunt description of what it has become today and as the visual imagination of what it can morph into.
Coincidentally, I later found out that one of Kolor Kathmandu’s objectives was precisely “to inspire change”[2] through the streets and therefore the Social Creatives artists’ imagination as to what the river could become was aligned with Sattya’s philosophy too.
The visit to the site of the mural, just outside Vijaya Memorial High School and Nepal Cultural Association in Kalikasthan, Dillibazar, provided a further confirmation of the appropriateness of the proposed central theme, given the dimensions of great length and short height.
In my first meeting with the Social Creatives’ six artists I began highlighting my ideas and proposed them to focus on the image of the river, by referencing Singapore river and, bearing in mind the dutiful cultural and religious sensitivity issues, urged them to let their imagination flow over the images that they could materialise on the wall.
I also suggested a synthetic depiction of the river in its present state as an apt, realistic prelude to the greatest part of the mural, which would unfold in terms of aspiration as to how the artists see the river could turn into.
I finally proposed that a 24-hour span for the main part of the wall may offer them opportunities of natural change in colours and an unfolding of a narrative, which could relate to the lives of the people in Kathmandu as we all had witnessed them during our journeys in cabs and on foot.
After consultations and discussions amongst themselves, the artists came up with a long sketch that I thought was the perfect embodiment of our synergy: my curatorship and their creativity.
The Social Creatives’ artists involved in this section were:
Kala Roseanne Redzuan Salleh
Thaib Bin Abdul Wahab Wong Yan Han, Melvin
Loh Zhongwei, Eden Renny Normala
With regard to the Kolor Kathmandu project segment, the curatorship session was carried out a few days after Sattya’s presentation of the entire project including visuals of murals produced up to that point in time by various other local and international artists. By then, I had a clearer idea of how to assist the artists, even though I felt that my input was greatly limited by a number of essential restrictions, such as topic, time, space, artists. Still, it was a new experience for me and I welcomed the challenge.
Kolor Kathmandu is a year-long initiative by Sattya partly funded by Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development.
With the central idea of depicting the 75 districts of Nepal onto the outdoor walls in Kathmandu, Kolor Kathmandu invites and receives offers of collaboration from artists in Nepal and worldwide.
On the day of curatorship session the Nepalese and Singaporean artists paired up naturally after an informal presentation on styles and preferred themes in their practice.
I felt my input was centred in drawing all the artists’ attention onto their preferred relationship and how they would build it as a way of getting familiar with one another’s practice in the realisation of the mural.
Another essential element I pushed forward was the way in which the Singaporean artists could bring their multi-cultural sensibility and experience onto the table to create an artwork that could blend their input in a harmonious collaboration.
And finally I pointed out to all the artists to try to leave their comfort zones and push themselves onto attempting new ways of approaching the subjects to depict, despite an almost complete lack of knowledge about them and despite a dependence on concepts and stories related to them by others. I suggested that precisely the stories could be an apt departing point where to find common themes that could keep the collaboration true to its essence.
The social times spent together became an essential part of the process to get to know one another and to share stories and experiences, including the mundane.
The result of the pairing up was recorded[3] as follows:
1 - Wong Yan Han, Melvin and Prajwol Upreti chose the Pyuthan district; wall in Dhobigat.
2 – Kala Roseanne and Michelle Lama chose the Swangja district; wall in Dillibazar.
3 - Renny Normala and Aditya Aryal chose the Morang district; wall in Baluwatar.
4 - Loh Zhongwei, Eden and Bawhana Tulachan chose the Jumla district; wall in Basundhara.
5 - Thaib Bin Abdul Wahab and Anish Bajracharya chose the Bara district; wall in Bhanimandal.
6 - Redzuan Salleh and Shraddha Shrestha chose the Lamjung district; wall to be confirmed.
[1] Kwok Kian Chow, Ink Painting Societies, Singapore Watercolour Society and the Singapore River, http://www.postcolonialweb.org/singapore/arts/painters/channel/17.html accessed 5 May 2013.
[2] http://kolorkathmandu.sattya.org/about/about-us/
[3] The information is correct as at 10 May 2013.
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Upon my arrival in Kathmandu, the non-central urban setting became immediately evident: a prematurely crumbling modern architecture contrasted against the agelessness of thousand-year old temples and stupas and the powerfully imposing nature of world’s highest mountains and holy rivers.
The Bagmati river in particular captivated me.
Coming from a metropolis (Rome), with a neglected prominent river, such as is the Tiber, once associated with the attribute ‘blonde’ and now literally a deadly feature of the city, and living in another (Singapore), which only in recent past rescued its own river from its polluted state, the painful affinity with the Bagmati was a natural connection within the urban theme proposed and in relation to the direct experience of daily living space as a memory and as an aspiration.
Many from Singapore’s first generation artists, such as Georgette Chen, Chen Wen Hsi and Lim Tze Peng to name a few, approached the river as site central to the heart of the city and its most vibrant life and culture. Over time, the insistent, and often romanticised, choice of topic caused it to become something of a convention[1] and this, in turn, seemed as if it spurred a debate that culminated with the exhibition Not the Singapore River, organised by a private gallery in 1980s.
Human life is often experienced in antagonistic ways and the Bagmati river, in my eyes, was no exception: the quality of holiness is clearly maintained, particularly at sites such as Pashupatinah Temple, where the ablutions of the corpse prescribed by the Hindu funerary practice continue to be carried out into the river, despite its pollution further into the city.
The river thus appeared as a dualistic site of self-reflection and aspiration, as a blunt description of what it has become today and as the visual imagination of what it can morph into.
Coincidentally, I later found out that one of Kolor Kathmandu’s objectives was precisely “to inspire change”[2] through the streets and therefore the Social Creatives artists’ imagination as to what the river could become was aligned with Sattya’s philosophy too.
The visit to the site of the mural, just outside Vijaya Memorial High School and Nepal Cultural Association in Kalikasthan, Dillibazar, provided a further confirmation of the appropriateness of the proposed central theme, given the dimensions of great length and short height.
In my first meeting with the Social Creatives’ six artists I began highlighting my ideas and proposed them to focus on the image of the river, by referencing Singapore river and, bearing in mind the dutiful cultural and religious sensitivity issues, urged them to let their imagination flow over the images that they could materialise on the wall.
I also suggested a synthetic depiction of the river in its present state as an apt, realistic prelude to the greatest part of the mural, which would unfold in terms of aspiration as to how the artists see the river could turn into.
I finally proposed that a 24-hour span for the main part of the wall may offer them opportunities of natural change in colours and an unfolding of a narrative, which could relate to the lives of the people in Kathmandu as we all had witnessed them during our journeys in cabs and on foot.
After consultations and discussions amongst themselves, the artists came up with a long sketch that I thought was the perfect embodiment of our synergy: my curatorship and their creativity.
The Social Creatives’ artists involved in this section were:
Kala Roseanne Redzuan Salleh
Thaib Bin Abdul Wahab Wong Yan Han, Melvin
Loh Zhongwei, Eden Renny Normala
With regard to the Kolor Kathmandu project segment, the curatorship session was carried out a few days after Sattya’s presentation of the entire project including visuals of murals produced up to that point in time by various other local and international artists. By then, I had a clearer idea of how to assist the artists, even though I felt that my input was greatly limited by a number of essential restrictions, such as topic, time, space, artists. Still, it was a new experience for me and I welcomed the challenge.
Kolor Kathmandu is a year-long initiative by Sattya partly funded by Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development.
With the central idea of depicting the 75 districts of Nepal onto the outdoor walls in Kathmandu, Kolor Kathmandu invites and receives offers of collaboration from artists in Nepal and worldwide.
On the day of curatorship session the Nepalese and Singaporean artists paired up naturally after an informal presentation on styles and preferred themes in their practice.
I felt my input was centred in drawing all the artists’ attention onto their preferred relationship and how they would build it as a way of getting familiar with one another’s practice in the realisation of the mural.
Another essential element I pushed forward was the way in which the Singaporean artists could bring their multi-cultural sensibility and experience onto the table to create an artwork that could blend their input in a harmonious collaboration.
And finally I pointed out to all the artists to try to leave their comfort zones and push themselves onto attempting new ways of approaching the subjects to depict, despite an almost complete lack of knowledge about them and despite a dependence on concepts and stories related to them by others. I suggested that precisely the stories could be an apt departing point where to find common themes that could keep the collaboration true to its essence.
The social times spent together became an essential part of the process to get to know one another and to share stories and experiences, including the mundane.
The result of the pairing up was recorded[3] as follows:
1 - Wong Yan Han, Melvin and Prajwol Upreti chose the Pyuthan district; wall in Dhobigat.
2 – Kala Roseanne and Michelle Lama chose the Swangja district; wall in Dillibazar.
3 - Renny Normala and Aditya Aryal chose the Morang district; wall in Baluwatar.
4 - Loh Zhongwei, Eden and Bawhana Tulachan chose the Jumla district; wall in Basundhara.
5 - Thaib Bin Abdul Wahab and Anish Bajracharya chose the Bara district; wall in Bhanimandal.
6 - Redzuan Salleh and Shraddha Shrestha chose the Lamjung district; wall to be confirmed.
[1] Kwok Kian Chow, Ink Painting Societies, Singapore Watercolour Society and the Singapore River, http://www.postcolonialweb.org/singapore/arts/painters/channel/17.html accessed 5 May 2013.
[2] http://kolorkathmandu.sattya.org/about/about-us/
[3] The information is correct as at 10 May 2013.
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