Vivan Sundaram doesn’t like boundaries, which is why he is forever pushing them. Long before installation art became a fad, he and a few others were already producing installations. Sundaram, who studied painting at Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda and at Slade School, London, later began to incorporate found objects into his art
You are an artist, activist, curator, archivist and historian. You are called a restless artist. What really shaped your practice?
Early on in my career, when I was a student in England, I experienced lot of historical moments. I was told that I am a person of colour. The movement against American Imperialism was going. And Slade School of Art, where I was studying, wasn’t unconnected with these developments. I was part of the May ’68 student revolution and I was witness to the extraordinary vitality of this cultural life initiated by people like Mick Jagger, the Beatles, and so on. So, I am a child of ‘68.
Shailaja Tripathi Is ‘409 Ramkinkars’ a retake on Ramkinkar Baij, something like what you attempted with ‘Retake of Amrita’?
You are right in your observation. I am taking on Ramkinkar Baij, an iconic figure, and re-presenting him in contemporary aesthetics. The installations ‘Mill Call’ and ‘Santhal Family’ in the show are made of found objects using garbage. I worked with digital photomontages of Amrita Sher-Gil’s father, found in Sher-Gil’s archives, in ‘Retake of Amrita’. I wanted to tell a lie to pose new questions to the viewer in order to provoke him or her. That’s another aspect of my practice. A lot of my work is generated outside of me, through chance encounters.
In what light do you see ‘Gagawaka: Making Strange’ and ‘Post Mortem’, which travelled to the University of California last year?
I keep shifting the axis of my work. I made garments out of garbage and brought in an element of performance. Got a fashion designer involved. The aspect of performance reappeared in ‘409 Ramkinkars’, which was a true collaboration with theatre professionals. In ‘Gagawaka’, Pratima Pandey helped me craft it but it was entirely my own creative thought.
Can you talk about the Umrao Singh Sher-Gil Grant for Photography kicked off in 2015 under the aegis of the newly-formed Shergil-Sundaram Arts Foundation that you set up with film-maker and journalist Navina Sundaram, also your sister?
It has pledged an annual photography grant for Rs. 5 lakh in Umrao Singh’s name to encourage independent voices in photography. The first award has gone to a doctor, Shan Bhattacharya, for the completion of his project ‘Portal’. He is interested in photography and has a self-conscious approach to it. He combines fake narratives that deal with the history of photography. He works with pre-digital era technology and is an unknown photographer, so a lot of people were surprised by his selection.
What are you working on?
I call it History Project Part 2. The first part, a site-specific installation, was done in the Durbar Hall of The Victoria Memorial in 1998. The second History Project will be at Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, also a colonial structure. I will create a structure out of a boat with references to art deco, jazz and the forgotten Indian Naval Mutiny of February 1946. I am collaborating with the film scholar, Ashish Rajadhyaksha.
(The artist will be in Chennai for The Hindu Lit for Life 2016 to be held on 15, 16, 17 January.)
