M. Shiva’s suspended chair installation at the entrance to the Taj Coromandel Ball Room was an intriguing beginning to an evening that unfurled an array of artistic display firmly rooted in the present. The Chivas Spotlight event brought together art installations, a short film, music, technology and dance. The multi-city event was put together by Chivas Studio and Sharan Apparao.
A peek at today
Doors That Open by M. Ramachandran kept crowds fascinated through the evening. “I wanted to create a piece of art that was about the present. I wanted it to reflect the things I see when I step out of my room,” the artist says.
Indeed, the delightful sculpture that had multiple doors that visitors could open contained within it different everyday objects — a wind-up dinosaur toy, a stainless steel vessel, an LED display scroll... A piece that combined the kitsch with the mundane to create art that instantly engages. “Not everyone can reach every door and no one really knows what’s behind any door — just as in life,” Ramachandran adds. And like real life, some doors are left empty too. Each of the doors had familiar images of movies, magazines, posters and more laser embossed on to them.
George K.’s The Dance Of Life explored the “duality of existence and illusion” with sculptures in meditative dance poses and newspaper pieces crumpled on the ground and also forming the body of the sculptures. A display of photographs combined with art of the old central prison right before it became history added to the intensity of the evening.
Film romances
The event also featured a short film, Strangers In The Night created by Karan Johar and directed by Shakun Batra. The film was about two friends who go out to find out, through their own funny and romantic experiences, whether or not old-world film romances still exist. Following the film, violinist Manoj George, DJ Goapu and flautist Parth Chandiramani performed a ballet combining the sounds of the instruments with the DJ’s beats. The show also featured an Electrocutuluminescence Box with an LED wall showcasing VJ Kaycee’s magicon visuals. Finally, three Bharatanatyam dancers performed ‘human-freeze’ in tune with the music.
