KOCHI: ‘Dream Stop’ , a video installation at Durbar Hall, a venue of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) 2016, takes the visitor through multiple strolling versions of themselves. The work by Gary Hill, the pioneer of multimedia art, is one of the major attractions of the several video installations at the 108-day international art spectacle.
It adds a new dimension to art at the Biennale, where out of the 97 works, 39 are video installations.
Hill’s work uses 32 spy cams, concealed in a large circular aluminium frame suspended from the ceiling, to splinter gallery visitors into 32 overlapping images. A walk around the centrepiece gives various images in different angles and sizes; upside down, right-side up, magnified, miniaturised, melting together, sliding apart, but never a straightforward shot.
Artist Kabir Mohanty features a four-hour long video titled ‘Song for an Asian land’ at Aspinwall.
Sudarshan Shetty, KMB ‘16 curator said, “Video installations are becoming a parallel form of art and will highlight the diversity of this Biennale”
Artist Mikhail Karikis has come up with a 10-minute long video clip documenting the life of 10 to 13-year-old boys from the militarised industrial marshland in southeast England. The artist shot the video after spending almost a year with the children.
“Apart from being different from the other art forms, these video installations have the unique capability to shed light on the unseen and unknown things,” said eminent filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, during his visit to KMB.
Artist and environmentalist Ravi Agarwal in his work ‘Sangam Dialogue’ uses multimedia to expose the continued colonisation of nature and pose questions about ecology and society.
The playful, theatrical video installation by Taiwanese artist Wu Tien-Chan titled ‘Farewell, Spring and Autumn Pavilions’ is even attracting children.
“Art becomes more accessible and transparent when an intelligent artist uses video as a medium. Video installations improve the art consciousness of the visitor,” said noted film director Shaji N Karun during his visit.
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