OR VICE VERSA. where is the love?
The contemporary great Indian spectacle, after the television, is the mall. In many ways, it is an extension of the television, if we look at the advertising done in malls, the roads leading to malls, are the hotspots for billboard advertising. Billboard advertising are huge and very ugly. I blame them for damaging the entire cityscape, replacing the trees. They are repetitive/ use limited vocabulary/ promote western materialism and discourage individuality at the same time being garish in color and so massive in size. They are the most depressing public installations viewed by the urban inhabitant. The sad thing that digital technology is poorly used in manufacturing these seemingly perfect images with perfect human beings. Anyway, I don’t seem to be saying anything, we don’t already know. So moving on to a question thought aloud …how do we rope in the same advertisers, the same ad agencies, the same clients, the very same temples of consumption, the malls, into envisioning a positive and less oppressive experience of the city. I foresee a saturation that will turn their strategy around. That’d be the dog day of the concerned designer. Strike me down for being way too hopeful!
In the circle of cause and effect, the cause always seems to return to the consciousness. What do /will/have these advertorial images done/are doing to us. Cities are brimming with chaotic images, they are seeping into the mind of the city, throwing the collective conscious into a riot of suicides/murders/and now bombs. How do we mellow this place down. Can advertisers/media contribute in changing the way the Indian city feels? Or is that solely the work of the vote-hungry politicians and a few mercenaries who work with NGO’s that might be getting some of Brangelina’s money after passing down many hands.
What about fair trade?
Do people in cities believe in God? If yes, what do they think of religion?
In a city like Ahmedabad, are people of different religions, neighbours? why not?
As an artist and as someone who needs to earn her bread n butter and indulge in some materialism myself, do I have a job in this country, if I want to use media and technology just for the betterment of urban space? I can’t think of one place which would want me. They want numbers/ presence which translates into flashing images and messages wherever you may find the place. If i suggest installing a screen in a public toilet, infront of the pot, i might just be given a pat on the back for suggesting such brand presence!
Can I die rich and ethical? —The great urban Indian prayer to God
A travelling circus of media installations with the light that calls the masses. now that’d be a real playhouse.
An Indian media carnivale. with LEDs as the jugglers and the Singh sisters artworks as the portrait painting machines.
Whoever wants the honour of producing my ideas, get in touch NOW or you may forever have lost a redemptive oppurtunity!
If you’re naive/ hopeful/ and admit that you care, beware, you may be out of fashion.
Crib, be cynical/ sarcastic/ look down upon everything/ pretend some detachment/ pretend you have no feelings… be cool (cold)
