Incarnation park
an outdoor Gym
Part of Curation The Island that never gets flooded
A public Art Project funded by Serendipity Arts Festival 2022 Dec 14 - 25
Goa
Apart from beaches and churches, Goa is also known for its popular art forms like Narkasur and Moving Tableaus during the Shigmotsav parade. Like the Narkasur parade, The biggest attraction of the Shigmotsav Parade is to enjoy the procession of highly creative floats, decorated with different characters from Hindu Mythology. These mobile puppets are carried in trucks around the town till midnight and one float carries a minimum of twenty-five people. It is held in the month of Phalgun (March). Every year, a spectacular Shigmo float parade is held in major cities such as Panaji, Margao, Mapusa, Vasco, and Ponda. Traditional folk dances, street dancers, and floats depicting mythological scenes are among the floats. It has a history of over 40 years and has been traced all over Goa with its unique aesthetics.
Growing up as a kid in the small village of Kumbhajua, primarily known for these art forms like moving Narkasur (fig.1), Chitrarath(Moving Tableau during Shigmotsav parade)(fig.2), Moving Chitras (paper sculptures) during Ganesh Chaturthi (fig.3) and Sangodotsav (fig.4). It has even evolved in terms of execution as well as the technology involved in it. I have been fascinated with the making of these Artifacts and the technology involved in making them move. And it has been a constant part of my research and extension to my art practice all these years.
Most of these art forms have a connection to Hindu Mythology. They are mostly made during different festivals and preserved for the rest of the year to be reused in the new version. Created by the teamwork of the community from artisans to technicians, mainly men are involved in making and presenting it. Due to the nature of the work process and manpower involved in moving these tableaus, I see it as a parallel Art Education that helps them to nurture their craft and expertise. Recently, the pandemic has also impacted these art forms because the government did not allow mass gatherings.
I have always been curious to know how these Artifacts, Avtaras(incarnations) move. What is the technology involved in Moving those? These things are based on a manual mechanism wherein at least 20 people (mostly men) are underneath or behind to move the artifacts. Please check the Video in the link: ( video reference ). It involves muscle energy translated in repetitive movements to moving characters. Which is quite similar to Gym activities that the general audience doesn’t have access to.
Through this project, I am interested in subverting the hidden role of moving these Artifacts which is mostly Gendered space and making them accessible to the general public as an Outdoor GYM of incarnations/ moving Artifacts. Otherwise wouldn't be possible to access this space for the general public. It intends to highlight the idea of an Outdoor Gym a concept of urban ethos as a mechanism to open access to experience the dynamics of these moving Artifacts in an open space.
I am interested in Bringing these characters from different narratives and creating an ambiguous dialogue in a public space. This project explores the fun and quirky element of these local artifacts in real-time wherein repeating Outdoor Gym equipment would translate into an experience of moving characters making it an interactive experience questioning the notion of a public park. The installation allowed them to understand the Science/ local Technologies behind these Artifacts making them part of the installation by adding new meanings to its effect.
The project was a collaboration between my local community artists, innovators, with whom I have been working for years, and Art students who hail from these skill sets. Most of the things were borrowed from different localities and developed with local technology of these Moving Artifacts in collaboration with local innovators from a Nagrik Samitee to construct a mechanical intervention. The project is part of a larger long-term project about archiving the living traditions of Goa and their evolution which I have been working from a long time.
