An exhibition that tries to garner community involvement, looks at the capital's ecological and ethnic mix in a unique project

Opening today, a show titled In Context: Public.Art.Ecology, will showcase artworks that have emerged from a six-week residency programme for artists from India, Germany, Japan and the US. Also some other existing works such as the videos, related to the theme of environment will be exhibited. "Public art projects are important in our country where art can help people see things differently.u00a0 And we are conversing about environment as a theme because it's a universal issue and needs to be taken care of," says Pooja Sood, director of Khoj, the studio behind the project.


POLES APART: The picture is a shot of the Gurgaon railway station

On accumulating artists from India and overseas Sood adds, "Khoj is a curating residency and we invited artists from all over. The six best projects were shortlisted who mix kitsch art with environmental themes."

Versatile venture
Supported by the Norwegian Embassy, this project will also elicit community participation in art through installations, interactive video projects, aesthetic landscaping and urban restructuring. The projects range from mapping weather patterns and the effects of climate change to examining the significance of trees in the context of road zones. The show have a range of works like designing a tableau that will interact with people on conservation to building a natural biological water purification system and from making an interactive video sculpture to an intervention that traces the paths of people and their constitutive objects from Chandni Chowk to Gurgaon.

On installing artworks in a mall, Sood explains, "In order to beat the heat, public these days spend most of their time in malls. Through our artworks we will showcase the plight of the common man at our studio in Khirkee Extension in south Delhi." The participating artists of residency are Andrea Polli and Chuck Varga (USA), Sylvia Winkler (Austria) & Stephan Koperl (Germany), Sohei Iwata (Japan), Aliya Pabani, Namrata Mehta, Tejas Pande (Bangalore), Sheba Chhachhi (Delhi) and Navjot Altaf (Mumbai).

In Context: Public. Art. Ecology
At Khoj Studios, Select City Walk, Saket and 20 Barakhamba Road
When Till April 16