Surface Tension
2017 – ongoing
Video-walk on Padma (Public Access Digital Media Archive)
Live film (lecture with voice over of annotations)
Credits: Gayatri Ganju, Jagdish Reddy, Seema Sharma, Tejas Pande, Namrata Mehta, Sindhu Thirumalaisamy
Video-walk on Padma (Public Access Digital Media Archive)
Live film (lecture with voice over of annotations)
Credits: Gayatri Ganju, Jagdish Reddy, Seema Sharma, Tejas Pande, Namrata Mehta, Sindhu Thirumalaisamy
‘Surface Tension’ is a walk along the kachcha (meaning ‘raw’ in Hindi) perimeter of Bellandur “lake” or rather, the experience of circumnavigating the “lake” is that of surface tension. This project takes place in the aftermath of the sensationalisation of the foaming (a symptom of pollution) in the tanks and the spectacular event of Bellandur “lake” catching fire in 2015. Walking, an urban middle-class imagination of interaction with urban lakes, has been put into action as a methodology to map the topography around this tank. The footage created during the circumnavigation is being uploaded, in its entirety, and annotated on PADMA (www.pad.ma Public Access Digital Media Archive) to be made publicly available and archived with annotations and transcriptions so that they become word-searchable, enabling study. PADMA, was initiated by CAMP from Mumbai, 0x2620 from Berlin, the Alternative Law Forum from Bangalore and Majlis and Point of View also form Mumbai. My annotations take the form of a lexicon of urban development around the lake (some words/phrases of which are printed on the map on the wall) to document its current state of transition: churning. A Haiku, follows each ‘entry’ of the lexicon. Haikus are a Japanese form of poetry that create sonorous descriptions and documentations of environmental changes. Here, the Haikus (as annotations) describe the environmental conditions around the lake ‘as is’ but also try to re-imagine spatial relations in favour of resistance and resilience in the face of polluted commons.
Over time, the intention is to bring together people who care – that might include students, friends, workers and residents around the lake – to annotate the video archive. Perhaps, the second life of the archive could be a curriculum for schools and other collective impulses to study.
Related projects: To the Borewell Taal (2017, 2020)
Over time, the intention is to bring together people who care – that might include students, friends, workers and residents around the lake – to annotate the video archive. Perhaps, the second life of the archive could be a curriculum for schools and other collective impulses to study.
Related projects: To the Borewell Taal (2017, 2020)