August 12, 2006

The current ‘256 Shades’ Media Art Show now on at VM is a space to space collaboration between Vasl Pakistan and Artist Commune Hong Kong. Initiated by Adeela Suleman of Vasl and Shin yi Yang from Artist Commune Hong Kong, the exhibition showcases digital and video art from the two countries.

While video is a new media art gaining currency among our new generation artists its origin in the west is attributed largely to Nam June Paik’s (musician, sculptor, filmmaker) recording of Pope Paul the sixth’s visit to New York from a taxi using a portable Sony Porta Pak videotape system, as far back as 1965.

For purposes of definition, video art is a medium, like oil painting or photography, not a style. The colour can be intense or washed out, the images can move or be still, the recorded material can be spontaneous (as in television news coverage) or highly scripted (as in a sitcom), the work can celebrate popular culture or it can be critical of it. It uses the technology of commercial television but for purposes regarded as artistic rather than commercial.

The current VM show sponsored mainly by LG electronics regarding screen display and sound equipment is the first large group display of the new genre here as well as the first collaboration with the Artist Commune Hongkong. The exhibition opened with Ayaz Jokhio’s animated still image projected on the gallery entrance wall. Titled, ‘Moom mein ahien toon (‘you are in me’), the large male portrait image was a photographic still which was constantly being made over through changes in hair styles and facial cosmetics. Each makeover resulted in a completely new personality. This video addresses the issue of identity politics in a shrinking global village where we all share the same human clay yet are essentially products of our particular environment. Artist Bani Abidi’s video “Mangoes” also explores the ‘similar yet dissimilar’ equation but within the sub-continental divide. The exotic mango is eaten with much relish all over Pakistan and India and Abidi uses this innocuous trait to highlight the many other cultural similarities that bind the people of the two countries together yet the religious and land divide segment them into two entirely different nations.

Digital artist Rashid Rana’s Ten Differences, a 53 sec video loop, examines the double image within and without. He remarks, “In this age of uncertainty we have lost the privilege to have only one world view. Now every image, idea and truth (may it be ancient or media generated encourages its opposite within itself).” By reversing his self image with gun in hand, in his video, he is actually confronting his own double with weapon in shooting position. This apparent self attack is a physical manifestation of a much deeper inner confrontation with conflicts and unresolved issues often environmentally induced by disturbing socio cultural and geo political conditions. Preoccupation with self continued in Ayesha Naveed’s video and sound installation. She preferred to project her film on the floor space through an overhead projector. Her video Subsistence with Psychosomatic Space was a recount and recall of her existence as a child, young girl, student, married woman and mother of a child in the light of her fears hopes and aspirations.

Video art by Hamra Abbas titled MOMA is a Star focuses on the opening of the Museum of Modern Arts show in Berlin. The event generated so much excitement among the public that Abbas was able to virtually film a show outside the show centralizing on the interesting behavioral quirks and reactions of the visiting public. Her second video panning a billboard advertising Have a Break (with Kit Kat) is superimposed with images of a rush of people going to or returning from work This video critiques the lack of leisure and ‘working like a machine’ concept that has begun to creep into our lives.

Young artist Auj Khan’s 2ft by 3ft light box and C prints titled Magnumb is also a pot shot at the proliferation and passive consumption of advertising and the increasing reliance on the provocative female body and face to sell a product. Computer manipulated drawings of Navin Hyder were subtle and sophisticated but seemed subdued on the large gallery walls on account of their minimalist imagery and quiet colouration. She made clever use of the graphic traffic and road signs to induce the concept of ‘waiting’. Durriya Kazi’s untitled digital portraits of women muffled in a veil / chador was an obvious comment on the plight of women in our milieu.

Among the Chinese artists the ratio of prints was larger than the videos. Chan Kwong Wah had given his view of ‘City Illusion’ in a very synthesized digital Photograph which gave the appearance of a machine print. Wong Chi Fai’s ‘Formless” was a vibrant computer generated print with a cross between semblance of form and total non objectivity and the. Artist MA Ivy tried to capture the essence of Soundlessness in her prints. By photographing the mute eloquence of silence in the remote icy landscape of Finland she attempted to release her private feelings of depression, sadness and isolation. Her 1 minute video titled ‘Birth’ in contrast was extremely visceral and organic. Computer manipulated photographs by LEE Kwok Chuen ‘Woody’ mimicked precise oriental prints when seen from afar, but his Barbecue Booth was engineered with a variety of roasted meats and barbeque accessories and Snack Bar likewise was composed of foliated arabesques made of various sized Pringle potato chips. There is skill and imagination as well as a fun element too in this twist of materials used and end purpose of final image. Project 226 by Cheung Clara and Yee was a 28 minute video called ‘Will You Marry Me’. The video was long drawn, hastily shot with a bad sound system and did not impact the mind inspite of the interesting title.

Named after the 256 colour levels of a computer, 256 Shades as a composite multi media show has brought video art out in the open, hitherto, modest showings mixed with fine art exhibitions was not giving the genre the leverage it needed to impact audiences. However the display of video as an art form here is quite different from that in the west where galleries and museums are suitably equipped with multi media gadgetry to handle the showings. While VM Gallery had the requisite space to accommodate over 2 dozen, monitors, small and large screen televisions, projectors and sound systems, the curators had to request the electronics company to provide the electronic equipment without which the exhibition would not have been possible. Video is a technology-reliant genre and in a city where power outages are frequent the gallery has to ensure generator back up to keep the show alive. If video art has to flourish here these prickly issues of space, energy and sponsorship need to be resolved.