Innovative themes at play

Simple themes and sophisticated presentation marked ‘The Srishti Collective 2017’ exhibition, which is being held at the King’s Court, Palace Grounds.

Hosted by Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, the show has an eclectic variety of projects which have been put together by 220 students.

Enter hall one and ‘Undecided’ by Jayesh Joshi, will catch one’s attention. “I’ve tried to explore the concept of masculinity. The frame shows Yudhishthira losing the game of dice, Bhima’s loss of his son, the moment when lord Krishna feels he is not a god, and Arjuna when he becomes a eunuch. I have explored the subject through different characters of ‘Mahabharata’,” explained Jayesh.

Diya Subramanian’s ‘The Woven Worlds’ was an interesting storytelling experience that bowled many over. “This illustrated novella is inspired from a dream where the entire world was made by spiders,” she said.

Maria Shakir’s ‘Riwayet’ conglomerated memories of her grandfather speaking in Urdu and their family tradition of eating in one ‘thaali’. “The circular shapes with Urdu words meaning warmth, love, contentment etc, have two shadows. One is a bold one which symbolise traditions that continue and a lighter shadow which reflects things that are fading away,” she said.

Devika, one of the 14 students who set up ‘Srishti TV’, proudly explained the concept. “Through this YouTube channel we aim to make people aware about art and design. We have put a structured framework to it, which is sustainable yet flexible,” she said.

The venue also exhibited ‘Think Tank’, an experiential installation by Abhiyan. ‘Think Tank’ is a physical representation of complex networking in the brain, depicting thoughts as raindrops and memory as a water tank; the project involves advanced sensors and electronics.

In hall two, Juhi Lakhwani and Sushmita Hatte’s projects in ‘Impact Edge’ aimed to create a difference. Sushmita explained, “Working with communities made us realise the kind of gaps that skilled artisans experiences, and taught us about working with people and their skills.”

Many visitors stopped by at Aadhithya Kota’s space which showcased a work with kinetic fluid. The work comprised several electromagnets that create movement in a magnetic fluid.

“I wanted to create an installation that would grab the attention of people and accelerate their interest ahead. The movement of the fluid in a variety of patterns is enough to arrest the attention of people,” elaborated Aadhithya. The exhibition is on till July 20.