Change here for gripping murals, interesting art

There are 140 stations under Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and some have given public a chance to view high art at no price at all.

Delhi Metro has tied up with government bodies and private organisations like National Book Trust, Delhi Tourism, Sahitya Akademi, India Habitat Centre, Ministry of Textiles and some schools, authorising them to use the Metro premises as hubs for promotion of Indian art, culture, literature, craft and tourism.

The most recent tie-up is with the Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) for curating exhibits on stations along the latest Heritage Line.

“Public art is an expression of the thoughts, ideas and aspirations of the entire nation,” Delhi Metro spokesperson Anuj Dayal says. “Such creative pursuits give our stations a distinct identity and character and do not confine them to being mere concrete structures constructed to facilitate commuter movement.”

DMRC has also roped in Alka Pande, art consultant and curator of Visual Arts Gallery at India Habitat Centre, for curating exhibitions at Jor Bagh and Mandi House Metro stations. “The idea is to take art to the public, so that those who don’t go to galleries can take pleasure in art,” she says. Text, along with images, plays a major role in the exhibitions curated by her.

If in March, the panels at the Mandi House station featured different ways of celebrating Holi, these days the display narrates interesting mythological tales. The panels showcase digital prints of original maps and vintage photographs sourced from personal and institutional archives, which are supplemented with text.

Among the exhibits at Mandi House are a rare aerial view of Modern School at Barakhamba, an old photograph of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru throwing open Sapru House, actor Naseeruddin Shah seen in a 1973 production of “Danton’s Death” by theatre doyen Ebrahim Alkazi. Rare images of Dadi Pudumjee, under whom the Shri Ram Centre established the first modern puppet theatre, photographs of American architect Joseph Allen Stein’s iconic post-colonial landmarks like India International Centre (IIC) and IHC, architect Habib Rahman and his prized Rabindra Bhawan, which came up in 1961, are also on display.

Pande’s next project is ‘Photosphere’ for Jor Bagh Metro station. It is about sustainable environmental development and is in the form of a photo exhibition by Ashok Dhaliwal and children from Save Our Souls (SOS) NGO. Photographs of Delhi clicked by SOS children will be the highlight of the exhibition which is due in December.

Through these exhibitions many first-timers also get the opportunity to display their work for the first time.

According to the contract with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Pande curates a new show every four months at these Metro stations.

“The tie-up with DMRC is successful. Sometimes there is a difference of opinion. But we work from our heart and they do it as a good job,” says Pande.

For some exhibitions which are private shows, the artist has to pay to use the premises of the Metro stations.

To avoid monotony, Pande has been experimenting with light boxes by making frequent changes in text and photographs. Photographs and prints, rather than
original work, is on display so that there is no fear of vandalism.

At Govindpuri, during the last St+Art Festival, a street art festival by Start India Foundation, the walls of the Metro station were painted in vibrant colours. Before this, the station was not only dull, but also dirty.

Last year, after 29-year-old Italian artist Agostino Iacurci painted his graffiti on its walls, the busy station has become one of the most popular selfie zone in Delhi.

Arjun Bahl, co-founder of St+art Delhi festival says, “Art seems so intimidating when you enter these elite galleries and appreciate it with a group of people who come from a certain economic background. Art is for everyone to see. Through the street art festival we want to make art more available to the public. For the artist it should become a medium to express themselves and not only to garner fame. Is art only to adorn sophisticated, off-white, closed galleries? Art needs to be democratised as well.”
As part of the initiative, Start India Foundation will maintain the artwork for the next five years, after which the artworks may be repainted.

DMRC has got mural and artwork done also at stations like Shahdara, Welcome, Pul Bangash, RK Ashram and Barakhamba Road.

The ceramic mural work infuses life into concrete and iron structures.  Murals at these stations cover themes varying from Panchtantra tales, Harappan and Mohenjodaro civilisations , and environment  to the making of Metro Rail.

Students from intuitions like Delhi College of Art and South Delhi Polytechnic for Women, College of Art, Chandigarh have also designed the murals at prominent stations.