A new tech space designed for art

City's latest art space debuts with striking outdoor exhibits

A city starved of open public spaces does need a dash of art and culture, splashed onto a platform for communities to converge, collaborate and find creative expressions.

That is exactly what a tech park in Bellandur has ventured to do with an Art Walk and The Gallery, peppered with a slew of art installations.

Making its debut at RMZ Ecoworld on July 8, the art space features a permanent collection of sculptures by contemporary artists Subodh Gupta, Ravinder G Reddy, Dhurva Mistry, Paresh Maity, Arunkumar H G and Jayasri Burman.

First off the mark at the attached Gallery will be a solo show by Ravinder Reddy, dubbed “Heads and bodies, icons and idols”. On display as a permanent exhibit, Reddy's work, Devi, is compelling in its avatar as a painted head. It is distinctive of the artist's exploration of the archetypal female imagery corresponding to classical, folk and popular histories.

Striking in its imposing presence as a giant bucket overflowing with steel kitchenware, Subodh Gupta's ‘Dreams Overflowing’ stands out at the Gallery. The bucket alludes in a symbolic and ironic way to the overwhelming waste of the world's natural resources and the relentless growth of consumerism.

The steel kitchenware reinforces notions of wealth, prosperity and future security, while their veritable emptiness stands for inherent poverty in any society that reveres only material wealth. Gupta elaborates, “Dreams Overflowing addresses the way our country in changing. There is prosperity and yet at the same time there is a dark side – emptiness.”

So, what next for the Gallery? RMZ Foundation's managing trustee Anu Menda dubs the space as a convergence of visual expressions, design, architecture and technology. “We are collaborating with artists from around the world to plan site-specific works that interact not only with the architecture but also with the cultural and urban settings that comprise its immediate context,” she explains.

The Foundation's objective is this: To develop the space as a thriving, not-for-profit platform for both emerging and established, mid-career artists. “Our aim is to get artists to collaborate, get communities involved, work with schools and promote cultural activation.”