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METROSCAPE
City Of Sins
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| A BIT OF A MESH:
Altaf's works at the Tate Modern |
If you missed the
ambitious take on the world's select metros called "Century City"
at the swank Tate Modern in London, an exhibition in Mumbai will fill
that gap just a bit. The newly opened Tate Modern's "first important
show" that ended in April, gave an inventory of eight cities, one
of them Mumbai, exploring urban spaces and their relationship to creativity
in precise temporal contexts. Painter-sculptor Navjot Altaf, now a multi
media and installation-art convert, formed a part of the Bombay section
(curated by Geeta Kapur and Ashish Rajadhyksha), that mapped the years
between 1992-2001. But Altaf's had a grouse: she didn't get enough room
at the Tate ... just a small courtyard.
Her sub-section "Between Memory and History",
an interactive work dealing with audios titled "Voices of Reflection"
and the three films, "Images of Images and Images in Images",
mixed and matched documentaries on Mumbai's 1993 riots with stills of
wars from publications from different periods. To counter the violence
was a "shrine"-a semicircular mesh-screen holding thousands
of printed-paper ribbons, knotted like "fortune cookies". The
ribbons had text related to the riots and the viewer could untangle them
and take them away. "My works are shaped by my own experience of
Mumbai's communal violence and with the ribbons I wanted to incite the
personal memories of the viewer as well," says Altaf.
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| SPACED OUT: Altaf in Mumbai
|
At Sakshi Gallery in Lower Parel, away from the
infuriating space crunch, the impact becomes greater. Altaf has expanded
the limits of her section to include a centrally placed cushion as a projection
of moving images. The mesh screen is magnified and a new linear installation
of books and photographs has been placed on the first floor. Mumbai can
have another look at what went wrong in 1993.
-Natasha
Israni
TALES OF TIBET: In a
whirl of music, dance, film and photography, both Delhi and Mumbai witnessed
glimpses of the history and culture of Tibet. In "Story of a Nation"
at Mumbai's Y.B. Chavan Hall, photographs in sharp colours and B/W captured
Tibetan history from the time it was considered Shangrila to its current
status. Particularly telling were the ruins of Shide Samtenling monastery
(right), founded in 1815 and destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.
The mood wasn't quite as introspective in the capital where the Akho Pema
Group of Performing Arts presented Tibetan music and dance. The obvious
similarity? The lyrics of the songs by the vocal quartet on Amdo, a region
along Tibet's eastern border with Thailand which is the birthplace of
the Dalai Lama and where "culture is facing an unimaginable state
of extinction now".
STACK
UP
Gridlock update in traffic-torn
Mumbai ...
Sahar Junction, Andheri: After letting
it stew in debate dust for over a year, the Maharashtra State Road Development
Corporation has made construction of its flyover a priority with October
being the deadline. Roadblocks? The Bombay Environment Action Group which
filed a writ petition claiming the vehicles parked under the flyover would
cause rather than solve problems. Mumbaikars hope the flyover will ease
north-south Mumbai traffic. As long as someone is happy...
 Borivali
Road, Borivali Station: Built by the Public Works Department, the
flyover will connect the crowded railway level crossing of Mandepshwar
road to S.V. Road and W.E. highway. If all goes well, the flyover will
ease traffic from East to West Borivali and towards Dahisar. Don't stop
by till December.
 J.J.
Hospital, Paltan Road: The promise of dual carriage passage with over
seven junctions will reduce travel time from Dadar to Mantralaya by 20
minutes. But since nothing comes for free, here's the downer: the flyover
pillar will narrow the road on which it's built and until it is constructed
the congestion in bustling Crawford market will continue. Expected completion
date: October this year.
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| SEA OF CHANGE: The proposed Bandra-Worli
link |
Bandra-Worli Sea Link: The most ambitious
flyover project in Mumbai so far, it aims to provide a swift-moving outlet
from the western suburbs, cutting travel time by 30 minutes with a reduction
in air and noise pollution. But the green giants allege that the project
has claimed more than five times the area from the sea than originally
permitted, Mahim fisherfolk are crying foul at losses in livelihood and
the Bombay Natural History Society has shown that reclamation has led
to erosion and siltation in the bay as well as degradation of mangrove
clusters. Joining in the fray, Peddar Road residents oppose the proposal
to build an elevated roadway in their area to facilitate the traffic from
the Bandra-Worli sea link to Chowpatty. They can be comfortable for another
three years.
-Natasha Israni
|
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