“Art against Terrorism” – epitomizing an epoch in the political and social history, and in turn is encapsulating an episode in the History of Art with profound measures and means to activate a movement sprouting out of the call of the hour in a particular historical conjecture. Well the whole conceptualization of “Art against Terrorism” is supposedly to be so. But how much will it be able to evoke the insightful philosophy is definitely to be adjudged over a span of time. The concept is not just a common banner under which eight exhibitions are being held consecutively in nine leading galleries of Kolkata, rather it is a mission set by the art activists and practitioners of Kolkata and entire Bengal to raise their voice against the heinous act of terror and violence that is inhuman by its very nature, through the visual language of art and aesthetics. Turning the pages of history, we have always confronted that it can be derived that it has always been a serious response from the creative minds – the artists who have reacted spontaneously towards a social cause and paved the path to bring about a bigger change through art. The birth of the famous works like “Guernica” by Picasso in 1937, “Liberty leading the People” by Delacroix in 1830, “Premonition of war” (1936) by Salvador Dali and in the Indian context “Bharat Mata” by Abanindranath Tagore in 1905 or “Haripura posters” by Nandalal Bose in 1938 and many more took place identifying the crisis and turmoil of a period in history thereby reflecting that artists in all ages have reacted in their own ways against any form of social crisis, intolerance, terror, violence and hegemony of any dominant force trying to break the basic harmony of human existence.
Also looking deeply into the emergent of the Expressionist Movement in Germany, we can track down that how terrorism spread by the hegemonic force of the ruling party can evolve such reaction in the sphere of art. This movement can be referred as an embodiment of voice against terrorism in a broader perspective. But now in the present context “Art against terrorism” signifies to an act of protest to the invisible ill intention of some fundamentalist force that works to create atrocious devastations against innocent people in the name of fight for ‘jihad’ or revolution. The act of terrorism is completely a representation of cowardice. In no way, terrorism can be supported, be it from a fundamentalist group of terrorists or in any other type of act of violence that brings about a dissonance and dissolution to our basic existence. And thus ‘terrorism’ is very much to be ethically questioned.
‘Terrorism’ has become a global threat with so many terrorist attacks one after the other in different corners of the world for the past decade and acutely penetrated in our common daily life. Our lives are always under a constant constrain of fear and simply walking down the streets is putting us under the strain that something may happen to us if only a blast takes place. The infiltration of terrorism has reached beyond borders and that’s why you never know where and when this hidden threat might explode to take away your innocent life. The international security forces are under tremendous challenge to combat the violent and brutal acts of the terrorists. This is precisely the wider social and political aspect of terrorism but when a creative mind is bombarded with such intense force, sitting idle and numb becomes heavily burdensome for the artist and creating beautiful and lyrical imageries reflects the death of their hyper-sensitive conscience. This is why situated in such a historical time-frame; the artists have come forward to take their turn to voice against the evil forces of terrorism through their work of art. They are delivering their protest through solidarity with all forces of the civil society fighting the bane of terrorism through a series of art exhibitions being held in the Aakriti Art Gallery, Akar Prakar, Gandhara Art Gallery, Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Gallery K2, Gallery Sanskriti, Seagull Foundation, Emami Chisel Arts, Khoj at Chisel Crafts in Kolkata. Each gallery took the initiative to invite artists that included senior established artists as well as fresh upcoming talents.
The onset of this exhibition took place at the Aakriti Art Gallery on March 23, 2009, and consecutively the show began in the other galleries. It is going to be a month’s event in the city and the shows profusely cover different fields of art including paintings, sculptures, graphics, prints, installations and so on. The artists have attempted to express through different visual languages their anguish as well as challenge to this dejected situational condition through which human civilization is passing. The endeavour is to echo the solemn message for the preservation and spreading of peace in the society. In broader terms the artworks being showcased on the platform of this project “Art against Terrorism” persistently provoke one to address the bigger and intricate cause behind the outburst of terrorism. A serious venture has been chalked out where artists and the whole society can come together and confront such an issue through the language of aesthetics. As the idea is indeed reflexive of a broader connotation that both the galleries and artists are trying to convey, yet somewhere in the pipeline is the impulse of the engulfing art market not defining that how even such a mission should be carried out? Let the question remain open …but in no way undeniable. |
