Towards a Human Topography

Towards a Human Topography

fabric, rope

Our past, present, future, and possible lives are still among us. I believe that every change in our life leaves behind us a chrysalis; a trace of our previous incarnation.  These chrysali are ephemeral, and soon vanish. The strings that support them are also supported by them; they concretize our invisible connections to one another and to the outside world.

Every visitor will create his or her own experience of the installation by shining a flashlight on what they choose to see.  The shadows cast on the wall become manifestations of every individual gaze, changing with the movement of the visitors.  The variable dimensions of the shadows refer to the allegory of Plato’s cave— after all, isn’t our reality just the exterior projection of what’s in our minds ?

This installation is a transversal exploration of boundaries, transitions, relations in which I am looking at the geography of Pune as a city planner, an architect, a visitor and an artist. Spending time in Pune has been an opportunity to apply this unique point of view to the city and its inhabitants, and to document the results. 

with Curator Mireille Bourgeois

Photos by

Alison Wynn

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Preparing the installation

Talking with the critic
photo by Alison Wynn

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

photo by Minette Mangahas

Work in progress

casting artist Vaibhav Raj Shah

 

after casting artist C Krishnaswamy

with artists Shradda Borawake & C Krishnaswamy

photos by Alison Wynn

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

photo by Alison Wynn

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Who's pulling the strings ?

Where's the body ?

Sakal Times, Tuesday February 17, 2015

An urban planner and architect by profession Paris-based Laurent Pinon is all set to find out the story of Pune through what he terms "the human topography" at the Refracting Rooms workshop.

Laurent's art is something that we have never seen before. He calls it Chrysalides (Pupae) that is made using raw silk cloth and starch and human bodies that provide it the desired shape. The Chrysalides became his weapon of self-expression when he was just 17. "I was in high school and that year we had experienced a lot of violence in school. I created my first Chrysalides as my graduation project. I wanted to show my teachers what all that violence meant to me. So I took a piece of cloth and threw it over my body. It looked like I was trapped beneath all that violence and unable to express myself," he informs.

From 1999 to 2009, Laurent was unable to find the artist within himself and looked for a way to convey his thoughts. Once again he sought the Chrysalides to say what he wanted to and created several artworks which he has exhibited in Paris. It's safe to say that this pupa has come out of his cocoon.

And that's what he plans to do in Pune. "I'm going to use the people of Pune to create the mould of their body and make a human topography that describes this city. For me, the city is like thousands of layers of lives that live in it. In geography, you talk about the layers of rocks that explains so many things to us, the same way layers of human topography will explain the city to us," he hopes.

in Pune, starting the workshop

Sortir du cadre

Smaller cities for greater art

Pune Mirror, Jan 29, 2015By: Kaumudi Gurjar

Workshop by Khoj Intl has most artists excited, though there are a few who question whether it is intrinsic to the creative process

Having nurtured and shared ideas on art and inspiration in most metros, Khoj International Artists' Association is now turning its attention to smaller cities. The association is organising a two-week residential workshop in Pune to be attended by 20 artists, including six from the city. Artists from countries as diverse as France, Poland, Taiwan, Haiti and Uganda will reside in Pune and create experimental site-specific art along with 10 Indian artists, from February 15 to March 2 at the TIFA Working Studios, at Sadhu Vaswani Chowk.

Many local artists feel Pune could do with more exposure and interaction to enhance its art scene, which is still in a somewhat nascent stage."Pune is known for music and theatre, but there is a slight blind spot for visual art and public interaction around it. If such an initiative sets the ball rolling, we should welcome it," remarked sculptor and artist Abir Patwardhan. Contemporary artist Raju Sutar said, "Khoj actually represents the contemporary trend — such efforts will be a breath of fresh air."

However, renowned painter and artist Ravi Paranjape disagreed wholeheartedly, saying, "Contemporary art does not believe in creating change and giving back to society — but in pure expression. This new form is dangerous and may pose problems to art."But it's tough to dampen the enthusiasm most artists feel for Khoj."Pune is a city where the storied past meets the vibrant present. Six local artists took the initiative to have a Khoj workshop here," said Rucha Kulkarni, co-coordinator and participating artist.

Pooja Sood of Khoj International agreed, saying, "Good artists are not limited to capital cities. We are organising these residential events in smaller cities because it provides a catalyst for artists from smaller towns to interact with international talent."

The workshop will be at Hotel Wellesley, an art-deco spot on Sadhu Vaswani Road that has been lying unused for over a decade. "The space itself is very raw and inspiring. Hotel Wellesley has been unoccupied for a long time, and it will be nice to work on a blank canvas," said photographer Shraddha Borawake, who spearheaded the movement, The Good Artists of Pune.

French architect Laurent Pinon, who is also part of the workshop, said, " Pune is a subject and the location of the workshop, but everybody will come with a different geographical background. The time is 15 days, but we'll create surrounded by the remains of a thousand-year-old city. I see the workshop as a heterotopia — we'll open a space and time breach during which everybody will explore multiple ways to think, represent and communicate."

Pune Mirror, Thursday, January 29, 2015

Préparatifs, d'une main la ville se dévoile

KHOJ Pune International Workshop 2015

KHOJ Pune International Workshop 2015 - “Refracting Rooms”

The Talera Institute of Fine and Applied Arts (TIFA), Pune, India

February 14th to March 1st 

Towards a Human Topography

     I’m interested in transversal explorations, in transitions, in looking at the geography of Pune as a city planner, an architect, a visitor, and an artist. Spending time in Pune would be an opportunity to apply this unique point of view to the city and its inhabitants, and to document the results.

     Pune is one of the biggest cities in India, with a 10% annual demographic growth and now more than 5 million inhabitants. For centuries, this territory has witnessed hundreds of thousands of births and deaths.

     Those past, present, future, and possible lives are still among us. I believe that every change in our life leaves behind us a chrysalis; a trace of our previous incarnation. These chrysali are ephemeral, and soon vanish. Nevertheless, their traces accumulate like sediment in a river, eventually solidifying-- contributing to the formation of geological layers of human existence.

     It’s easy to see the hills of Pune, but how can we imagine the city’s vast human topography?

     It’s this living geography I’d like to reveal during the residence.

Workshop : Taking the Pulse

     For 10 days, I’ll create the chrysali* of 10 inhabitants of very distinctive parts of Pune, from the chic neighborhood of Koregaon park to the potter’s village by the banks of the Mula-Mutha river. The chrysali would be created in the workshop, but would travel across the city to be displayed in the subjects’ places of origin. There, we would photograph the chrysali in context. By so doing, I hope to analyze the impact of the different environments on their inhabitants. Finally, each chrysalis would be incorporated in the final installation: a conglomeration of chrysali, a new kind of cityscape.

     *Chrysali are moulds of body realized with a thin, flexible, semi-transparent fabric, usually raw silk. The shape is moulded by hand and fixed in place with diluted glue.

Final Installation : Inverted Topography

     A scale model is the traditional tool in architecture and urban design used to examine a distant past (the shape of an ancient city, for example) or reveal a future shape (a projection of a city 100 years from now). Therefore, the chrysali will be put on an elevated horizontal structure made of bamboo, the traditional material used for scaffolding in India. Scaffolding are for buildings what chrysali are for insects, a suspended state during which hidden transformations can occur.

      In this way, visitors will look up a life-size ceiling of chrysali instead of looking down at a small scale model; inverting the traditional perspective of most architectural prototypes. The model will become the very architecture of the gallery space, enveloping the visitors as another kind of chrysalis. The map of Pune will be projected onto the chrysali in an exploration of the differences between the geographical and the human landscape.

    Video and multimedia documentation of the transformative process of making the chrysali will be displayed at the entrance to the gallery space.

Visages

Le regard plongé sur les toiles, des visages apparaissent...

Confluences, Paris 20 - Projet de fresque

Projet de fresque sur le mur de Confluences, Paris 20

... un reflet apaisé

Alison Wynn

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