QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER Oct-Dec ’14 · JPM Quarterly Newsletter Oct-Dec 2014 1 ... Dara Drummer,...

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER Oct-Dec ’14

Geeta Kapur speeaks during Artist Practice: ‘Where the Stress Falls’

JPM Quarterly Newsletter Oct-Dec 2014 1

Quarterly NewsletterOur new academic year began, as scheduled, on a positive note – full of promise and vitality - fresh

students brimming with curiosity and bringing with them a mature disposition thus adding value to

discussions and conversations, such an intrinsic part of our courses and other teaching programmes.

We have had an extra-ordinary quarter with an unusual number of distinctive seminars, largely due to the

energy of Rohit Goel - PhD candidate from the University of Chicago, who brings with him a specialization in

political theory and philosophy. We were thus able to address Semiotics through the lens of Barthes and get a

perspective on Contemporary Art and Theory with regard to the Middle East and North Africa, our special focus

region this year as Latin America was last year. Another seminar addressed the vital question of Masterpieces

through pre-modern Indian sculpture and the expertise of Dr. Kirit Mankodi – India’s premier iconographer.

Many more seminars are on the anvil on subjects ranging from Censorship, Psychoanalysis and Sub-altern

studies. Our one-year long post-graduate courses on Indian Aesthetics and Art, Criticism & Theory are going

full steam and will be accompanied by 2 exceptional courses from early 2015 – one on Islamic Aesthetics and

the other on The Art & Architecture of Southeast Asia thus making our field of inquiry more encompassing. The

unstinted support from scholars national and international is what makes this possible.

A seminal section “Slant/Stance” which brings critical responses to aspects of our programmes has been

added to the newsletter, the inaugural one consisting of 1 essay by our former student Sarvesh. We hope this

inspires other students and scholars to contribute to the forthcoming editions.

Do join us in our continuing quest of bringing the best of current thinking and research to the public domain,

Rashmi Poddar PhD.

Director

JPM Quarterly Newsletter Oct-Dec 2014

Indian AestheticsIt was another exciting start to the Indian

Aesthetics course which in many ways formsthe central spine for Jnanapravaha (Mumbai).Structured to build up an understanding ofaesthetics - ideas and histories, within the Indiansubcontinent, it takes the classical SanskriticRasa Theory as its core motif. So the coursebegan with introductions to Aesthetics, especiallywithin the Indian traditions, with some details onthe historic progression of the Rasa and Dhvanitheories through thinkers like Bana,Abhinavagupta, Anandavardhana, etc. Theselectures are then followed with the moreacademic categories of viewing art and artistic

productions, such as Form, Colour, and Line,leading to discussions on relationships of Contentand Meaning. The dynamics between Form,Content and Meaning allows one to further detailthe Rasa and Dhvani thesis, but one does notmiss noticing similar debates in the work ofhistorians and thinkers from other parts of theworld such as Erwin Panofsky, or even JohnBerger.

A session on Myth and Symbols deepens thestructural understanding of visual formats andaesthetic patterns by introducing the idea ofNarrative as well as Symbolism in human history,collective memory, the self as a devotee, as well


Dara Drummer, Kirit Mankodi/ASI


as intellectual traditions of production andreception. Twentieth century sciences debate theidea of Myths, Symbols, Archetypes,Consciousness, etc. which are brought up fordiscussion within the classroom. These sessionsalso mark a transition from the more conceptbased sessions to the more chronology baseddiscussions. World-views with different thinkerslike Buddha and Mahavira are taken up fordetailed analyses and elaboration on their artisticcultures. The important transitions, and crucialhistorical as well as archaeological arguments onthe Harappan Civilisation and then the Vedicculture are discussed; the sources - material andliterary we use for understanding different world-views and their aesthetic traditions need to beclarified and understood.

Sessions then look at the developments withinBuddhism and Jainism as counter-cultures,religions, as well as philosophical ideas, and itsrepercussions in material culture explored. Attimes philosophical concepts need elaborationsas they form the key to understanding anaesthetic development and journey, whilst atothers archaeological or political concerns takeover the understanding of aesthetic practices andtheir interpretations. Ahead of this we lookforward to more stimulating sessions as afterJainism we explore the figures of Shiva,Vishnu.and Devi- K.M.

Masterpieces of Indian Sculpture(August 19-22, 2014) by Dr. Kirit Mankodi

What is art if not ‘expressive’? What is theIndic ‘tradition(s)’ and how is it reflected in Indiansculpture? And significantly, in the first and last

analysis, what is it that Indian sculpture‘expresses’? - a suite of questions commencedthe four-day seminar ‘Masterpieces of IndianSculpture’, conducted by eminent iconographer,archaeologist and Sankritist Dr. Kirit Mankodi. Acomprehensive image bank, culled fromrepresentatives of diverse iconographical canonsand of changing, though sustained, dynasticpatronage across several centuries, became thelocus of Socratic dialogue. This inquiry into

particularities of raw material, geography,theology, chronology and imperial politics servedto signpost- at times efface- the overarchingconcerns of its very raison d’etre. A question anda quest- ‘What is a masterpiece’?

At the very outset, it was clarified that thediscussion would not extend to sculptural worksbeyond the medieval period (12th century C.E.).By this time, iconographical canons had become


Kirit Mankodi


rigid, oftentimes generating lackluster specimensof themes hitherto ‘creatively’ exploited.

With chronology in mind, an apt entry pointbecame the earliest important stone works afterthose of the Indus cities: the capitals of EmperorAsoka’s columns- prominently the lion capital ofthe Sarnath column and the bull capital of that atRampurva, (both dated to the 1st half of the 3rdcentury B.C.E.). Crafted at a single Imperialstudio, at Chunar (near Varanasi), they exemplifywhat Dr. Mankodi calls an “alien aesthetics”-incorporating stylistic elements of the Hellenisticand Persian tradition. The high polish of thesandstone is a feature not to be witnessed inlater works across the country.The remains of astupa (2nd century B.C.E.), at Bharhut (MadhyaPradesh) represent the earliest examples of post-

Mauryan “indigenous” Indian sculpture. Of themonumental (averaging 6 ½ feet in height)yaksha, yakshi and devata pantheons, a typology

of a ‘Woman-&-Tree’ motif– ‘Chulakoka devata’or the ‘Little Bird- Voiced Goddess’- carved onthe face of a pillar merits attention. With her leftfoot touching the trunk of the asoka tree and herright hand holding its branch, her stance seemsto represent a unique combination of the‘dohada-salabhanjika’ rites. The celebrated full-breasted, wide-hipped feminine form, acquirestotemic significance as fertility symbol. A supple,dynamic structure- either yakshi or devata-adorning the East Torana to the stupa at Sanchi(Madhya Pradesh, 1st century B.C.E.) constitutesanother example of ‘salabhanjika’ in early visualart forms. Of interest is a later execution of thistheme at the Kankalidevi temple (Tigowa,Madhya Pradesh, 6th century C.E.). This is aspecimen of provincial, as opposed to royalpatronage. Between the balancing axes of faceand foot, optical attention flows back-and-forthacross this tribhanga murti without congealing atany point. Structural harmony exalts, too, theremains of a yakshi/salabhanjika excavated atGyaraspur (Madhya Pradesh, dated to the 10thcentury C.E.). Although cut-off at the shoulderblades and slightly below the mekhala, thusleaving intact only head and torso, the figurestands in ‘ahamvishranti’: a state of total reposewithin oneself. The self-containment of the intactportion, inevitably invites the viewer to opticallytrace the remainder- almost as a ‘phantom limb’-thereby eschewing any sense of lack.

The tropes of fertility and auspiciousnesssurface yet again in the dampati or donor/patroncouple figure at the Karla Caves (Maharashtra,1st century B.C.E.). While evoking the idyllic

Sanchi Stupa 1, Yakshi, Image courtesy: Kirit Mankodi/ASI


fullness of married life, historian A. L. Bashamargues that, unlike the maithuna couples ofmedieval temples, these princely personae, withtheir body weight thrust firmly towards the earth,have no overt sexual significance. The couple isturned to the viewer, as opposed to each other-this latter schema locks the narratival spacewithin the co-ordinates of a reciprocated gaze.On a divine register is the 3-foot tall, high reliefsculpture of the Vedic deity Soma and hisconsort, salvaged from the ruins of what, Dr.Mankodi posits, was a Pancharatra- or typologyof a Vasihnava- temple (Atru, Rajasthan, dated tothe 10th century C.E.). Carved in one of whatideally should be eight niches of the temple plinth(each facing a cardinal or intermediate direction),Soma functions as dikpala (temple guardian).Kubera assumes this role in North India, after the10th century C.E.. Receptacle of multivalentsymbolism, Soma is seen as a personification ofthe purportedly hallucinogenic herb Ephedra (aplant with red flowers abundant in the North Westfrontier of the country and key component ofVedic sacrificial ritual) or as an embodiment ofthe moon itself. Tempering the gulf betweenearthly and divine realms, embodying bothrootedness and ascendancy in their poise, arethe seated Naga king and queen at Cave. 19,Ajanta (Maharashtra, 5th century C.E.). Executedunder the patronage of the Jaina king Harisena’sminister Varahadeva, this piece becomes anexemplar of the ‘maharajalila’- a posture ofeffortless regality. An overall impression of perfectproportion once again serves to ensure thatattention never fixates on a single carved

plane,unless forced to by the viewer himself.Shifting focus back to Sarnath (5th century

C.E., Late Gupta period) best exemplifies a turnfrom the individuated, self-assured serenity of thechakravartin to the ‘non-self’, the ‘undifferentiatedfount’ that sets the wheel of Law in motion. A“summary representation” of the Buddha, seatedin dharmachakra mudra exudes a sense of

weightlessness, at once in disjunction andreconciliation with the politics of its engenderingmaterial. The patina-like smoothness of theheavy stone evinces a slender, rounded, non-muscular form in perfect equipoise. The ‘yogicbody’ in sculpture is similarly manifest in theMeditating Buddha (Bodh Gaya, 2nd centuryC.E.). A gentle heaving of the stone surface at

Gyaraspur, Yakshi, Image courtesy:Kirit Mankodi/Gwalior Museum


the chest bears witness to what Dr. StellaKramrisch terms as the subtle phenomenon of‘Prana’- the holding in of inhaled air or life force.A lone Buddha head (Nalanda, Bihar, 5th centuryC.E.) invites further contemplation on theineffable symmetry of meditating form. In thiscontext, the samabhanga murti of Surya- onceresiding in the garbha-griha of the Konark SunTemple (Orissa) and currently at VidishaMuseum- implores mention. Bearing lotuses inthe two hands depicted here, a rendition with fourarms signifies that either Vishnu or Shiva havemerged into his presence. Vedic theologyattributes to this divinity the function of whatRomanian philosopher Mircea Eliade terms‘psychopomp’- that of conducting the souls of thedeceased to their final resting place, meting outjudgment on their earthly deeds andconsequently presiding over their purgatories.This feature perhaps owes its influence to the‘high god’ of the Indo-Iranians before their adventto the North West of India. Noteworthy too, is abronze of the Shakti-Devi, in saumya rupa, castat the royal atelier at Chhatradi (HimachalPradesh, 7th century C.E.) and, peculiarly,inscribed with the name of the artist- Gugga. Thesharply defined pectoral muscles of the lowerabdomen stand as a typifying feature of worksfrom this region.

A worldview defined by the assimilation of‘amangala’ into ‘mangala’ stands exemplified inthe patronage of a memorial well dedicated to thedeceased Patan king Bhimadeva (d.1065 C.E.).His widowed queen Udayamati, exalted as DeviParvati incarnate and thereby assured of re-union

with her lord in the after-life, transcends thesocial stigma that is her lot. Fifteen renditions ofParvati in the asanas and mudras of penance arecarved on the walls enclosing the steps to thereservoir. The central element of water- obvioussignifier of purification and redemption- standspersonified in the Tripathaga Ganga iconographydiscussed subsequently. At an extreme is thegrotesque, emaciated countenance of Kali asChamunda (Central India, 10th century C.E.). Inthe last analysis, this voracious devourer ofhuman egotism, and its ensuing attachment tomanifest form and experience, bestows on thesadhaka the very apogee of vidya- a mastery of‘Time’ itself.

In a formalist context, this mastery is achievedby tableaux that simultaneously condense andsequentially develop the myriad events of aparticular myth. At the Elephanta cavesMaharashtra, 6th century C.E.), the penance ofrishi Bhagiratha, the descent of Ganga(personified as a three-faced woman) into Shiva’sreceiving tresses and the concomitantconsternation of Parvati are- among otherhappenings- carved in several hierarchicalregisters of a single niche. The deployment of this‘enfolding-unfolding’ mechanism engenders adistinct visual syntax- what Dr. Mankodi terms a“Mythic Tense”. Another exemplar of this‘language’ is the ‘Trivikrama’ of Vishnu asVamana, at the Badami caves (Karnataka, 6thcentury C.E.). The giant deity, depicted in themidst of making his three strides, evinces whatscholar Heinrich Zimmer terms, “thephenomenon of expanding form”- one of the


defining functions of this ‘tense’. Interestinglythough, at a later date, the Trivikrama‘performance’ by Vishnu congeals into an“avataric” depiction of Vamana (Patan, Gujarat,11th century C.E.). A crowning accomplishment ofthis Mythic-Tense is the Sheshashayi Vishnu atthe Dashavatara Temple on the banks of the riverBetwa (Deogarh, Madhya Pradesh, 6th centuryC.E.).

An encounter with the image of this lastmentioned piece beseeched a direct discursiveforay into the very pith of the matter: the questionand the quest- What is a masterpiece?

To the sahridaya, an art object is notknowledge of ‘reality’ (as one commonly andconveniently understands that term), nor is it astronghold for solipsistic pacifism. It is a way ofexperiencing- not the fragmented emotions of

‘dividual’ life, though they may play a part in thecontent of the work- but an akhand “aestheticemotion”: Rasa itself, no more, no less.Importantly, there is no locus, ‘situated’ within theobject, of this experience - knowledgedifferentiated among material form, explicit andimplied subject matter and circumstantialminutiae is resorbed in the phenomenon of losingoneself to all other ‘knowable objects’(tanmayibhavana). That the engager is at oncerasika (one who empathizes intuitively withbeauty) and rasajna (one who comprehendsanalytically/critically) is paramount to thisexperience, whose ultimate objective is anevoked state of undifferentiated knowing- a stateof ‘expanded consciousness’ synonymous withnone other than the experience of Ananda or, inthe Vedantic context, Brahman.

Is a ‘masterpiece’, then, that ‘sadhan’ whichleads the adhikari/sahridaya through the processthat culminates in chitta-vistara? Neither of the‘sadharan’ world, nor of a ‘false’ one, best definedin negative terms, but not indefinable, it is at anyrate, “energy in being”, process in itself, thoughby no means, a “refusal of completeness”. - S.H.

Forthcoming Programmes:Sculpture of Java 9th to 14th century:Deciphering the Textiles (December 16, 2014, 6.30 pm) by Lesley Pullen

There exists a body of stone and metalsculpture representing the deities of a syncreticHindu Buddhist pantheon to be found in situ attemple sites across Indonesia and in museumsaround the world. Many of these exhibit detailed

Vishnu, Deogarh. Image courtesy: Kirit Mankodi/ASI


patterns on the textiles with which they are(adorned. These patterns are carved in bas reliefon volcanic rock, and cast and etched in bronze,in the finest detail reflecting the substantialwealth of their royal patrons.

This presentation will decipher the differenttextile patterns and connect them to certainperiods in the art history of Java. VariousJavanese copper plate texts, Chinese and Arabsources, and the sculptures themselves enableus to construct a chronology of the migration ofcultural tradition from the ‘Indo-Javanese’ formsof Central Java in the 9th century to the‘Javanese’ and often Tantric forms of East Java inthe 14th century.

2 Lecture Seriers - Islamic Aesthetics

Horizons: A Thematic History of Islamic Art(January 6-8, 2015, 5.00 - 8.00 pm) by FinbarrBarry Flood

The lectures provide a thematic introduction tothe history of Islamic art from its inception to theestablishment of the Ottoman, Safavid andMughal empires around 1500. Focusing on theart and architecture of the easternMediterranean, Levant, and Iran, they outline aseries of horizons in the art and architecture ofthe Islamic world. Those horizons are defined invarious ways: by the lateral dissemination ofcommon aesthetic values and ornamental styles;by the mobility of certain artistic forms andtechniques, by commonalities in contemporaryelite self-representations, and so forth. In additionto introducing relevant material, both canonicaland non-canonical, the lectures will engage withquestions of historiography, interpretation, andthe politics of Islamic art history.

The Trouble with Images: Aniconism andIconoclasm in Theory and Practice(January 13-15, 2015, 5.00 - 8.00 pm) by FinbarrBarry Flood

A recent book by the art historian W.J.T.Mitchell is entitled “What do Pictures Want?” Thetitle is intended to provoke, to make us think (andlook) again at the roles, status and valuesascribed to images in the early twenty-firstcentury. Mitchell’s book was written against thebackground of events such as the destruction ofthe Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban regime of

Durga Singasari; Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden


Afghanistan in 2001, or the destruction ofSaddam Hussain’s statue in Firdaws Square inBaghdad following the US-led invasion of Iraq.These events served to highlight the paradoxicalpower of images even in an era saturated bythem, not least in their production of iconicimages of image destruction.

Although it might be argued that thedestruction of art has little to do with Art History,iconoclastic interventions on artworks have muchto tell us about the making, perception andreception of art and its institutionalization in thegallery and museum. These lectures consider aseries of case studies from late antiquity to thepresent day, which include Byzantium, the Islamicworld, medieval and early modern Europe.Among the issues considered are religiousprohibitions on image-making, the relationshipbetween the image and its referent, betweenanimate bodies and inanimate images, therelationship between religious iconoclasm,secularism and modernity, and the paradox of‘creative iconoclasm,’ and the ways in which thisidea has been embraced in the work of a numberof contemporary artists.

Deccani Art Across the Ocean: Hoysalas,Kadambas and Medieval Ethiopia (January 16, 2015, 6.30 pm) by Finbarr BarryFloodIn collaboration with Deccan Heritage Foundation

Recent scholarship has highlighted theimportance of Indian Ocean trade to theeconomies and court cultures of the medievalDeccan. Most of this scholarship has focused on

contacts with Arabia or the Persian Gulf in thewest, or the archipelagos of Indonesia in theeast. The possibility of contacts with the easterncoast of Africa has received far less attention; thelikelihood of contacts with the highland kingdomof Ethiopia, even less so. Yet, medieval Ethiopianart and architecture preserves significant tracesof contacts between twelfth-century Ethiopia and

south India, including examples of Hoysala andKadamba art that no longer survive in India.Some of the relevant artifacts may be flotsamfrom the world of circulation around the IndianOcean littoral so vividly captured in the Indianletters of Jewish merchants, opening a windowonto histories of people and things in motion thatcontinue to resonate even in our own era ofglobalization.


Criticism & TheoryThe Art, Criticism and Theory course runs in

its seventh annual cycle this year andbegan with introductory sessions on approachinga subject like Criticism and Theory as essentiallyan area of knowledge production, where theobject of study itself becomes an object of inquiryin the larger context of its historical and politicalexistence. Starting with more descriptivesessions on History of Art, there werediscussions on the scope, role and purpose ofCriticism and its relationship with History and

Theory. This was followed by similar investigativesessions on Art History, where through certainkey figures one journeyed the role of Art Historyover the ages, and under different circumstancesof economics and politics. Two sessions thenelaborated on what we mean by Theory - whereone of the sessions looked at the fields ofknowledge production and inquiry such as theSciences and the Humanities, the debates andarguments between their methodologies, theirstructures of education within University


Image courtery: Nancy Adajania


departments - and therein understanding thenature and scope of theory and its circumstantialnature. The second session on Theory looked atLiterary Theory and its relationships with the wayone relates to the world and society to connectcultural production and the nature of socialexistence.

After this, to further draw out the tenaciousnature of the relationship and exchange betweenHistory, Theory and Criticism - a session on Artand Agency studied various artists from theIndian contexts and their specific projects tounderstand the nature of visual language, theapproach of an artist, and her/his position as anartist and intellectual within a social and politicalmilieu. And to close some of these preliminarybut foundational discussions we looked at thecrucible within which these ideas roll in and out -the institutions that house art, artists, exhibitions,debates, etc. To begin with, from a historicalperspective, but also from one of networks andrelationships, to ideas of space and geography -from the studios to the salons, to the biennale, orthe collaborative platform, to a residencyprogramme, or the university - a range ofinstitutions came up for detailed discussions.

Simultaneous to all the above lectures, threespecialised seminars were also conducted for thestudents. One of them was a survey as well ascritical inquiry into the subject of Masterpieces inIndian Art by one of India's finest scholars on thesubject - Dr. Kirit Mankodi. Another seminar by avisiting scholar explored the subject of Semiotics,through an introductory lecture followed by areading of Mythologies by Roland Barthes.

Another topical seminar on approaching thestudy of Contemporary Art Practices in the MiddleEast closed this first part of the ACT course, andwe now move on to a detailed understanding ofcertain more popular concepts that occupy theworld of contemporary art. - K.M.

Tyeb Mehta Memorial Lecture:Artist Practice: ‘where the stress falls’(July 26, 2014) by Geeta KapurIn collaboration with the Tyeb Mehta Foundation

Borrowing the phrase “Where the Stress Falls”from Susan Sontag, Geeta Kapur elaborated onthe term “practice” before analysing the work ofSheela Gowda, Navjot Altaf and NasreenMohamedi. She distinguished betweenparadigmatic forms of practice, requiringrepetition to deliver virtuoso effect andconsciously proclaimed art practice whichconnects aesthetics and ideology. 20th centuryModernism and later developments meant thataesthetic protocol was radically destabilised.Kapur examined the idea of “deskilling” in orderto dredge the unconscious by movements suchas Dada and how practice connects closely with“the discourse of means and ends, indicating toartists and critics where the stress falls”. Thespeaker also connected practice, politics andeveryday life with reference to Gandhi. In itssocial form as “praxis” which is conscious,coherent and free, Marxist theoretician HenriLefebvre asserted that knowledge cannot beseparated from creative action.

Political philosopher Akeel Bilgrami’s idea of“enchantment” connects to “the human need to



live an unalienated life”, making a covertconnection between Marx and Gandhi. Bilgrami’semphasis on the value of nature beyondexploitation by science leads easily to Gowda’sphilosophically polemical move in the 1990s topaint with thinned cow-dung.

This feminist-materialist conceptualperspective first elicited negative tropes aroundexcreta. Cow-dung, fragile and degradable, hascultural and use-value, connecting human lifeand nature in mutual sustenance. Gowda’ssculptural installations are labour intensive andspatially elaborate, yet frugal. In Gallant Hearts,1996, red strings laden with kumkum-colouredlumps of cow-dung hung against a wall. Gowdacontinues to use materials such as cotton,turmeric, lime, etc. Her work invokes bothindexicality and ellipsis, often appearing as animprint (such as ash), simultaneously registeringpresence and retraction.

This retraction was established by Gowda’s1996 installation And tell him of my pain, anallegory of pain, desire and labour, titled simplyAnd in the 2007 version, which alludes tounnamed female organs. Gowda hung 108 red370 feet long crochet threads, passing eachthrough a needle, simultaneously piercing andsuturing, allowing herself no interruption or repair,her studio a loom, her body a shuttle. Thedemand for continuous, linear, “uncorrupted”labour was self-generated. Gowda coated thethreads with kumkum and glue paste, laying outthe resultant ropes in the gallery like umbilicalcords, a gory ritual. Kapur’s laboriousdescriptions displayed the purpose of Gowda’s

work – Breaths (2002, evoking Gujarat) andCollateral, 2007, with its “poetics of mortality by anarcissistic resolve”. Encased in a chapel-likestructure was a flatbed relief on which Gowda

laid out objects coated with charcoal, wood-barkand resin before setting it alight. The leftover ashcreated webbed shapes on the bed-coffins, not insacred ritual or prayer, but indicating personal

And..., installation view, by Sheila Gowda, Documenta 12 Kassel 2007



grief without documenting trauma directly.Kapur referred to Gowda’s ironic poetic in Dark

Room, 2007, notating slums, with flattened metaltar barrels and coloured tarpaulin sheets and Ofall People, 2013, using discarded door framesand furniture with mounds of votive figuresdepicting ritual memory but in the secular senseof the title. In 2009, Gowda created Behold, usingslim black rope (made from short lengths ofhuman hair, involving unweaving and reweaving)and car bumpers. Gowda’s aesthetic usesmetonymy, transposing materiality intosymmetrical/asymmetrical meanings through herprocess.

Finally, Kapur discussed Stopover 2012,Gowda’s installation with her husband ChristophStorz, using grinding stones which, thoughminimalistic in aesthetic, “have sacred presencedue to use-value relating to food, and … pestleand cavity resemble a lingam-yoni fusion”.Installed in the spice port of Kochi, the stopovercemetery of abandoned grinding stones (fromBangalore) acquired special meaning. Gowda“uses found objects but does not outsource thephysical aspect of art-making. She articulates aneconomy of senses, a sustained structure offeeling and a corresponding ethics.” In Gowda’swork, Kapur sees an agonistic bent - dedicatedartisanal labour but in contradiction, asconceptual as it is material.

Continuing to explore the idea of the paradoxof representation, Kapur concentrated on a singlevideo by Navjot entitled Lacuna in Testimonywhich offers “a poetics of absence” in contrast tothe “poetics of presence” reflected in the site-

specific community work which Altaf undertookwith low-caste, lower-class people, especiallywomen, in Kondagaon and Bastar, setting uppart-residence followed by periodic visits. WithNavjot’s intervention and collaboration,environmentally ergonomic better facilities werecreated through community labour. Questions ofpragmatics, ethics and combined aestheticsinformed this self-emancipatory labour and theclaiming of civic infrastructures. Kapur linkedRancière’s concept of “distribution of thesensible” to Navjot’s praxis and the communityrelationships it foregrounds.

Navjot’s 3-projection, self-erasing, authorial,extremely spare video installation, Lacuna inTestimony, 2003, shows a day’s footage of theArabian Sea. After the 2002 pogrom in Gujarat,Navjot recorded the testimonies of victims in 2camps in Ahmedabad, then perhaps agreeingwith Veena Das who expresses revulsion at the“excess of speech” in the face of violence,compassionately erased these (protecting “over-exposed identities”) in favour of fleeting imagesof “assault … subjection and … ordinary life” fromdifferent sources which successively open in 48small digitally-generated windows on theprojection of the ocean on 3 adjacent screens.The windows, reflected and doubled in 3 rows of72 square mirrors placed on the floor, create “aspace of pain, fear, shimmer”. The letters of theinstallation’s title appear, fade, the waves turnred, a wail echoes, re-echoes and then the oceanreturns to its former blue. Navjot presents anaesthetic of erasure – a repository of absence,loss and forgetting, signalling beyond



representation. In this connection, Kapur citedJudith Butler – “For representation to convey thehuman … representation must not only fail but itmust show its failure”.

Mohamedi’s 1960 diary entry “again a difficulttask begins” relates to finding the “new image ofpure rationalism – intellect separated fromemotion”. In the 70s, she adopted the grid, “keynode in both oriental grammar and modernistavant garde abstraction, so that a naturalphenomenon may reveal its inner matrix”. Thestructured surface acts like a support forperception, a refutation of the simulacrum. Adecade later, Mohamedi’s precise, graphicdrawings underwent slow disturbances, distortinginto a black mass, shot through with delicate,steeply-positioned, tense, penetrative, rhythmicrevolving or radiating lines. Mohamedi’s

recursive, complex use of the grid and thediagonal and commitment to the rationality of theintellect prompts Kapur to place her alongside theModernists Mondrian, Kandinsky and Klee withSuprematist-Constructivist as well as Feministpost-mimimalist affiliations.

Mohamedi’s quest for transcendence “in aphenomenological ambit”, gained throughrepetitive practice, is underwritten by acommitment to immanence which translates toartisanal labour but in contradiction, asconceptual as it is material.

Continuing to explore the idea of the paradoxof representation, Kapur concentrated on a singlevideo by Navjot entitled Lacuna in Testimonywhich offers “a poetics of absence” in contrast tothe “poetics of presence” reflected in the site-specific community work which Altaf undertook


Lacuna in Testimony by Navjot Altaf, Talwar Gallery, New York and e Guild, Mumbai


with low-caste, lower-class people, especiallywomen, in Kondagaon and Bastar, setting uppart-residence followed by periodic visits. WithNavjot’s intervention and collaboration,environmentally ergonomic better facilities werecreated through community labour. Questions ofpragmatics, ethics and combined aestheticsinformed this self-emancipatory labour and theclaiming of civic infrastructures. Kapur linkedRancière’s concept of “distribution of thesensible” to Navjot’s praxis and the communityrelationships it foregrounds.

Navjot’s 3-projection, self-erasing, authorial,extremely spare video installation, Lacuna inTestimony, 2003, shows a day’s footage of theArabian Sea. After the 2002 pogrom in Gujarat,Navjot recorded the testimonies of victims in 2camps in Ahmedabad, then perhaps agreeingwith Veena Das who expresses revulsion at the“excess of speech” in the face of violence,compassionately erased these (protecting “over-exposed identities”) in favour of fleeting imagesof “assault … subjection and … ordinary life” fromdifferent sources which successively open in 48small digitally-generated windows on theprojection of the ocean on 3 adjacent screens.The windows, reflected and doubled in 3 rows of72 square mirrors placed on the floor, create “aspace of pain, fear, shimmer”. The letters of theinstallation’s title appear, fade, the waves turnred, a wail echoes, re-echoes and then the oceanreturns to its former blue. Navjot presents anaesthetic of erasure – a repository of absence,loss and forgetting, signalling beyondrepresentation. In this connection, Kapur cited

Judith Butler – “For representation to convey thehuman … representation must not only fail but itmust show its failure”.

Mohamedi’s 1960 diary entry “again a difficulttask begins” relates to finding the “new image ofpure rationalism – intellect separated fromemotion”. In the 70s, she adopted the grid, “keynode in both oriental grammar and modernistavant garde abstraction, so that a naturalphenomenon may reveal its inner matrix”. Thestructured surface acts like a support forperception, a refutation of the simulacrum. Adecade later, Mohamedi’s precise, graphicdrawings underwent slow disturbances, distortinginto a black mass, shot through with delicate,steeply-positioned, tense, penetrative, rhythmicrevolving or radiating lines. Mohamedi’srecursive, complex use of the grid and thediagonal and commitment to the rationality of theintellect prompts Kapur to place her alongside theModernists Mondrian, Kandinsky and Klee withSuprematist-Constructivist as well as Feministpost-mimimalist affiliations.

Mohamedi’s quest for transcendence “in aphenomenological ambit”, gained throughrepetitive practice, is underwritten by acommitment to immanence which translates tomethod, a succession of formal moves.Circumnavigation within her own “self” bringsexistential truth. Her diary entries andphotographs offer clues to her imagery, alldistance and mathematical positioning, offeringnoperspectival encounter at the vanishing point.Mohamedi’s diary speaks of the lucid eyebringing awareness, echoing the Sufi belief in the


perceptual basis of consciousness, affirmed byRumi’s aphorism, “those who know cannot tell”.Hans Belting differentiates Renaissanceperspective (an attempt to measure our view)from Arab mathematical perspective (elucidatedby Alhazen as a project to measure light).Mohamedi’s work seems inspired by Arab artistswho represented mathematics and lookedbeyond it towards a cosmic principle.

In lieu of a conclusion, Kapur recited afragment of a “ghazal” by Adrienne Rich, endingwith Simone Weil’s assertion that “necessity ororder in the world is perceived and conceived asa result of the body acting repetitively andmethodically”, looping back to Gowda. - J.K.

Semiotics(August 26-27, 2014) by Rohit Goel

Please look at the essay in response to theseminar in the section called Slant/Stance at theend of the newsletter.

Contemporary Art Practices in the MiddleEast and North Africa(September 22-25, 2014) by Rohit Goel

In the wake of the September 2001 attacksand the 2010-11 Arab uprisings, artistic practicesin the Middle East and North Africa havegarnered considerable curatorial attention andinfrastructural support from the international(Euro-American) art community, in the form oflarge-scale gallery building, museumacquisitions, institutional grants and auction-house facilitated dissemination. Within thiscontext, the specific modes of political and

aesthetic agency embodied by such culturalproduction are characterized by a ‘postmodernturn’. Delineating this political and conceptualframework of artistic engagement, a four-dayseminar by Prof. Rohit Goel focused on adiscussion of texts from postmodern theory,psychoanalysis and Middle Eastern art history,thereby directing a critical lens to the aestheticvalues adopted by eminent practitioners of these

regions. Here, particular works of, inter-alia,Walid Raad, Akram Zaatari, Walid Sadek, JoannaHadjithomas and Khalil Joreige were taken intoconsideration.

A salient feature of post-Cold War–andparticularly 21st century– Middle Eastern artisticresponse is a purported repudiation of‘totalitarian’, structural values that, in its view,modernism upheld. The ‘Arab Spring’ is seen assignifying an “awakening” of a hitherto“narcoleptic” artist community, engenderingartistic practices that conflate with the paradigmof Western ‘humanitarian’ discourse, and claim a

Wallid Raad, Musée du Louvre, Image courtesy: Rohit Goel


privilege to ‘contemporaneity’ denied to theirmodernist predecessors. By contrast, art theoristKirsten Scheid’s reading of the modernist ‘Nudes’genre popular in Mandate era Lebanon, as an‘index’ and agent of socio-cultural emancipation,generates a dialectic between ‘modern’, utopianorientations and the specifics of a facilitative(then) ‘contemporary’ present embodied by theartist. In the introductory session, a detaileddiscussion of Scheid’s exposition as well as aconsideration of recent, post Arab Spring artwork(for instance, Faten Rouissi’s ‘Action’, 2011,Tunisia) set the ground to problematize achronologically linear, dichotomouscomprehension of modern and postmodernaesthetic practices.

Furthering this complexity is critical theoristFrederic Jameson’s discourse on the postmodern

or what he terms “The Cultural Logic of LateCapitalism”. Keeping Jameson in mind, thesecond session undertook a critical analysis ofWalid Raad’s ‘Atlas Group’ collective. Refutingmainstream narratives of the Arab past, theproject’s deconstructive, multi-perspectival,fetishistic approach to civilian suffering, may bediscerned as features of– stating it simplistically–a ‘de-historicized’, ‘eternally present’ postmodernmilieu as characterized by Jameson. However,the anxiety underscoring a rejection of themodernist predilection for utopic structuralchange implies a “repressed modern” withinpostmodern currents and vexes any perception ofa ‘rupture’ that cleanly demarcates the two.

The third session turned to Frenchpsychoanalyst Jacques Lacan’s formulation of“object-cause of desire”, in order to provide a

Rohit Goel speaks during ‘Contemporary Art Practices in the Middle East and North Africa’


context for the persistent thematic of lost peopleand objects that surfaces in much ofcontemporary Middle Eastern art. A viewing ofAkram Zaatari’s film ‘In This House’, (2005, 30min.), as well as a discussion of JoannaHadjithomas and Khalil Joreige’s ‘Wonder Beirut’project, (1996-2006), evinced a phenomena inwhich a self-generated affect of ‘disappointment’negates the ‘found’ and perpetually defersgratification, thereby celebrating ‘lack’ andsustaining the titillating fantasies it maps on to.Probing dichotomies in modern and postmodernmodes of approaching and engaging ‘lack’, thediscussion turned to a selection of Walid Sadek’swritings, whose particular aesthetic negotiationwith ‘objects of desire’ steers away fromfetishistic tendencies, thus exploring edifyingpossibilities of dealing with, rather than revelingin perpetual absence. Yet again, the ‘repressedmodern’– here seen in the continuous ‘search’undertaken in spite of a perverse negation of itsoutcome– as well as critical methods ofestablishing a modern-postmodern dialectic incurrent artistic and theoretical practice, assertthemselves.

A detailed exposition of Eyal Weizman’s‘forensic architecture’ project saw the conclusionof this seminar. Post- Cold war warfare in MiddleEastern countries (including the American led‘war-on-terror’, and recent airstrikes in Syria) –with its decentered practices of violencelegitimized by a de-historicized, purportedly non-ideological upholding of abstract values(“humanity”) – is seen as a distinct postmodernpractice, ‘lethalizing’ theory. Examination of

‘material evidence’ as opposed to humanwitnesses, in order to ascertain instances ofhuman rights violation by warring parties is anintricate, specialized procedure merely facilitatingan ‘eternal present’ of violence against ‘Evil’.Weizman’s project is what Goel terms an“analytical reversal” of this forensic procedure,aiming to reconstruct the political apparatus thatsustains postmodern violence. This calls for therecuperation of a normative stance, a dialoguearound historical determinants that questions aspurious imperative for perpetual war. In all, aretrieval of, though by no means, a reversal tomodernist (here pre- Cold War) techniques is inorder before ‘History’– that of cultural productionand of the contextual framework within whichcontemporary practice flourishes– becomes amere simulacrum of itself. - S.H.

Forthcoming Programmes:Life of Rishabha: A Painted Vision(October 9, 2014, 6.30 pm) by Saryu DoshiThis is part of our Iconic Images lecture series

Visually, among the more exciting examples ofIndian Miniature Paintings, is a painted scroll oncloth portraying the Panchakalyanaka of a JainTirthankara. A very popular theme, thePanchakalyanaka (five auspicious events)represents the Jina’s conception, birth,renunciation, enlightenment and finally death orliberation from the Cycle of Rebirth. Theseepisodes in every Jina’s life are highly revered bythe Jains and are featured singly or together inthe form of paintings or relief sculptures in Jaintemples.


This particular scroll, depicting thePanchakalyanaka of Rishabha - the firstTirthankara of this cosmic cycle - is envisagedand executed on a grand scale, it is 1220 cms

long and 80 cms wide. Its style exemplifies anintriguing synthesis of diverse styles of paintingthat occurred in the Deccan c. CE 1650. Thecircumstances that led to the genesis of thiseclectic style in the Deccan can be traced to theMughal determination to subjugate that region.

The city of Aurangabad, in northern Deccanserved as the military base for the Mughalarmies. Accompanying the Mughal forces wereseveral Rajput princes with their contingents ofRajput soldiers. The prolonged stay of theMughals and the Rajputs in Aurangabad had animpact on its cultural melieu; it contributed to theemergence of a style of painting which wasbasically Rajput in intent, but nuanced withDeccani sensibilities and enriched with theMughal penchant for careful execution. Thisidiom at Aurangabad is at its most expressive inthe accomplished and imaginative rendering ofthis Panchakalyanaka Scroll painted c. 1700 A.D,probably in Karanja (its find-spot) by an itinerantartist trained in the Aurangabad idiom of painting

In Search of Cheenāparā: Culture,Architecture and Identity of the Chinese inCalcutta(October 13, 6.30 pm) by Kamalika BoseThis is part of our Architecture, Resources andCulture lecture series

The eclectic history of Calcutta's immigrantcommunities have shaped and left an indelibleimprint on its socio-cultural nerve andcosmopolitanism. The city's Chinese community,with a 250-year history, continues to enrichCalcutta's urban culture through cultural diversityand ethnic identity, visible through the builtheritage and traditional practices in oldChinatown. This talk discusses the formal,aesthetic and associational values embedded inthis living heritage and highlights somecontemporary challenges in upholding its future.


Community EngagementFrom the archives of a Cinephile: the stuffthat dreams are made of(August 1, 2014) by Darius Cooper

Dr. Darius Cooper is a writer, film scholar andself-proclaimed cinephile whose love for worldcinema was greatly influenced by the FilmSocieties in Bombay, namely Film Forum,Suchitra, and Anandam, and the culturalorganizations like the Alliance Francaise, the MaxMueller Bhavan, the USIS, and the British

Council. In this lecture, Dr. Cooper gave us ahistorical account of the important role theseorganisations played in keeping alive andpropagating film consciousness in the city,peppered with personal stories of his ownexperiences. Reading from an essay that mixed acritical and historical approach with his ownnostalgia for the time, Dr. Cooper painted afascinating picture of a city with a passionate andintellectual engagement with world cinema, which


Darius Cooper speaks during ‘From the archives of a Cinephile: the stuff that dreams are made of ’


he thinks is missing from Mumbai in 2014. Hebegan by charting his own journey towardscinephilia, growing up as a lonely child in Punewho would go watch American and British films attwo theatres that no longer exist. He spoke aboutthe awakening of his critical voice in response toAlfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’, when he made animpromptu speech in his grade 8 classroom indefence of ‘The Birds’. He then went on to jointhe Film Forum while a student in St. Xavier’sCollege, which would introduce him to thewonders of international cinema. Sarabhai Hallwould become a pilgrimage for him and a closegroup of friends held academic discussions aboutthe movies they watched. With his anecdotes andexperiences, Dr. Cooper gave us a glimpse intothe world of film societies and their influence onthe critical faculties that he and hiscontemporaries were trying hard to develop. Afterelaborating on how this atmosphere and filmculture affected his life and work, he went on todocument the decline and eventual demise of thisculture and the film societies movement whichwas foreshadowed by the cancellation of aniconic film festival that these societies organisedannually at Shamukhananda Hall. Ascommercialism and a new audience enamouredmore with the flashy offerings of Steven Spielbergand George Lucas took over, new wave cinemaand European art films found few takers inMumbai. He ended by saying that the kind ofcinephilia he had been talking about no longerexisted for him outside of private living roomswhere he and his friends get together to watchand discuss films.collections. - B.K.

Iqbal The Hindu(August 7, 2014) by Faisal Devji

‘Iqbal The Hindu’, a lecture title that isconceivably as contentious and thoughtprovoking as the subject himself, was perhapsthe first instance in Mumbai where the intent ofIqbal’s poetic works was discussed beyond thearena of Urdu speaking circles.

At the outset, Dr. Devji pointed to the fact thatmany of those who shaped the history of ourcountry were people who reflected quite deeplyand profoundly on their times. A closeintrospection of their thoughts, aids theunderstanding of our past. Prominent figuressuch as Jinnah and Savarkar, amongst others,seem to have had a well defined and easilydiscernible ‘before and after’ moment in theirthoughts and ideas. Similarly, Iqbal’s personalitytoo was bifurcated into two phases marked by amovement from secular Indian nationalisttendencies, primarily based on themes centredon Hinduism, towards a more congenial onefuelled by Muslim nationalism. According to Dr.Devji, there is some truth to this kind ofdemarcation, but it is a truth that further obscuresthan it reveals.

Through the lecture, Dr. Devji begged thequestion whether it was possible to completelybifurcate a personality like Iqbal in such amanner, and, what were the hidden links betweenthe ‘before’ and ‘after’ moments. To address theissue, Dr. Devji focused on some of Iqbal’s earlierwork like the Bang-i-Dara, a compilation of Urdupoetry underlined with Hindu, Buddhist and Sikhthemes and recognized that these themes



continued and re-emerged much later in hisPersian works like the Javed Nama. It istherefore almost impossible to split Iqbal’s workinto ‘before’ and ‘after’ moments.

Through poetry, Iqbal posed a way tounderstand and think about communal identity asa result of externalization and systematization ofidentities. He took what was given to him -identities, categories, places, ideologies anddepriveed them of their sociological externality.He further enriched them by breaking them down,reducing them philosophically and transformingthem into a category of thought which allowed formore leeway thus adding an aesthetic dimensionresulting in abstraction. This would be seen as away of externalizing these categories that havebeen forced on him. Iqbal opined that it is onlywith the internalization of morality that Indiansocial relations is most productive.

It is difference that makes beauty. Iqbalattempted to create a new vision of social andintellectual relations among Indians throughpoetry and philosophy, often with tweaked wordsin a fundamentally ambiguous and deliberatemanner.

The lecture closed with the screening of thesong ‘Chin-O-Arab Hamara, Hindustan Hamara,Rahne Ko Ghar Nahin Hain, Saara JahanHamara’ from the 1958 film – ‘Phir Hogi Subah’

Despite the polarization of opinion with regardsto the political, philosophical, or social ideologiesof Iqbal, one thing is certain; he will always beremembered for having composed the nationalistanthem - ‘Sare Jahan Se Aacha, HindustanHamara’ - A.B.

Earth, clay and terracotta: Indic memoriesand Partition’s (post-)amnesias(September 10, 2014) by Ananya Jahanara Kabir

Ananya Jahanara Kabir is Professor of EnglishLiterature at the Department of English, King’sCollege London, where she works at theintersections of culture, embodiment, memory,and post-trauma in the global South. In thislecture, she discussed some of the issuescovered in her latest book ‘Partition’s Post-Amnesias: 1947, 1971 and Modern South Asia’(2013). ‘Partition’s post-amnesia’ in this contextrefers to a set of ways of thinking about the pastof our shared space in South Asia, which Prof.Kabir believes, has been impacted by morerecent events, as memories are made andremade and amnesias are propagated and re-propagated. 1947 and then the birth ofBangladesh in 1971 are key moments for thisplay of memory and forgetting. Terracotta comesinto the picture because it is a material that, asProf. Kabir discovers, several artists, historians,archaeologists and writers across the sub-continent were invested in. So it became a verygood index for tracing memory and forgettingaround these two key events. Prof. Kabir first gotthe idea to look at Terracotta from M.F. Husain’sautobiography, which opens with the line “Mitti kaghada bol utha/ the earthen pot spoke out loud.”She analysed the ways in which the humbleterracotta pot is used in different illustrations forthe autobiography, for example, its use alongsidesignifiers of partition such as a train. Sheelaborated on the interconnections betweenterracotta and memory, and the pan-generational



obsession of artists with clay (of which terracottais one form), making the case that clay has beena signifier of partition for the older generations.According to her, post-amnesias can map andtrack the post-amnesias by looking at the waydifferent generations look at clay. She then wenton to discuss the work of Pakistani archaeologistA. H. Dani and artist Zainul Abedin who were

both involved in building institutions and artisticnarratives for the new state of Pakistan and werealso fascinated with the idea of clay, terracottaand delta silt. Abedin in particular was interestedin painting the relationship of the human bodywith the land. Both, in different ways, attemptedto move beyond and forget partition by linking toan ‘Indic’ tradition through clay and silt. Similarly,K. G. Subramanyan’s work in pottery is analysedand critiqued through this lens, adding weight tothe case that for the post-1947 generation

terracotta became a signifier of partition, and alsothat it has been instrumental in the constructionof new narratives that try to forget the trauma ofpartition. She then went on to chart a similarprocess with respect to the secondrupture/partition in 1971. She concluded bystating that this investigation into terracotta hasbeen a way to join the dots between ourgrandparents’ desire to forget old stories andcreate new attachments and institutions and ourinterest in retrieving and making sense of thesestories of the past, thus going from amnesia topost-amnesia. - B.K.

Forthcoming Programmes:Building Museum Bhavan(November 21, 2014, 6.30 pm) by DayanitaSingh

“Starting with Sent a Letter in 2007 I began toexplore the idea of the book as an exhibition. Thisled me in 2013 to the Museum bhavan. I think Ihad always known the book was my form, thetactile book that you held in your hands, the Zakirbook 1986 had no exhibition, no prints on thewall, but it took me 30 years to find a form thatallowed me to free my images from the wall, fromthe matt and the frame and making both thedisplay and the sequencing endlesslychanging.This came in the form of the mobilemuseums. Perhaps the most crucial process isnot the photography but the editing. I think I workbackwards, I collect images over months andyears and then at a certain time, I stop and startto look at the material, and weed out, till the barestructure remains. Then I find the form, rather it


Ananya Jahanara Kabir speaks during ‘Earth, clay and terracotta: Indicmemories and Partition’s (post-)amnesias’


finds itself in this editing process.”

Staring at the Viewer: Frida Kahlo and Self-Portraiture in Mexico(December 18, 2014, 6.30 pm) by James Oles;Respondent: Armando Miguelez

This lecture examines Frida Kahlo's self-portraits within the broader context of the historyof Mexican art, from the viceregal period (the firstautonomous self-portrait is dated to 1719) to the"lady painters" of the mid-19th century to modern

and contemporary artists as diverse as DiegoRivera and Julio Galán. Through thesecomparisons across time, we can more critically

understand Kahlo's particular obsessions andinnovations, as well as her debts to one of therichest artistic traditions in the Americas. The talkwill conclude with observations about herconnections--direct or indirect--with neo-Mexicanist and neo-conceptual artists whoemerged long after her death.

Secularism, Identity, And Enchantment(January 5, 2015, 6.30 pm) by Akeel Bilgrami

On the occasion of the publication of AkeelBilgrami's book 'Secularism, Identity, AndEnchantment' by Permanent Black in India (andHarvard University Press in USA), Faisal Devjiwill speak on its main themes which includeGandhi's political and moral philosophy, apartfrom the topics of secularism and identity. AkeelBilgrami will be present to respond to Faisal Devjiand they will then converse with each other andthe audience.

Contributors

A.B. - André BaptistaB.K. - Bhanuj KappalJ.K. - Jaya KanoriaK.M. - Kaiwan MehtaR.P. - Rashmi PoddarS.H. - Sarvesh Harivallabhdas

Frida Kahlo, Tree of Hope, 1946. Image courtesy: James Oles


Semiotics by Roland BarthesIn a two-day lecture series, Prof. Rohit Goel

conducted a close reading of structuralist Frenchthinker Roland Barthes (1915-1980)’s seminaltext ‘Mythologies’*. This comprised acomprehensive discussion of the semiologicalanalysis undertaken by Barthes in order to detailthe structure or mechanics by which mythfunctions as a language in ‘capitalist bourgeoissocieties’. The key questions addressed were:‘What is Myth Today?’ and ‘How do visualimages, texts and objects circulated within suchbourgeois societies, lend themselves as sign-systems to myth-makers, myth readers (or “mythconsumers”) and mythologists/critics?’

At the outset, however, a brief mapping of theideological space occupied by myth in suchsocieties addressed the inevitable question ofwhy ‘liberal’ capitalist societies support or sustainthe economy of myth production andconsumption- a feature symptomatic of feudal,pre-enlightenment socio-political systems.Without delving into the histories of a transitionfrom feudal societies and the growth of capitalismin Europe, this entailed charting an outline of theparticular modalities by which political power isexercised, in order to perpetuate theaccumulation of capital as a ‘means without ends’and a concomitant “multiplication of theapparatuses of production”1 (production here

extending to that of knowledge- both “scientisticand intuitive”2). French thinker and historian ofideas Michel Foucault (1926-1984) employs theterm ‘disciplines’ for the substitute of “a powerthat is manifested through the brilliance of thosewho exercise it”3, of a power deployed by “theostentatious signs of sovereignty.”3 According toFoucault, a peculiarity of this substitutive“anatomy”4 or “technology of power”4 is a lowvisibility and minimal exteriorization of itsmethodologies to secure the exercise of powerand to manifest the economy of this process inthe “output of the apparatuses (educational,military, industrial or medical) within which it isexercised; in short, to increase both the docilityand the utility of all the elements of the system.”5

The mechanisms of this power, in “ideal form”6

are embodied in a spatial diagram - the‘panopticon’. The organization of human beingssuch that each is perfectly individualized yetconstantly surveyed is a defining feature of thisarchitectural schema. Evoking here the trope ofthe prison, the inmate, never sure of when he isbeing observed by an external authority,“becomes his own guardian”7, thus ensuring thatthe power apparatus in which he is enmeshedoperates effectively at all times. Foucaultcomments, “…in this form of management, poweris not totally entrusted to someone who wouldexercise it alone, over others, in an absolute

Slant/Stance



fashion; rather this machine is one in whicheveryone is caught, those who exercise thispower as well as those who are subjected to it.”7

Inextricably and intricately linked in a cause-effect circuit, myth, then, functions as a crucialpreservative of ‘panopticism’, which in turnenables the former’s perpetual generation andefficacy. Broadly speaking, myth is thenaturalization of ideological, historical constructs-a masking of the very processes by which themodality of disciplinary power is instituted, of theprocess by which and specific moment when thebourgeoisie became the politically dominantclass. This ‘reification’ facilitated by mythassumes import in light of Foucault’s expositionof disciplinary power as a “counterlaw”8: “…although the universal juridicism of modernsociety seems to fix limits on the exercise ofpower, its universally widespread panopticismenables it to operate, on the underside of the law,a machinery that is both immense and minute,which supports, reinforces, multiplies theasymmetry of power and undermines the limitsthat are traced around the law.”8 Preciselybecause they unbalance the legal/constitutionalframework within which they operate, thesetechniques of discipline produce the ‘science’ ofmyth- an affirmation that they are the veryfoundation of society, an element in its innateequilibrium.

However, an “unmasking”9 of the “ideologicalabuse”10 concealed by myth was not sufficient forBarthes, without accounting “in detail for themystification which transforms petit-bourgeoisculture into universal nature.”9 The lecture

discussion now addressed its central concern:‘How does semiotics as a critical methodologyunravel the machinations deployed by myth inbourgeois culture?’ In other words, ‘How doesmyth function?’

What is semiotics? In general terms, it is thestudy of signs that are meaningful. Bartheshimself explains, “Semiology aims to take in anysystem of signs, whatever their substance andlimits; images, gestures, musical sounds, objectsand the complex association of all of these, whichform the content of ritual, convention or publicentertainment: these constitute, if not languages,at least systems of signification.”11

Firstly, Barthes emphasizes, myth is a type ofspeech. It is a mode of communication, a form ofan idea, a concept or an object and not thesubstance itself. Mythology, then, as a study offorms apart from their content, becomes oneaspect of a study of signs, “a system ofsignification”11, “co-extensive with linguistics”12.Semiology defines the relation between twoterms- the signifier and the signified. Importantly,this relation is not one of equality, but ofequivalence. Therefore, any semiological systemdeals with three different terms- the third beingthe correlation, the “associative total”13 of the firsttwo. In a linguistic semiological system, aspostulated by French linguist Ferdinand deSaussure (1857-1913), the signifier is an acousticimage: a selection of letters of the alphabet (forinstance, t-r-e-e). The signified is a concept, apurely mental, visual image and the sign in thecited example, becomes the word ‘tree’-associating that particular suite of letters to a



particular image/object and thereby makingmeaning. For Barthes, however, linguistics is asimple, first-order semiological system. Apeculiarity of myth is that it is constructed fromthis pre-existing linguistic chain and thereforebecomes a second-order system. The signifier orthe first term in the mythic system is the sign orthe third term of the linguistic system. On theplane of myth, therefore, it is called the form. Thesecond, functioning as a concept to beassociated, retains the term signified. Thecorrelation of form and concept, here, is calledsignification- a term that, for Barthes, has a“double function”14: that of pointing out ornotifying something, and at the same timeimposing it on the reader.

The relations of a first-order to a second-ordersystem, as well as among the terms within themythic system were elaborated on through thedeciphering of a visual image- the cover of themagazine ‘Paris-Match’ (25 June- 2 July, 1955edition). In this case, the biography of the image-the text contained in a red box, the Black youthsaluting, with his eyes uplifted, probably to theFrench tri-color- becomes the signifier of a first –order system. Each aspect of this signifier bearsan associative concept- the history of thepublication, the history of black peoples, ofFrench colonialism, to name a few. At the firstlevel, the reading of signifier with signifiedproduces a historical/temporal, contextualunderstanding of the presented material. Themeaning so generated, however, is distorted,deflected, to yield the image of the boy as a form,a receptacle for the mythic signified- here, the

majesty of the French Empire. The imagebecomes a talisman against detractors of anallegedly oppressive regime by signifying theloyalty, “the zeal”14 of the Black youth in servinghis ‘nation’. The signification, that is, the mythitself is the concept of French Imperialism’s‘greatness’ as presenced by the form of thesaluting boy.

Turning first to the ambiguity of the mythicsignifier- as both meaning laden with historical,contingent value and as form to receive themythic signified- the passage from one to theother, is effected by a distancing, or alienation, asopposed to suppression or overwriting. Thememory, the comparative order of facts, ideasand concepts embodied by the first-level signlose their value, but keep their “life”15, “from whichthe form of the myth will draw its nourishment”15.This points to certain important features of themythic system. It is a type of speech defined byits intention. As mentioned at the outset, thisintention is to effect ‘naturalization’- that of thesignified. Myth therefore, aims to hide nothing. Ofimport to its efficacy, is that this intention remainsmanifest “without…appearing to have an interestin the matter”16: the signified is made to appearas established, ‘expressed’, given a foundationby the signifier, as opposed to motivating or‘causing’ it. The intention is frozen, purified,eternalized into fact. Therefore, “myth is speechjustified in excess”17, an excess purportedly in thesame plane as, and afforded over and above theexpressed literal substance of the sign’smeaning- with the latter maintained at a distancethat renders it innocuous to the potency of the



mythic signified. The causality of the sign by thesignifier, while “literally natural”18 in a linguisticsystem, that of signification by form is artificiallyinduced in a mythic one, in order to facilitate theexperience of myth as innocent speech. It is theperceived inductive relationship between signifierand signified, as opposed to one of equivalencethat differentiates naïve consumption of mythfrom its ‘destruction’: myth is read as a factualsystem, whereas it is in fact a semiologicalmethod, a value-based system. Theambiguity/duplicity of the signifier- thetransformation of meaning into form, of historyinto nature- evidences myth as a “stolenlanguage”19.

The signified in the second-order system, thatwhich “causes myth to be uttered”15, is not anabstract, ahistorical concept- it is very much asituational one, implanting the signifier with awhole new history, as seen by the very imperativefor its naturalization. Myth, therefore, is “a type ofspeech chosen by history”20: as seen earlier, it isan ideological construct. No object is inevitably asource of the suggestiveness desired by myth,though at the same time, it is never safe frombeing motivated into signification. Moreover,Barthes explains, “what is invested in concept isless reality than a certain knowledge of reality.”21

This points to the nature of myth as ‘meta-language’- it need pay no heed to thetechnicalities/details that constitute the first-ordersign, referred to as the ‘language-object’. It needonly be concerned with this sign inasmuch as it isa prepared, global term that lends itselfefficaciously to the reception of the signified.

Therefore, myth is entitled to treat pictures,sounds, gestures and writing in the same way, solong as they adhere to its signifying function.Thus, a signified can have several signifiers (asBarthes cites, “French imperiality can be givenmany other signifiers besides a Negro’s salute: aFrench general pins a decoration on a one-armedSenegalese, a nun offers a cup of tea to a bed-ridden Arab…”22). However- and this is crucial- aparticular myth can result from only a singlesignified. It is in this sense that myth is astructuralist system. To maximize the socialimpact of myth, this signified must beincontestable across cultural and geographicalfault lines. This facilitates also, the naturalizationof the concept and its resultant signification.

Linking back to the duplicity of the signifier, animportant facet of the relation between mythicsignifier and signified is that form and concept- ina semiological analysis- are both perfectlymanifest. As mentioned earlier, the signifier in alinguistic system is mental, whereas, in a second-level system, given the history of linguisticmeaning associated with the sign, the signifiercan only appear “through a given substance”23.Form asserts its presence as a “spatial”23 mode,that of the signified is “memorial”24. Yet as seenabove, it is this very ambivalence that aids in thenaturalization of myth. Lastly, a feature evincedby this ‘purification’ of its intent is that myth is“depoliticized speech.”25 As Barthes elaborates,when an historical reality- marked by the memoryof how it was produced and used- is processedthrough myth to emerge as a “natural image”25 ofthis reality, an a priori existence, what gets



economized is human agency. By a sleight ofhand, myth, then, organizes the world on thepremise of human insignificance- conceding inlieu, a magisterial human capacity to possess:the very stronghold of capitalist society. It bearsconsideration, however, that this political hollowis to be gauged, not from the point of view of thesignification, but from that of the signifier- “thething which has been robbed”26- and within thesignifier, from that of the meaning or ‘language –object’. Myth, as meta-language, as image ofreality, is, as seen, politically significant.

Having considered the mechanisms of themythic system- as ideology, through semiology-the second session of the lecture series wasdevoted to a structural analysis of several essaysin the first section of Barthes’ text (the secondbeing the semiological study discussed above).This entailed deducing the workings of the saidmechanisms from the plethora of sign-systemsthat is bourgeois culture- public entertainment,journalism, consumer product advertising andconsumption patterns, to name but a few.

In ‘The World of Wrestling’, the law- quiteliterally- sets the stage for a “spectacle ofexcess”27, a grandiloquent masque of morality.The physique of the ‘performers’- the pallid,heaving corpulence of the ‘bastard’, condemninghim to an “amorphous baseness”28 at first glance,and the muscularity of the white, lean ‘Sufferer’-becomes the seed, the first sign, within which ispre-ordained the trajectory, the very morphing ofmoments whose assemblage is wrestling.According to Barthes, unlike in ‘jansenist’ sportslike boxing, where the narrative is organically

constructed towards a demonstration ofexcellence, each moment in wrestling with itsattendant knowledge of a ‘pure’ passion, isperfectly intelligible, a finely crafted self-contained, ‘natural image’ of reality, and notsimply a function in determining a literally naturalresult. Reality is that which is merely seen, neverthat which is apprehended or anticipated. Eachalgebraically orchestrated, exaggerated action- arepresentation of cause and effect- “emptiesinteriority”29 to stretch the image of a passion tothe very limits of this form. Nothing is leftambiguous: above all, the ‘Suffering’ inflicted byand ‘Defeat’ at the hands of the ‘bastard’ arepainstakingly presented as key signifiers- theyare not self-sufficient signs or outcomes bythemselves, but a duration, a display to establisha foundation for, to rationalize, to justify ‘Justice’itself. For a narrative of ‘Justice’ that makes of therulebook a genre to be creatively exploited, to be‘rejuvenated’, naturalization is paramount. Thespectator must, intuitively, not be willing to settlefor less than an ‘eye for an eye, a tooth for atooth’.

The pursuit of ‘Order’ is once again decipheredin ‘Soap-powders and Detergents’: a comparative“psycho-analysis”30 of chlorinated cleaning fluidsand their ‘sophisticated’ counterparts- detergents.Chlorine, as “liquid fire”30 wages war on the‘stain’: the connotations are of mutilation, ofkilling dirt, to restore the fairness, the whitenessof linen. It is, no doubt, a purifier, but a “blind”30

one, predictably bearing ethnographicassociations with the proletariat- the vigorousmovements of the washerwoman as she beats



and slaps the clothes to clean them. Detergents,on the other hand, separate the stain from thecloth: their very “judgment”30 places thediminutive ‘Other’- “stunted and black”30- in itsproper place. Wielding them is the genteelhousewife, as she presses and rolls the cloth ona washboard, without force. While thebourgeoisie cannot imagine the ‘Other’ within its‘Self’, it can at least identify the place where itlegitimately fits. This, according to Barthes is‘liberalism’: “an intellectual equilibrium based onrecognized places”31, a euphemism forghettoization.

Perhaps the last line of the above essay- aplea to remember that both chlorinated agentsand detergents stand on equal footing in at leastone aspect: that of their production, theirmanufacture by the firm Unilever- assumesimport when contrasted with the mythperpetuated in the various forms assumed by‘Toys’ in bourgeois society. French toys, as perBarthes, intend to create a microcosm of adultlife- they “always mean something”32, oftenconditioning the child to adult social norms andfunctions. The architecture of the adult world, inminiature, is promptly supplied to him/her, withoutleaving room for inquiry into the “mainsprings”33

of its causality. ‘Possession’, ‘Use’, ‘Ownership’ isthus naturalized, and at an early age.

Apart from a reading of several other essays-including ‘The Writer on Holiday’, ‘Blind andDumb Criticism’ and ‘The Brain of Einstein’- thelecture discussion turned to recent imagesgenerated by the mass media. One such was thecover of the newspaper ‘The New Yorker’, dated

January 26, 2009. Featuring then newly electedUnited States President Barack Obama in theguise of his political ‘ancestor’ GeorgeWashington, the inevitable second-ordersignifiers- ‘virtue’, ‘moral authority’, ‘liberality’,among others- work in tandem as forms toestablish, to assure a promise of ‘Change’, of a‘new world order’: a signification unequivocal toall citizens of the globe who had followed thetrajectory of the presidential campaign.

In conclusion, the lecture briefly touched uponpotential methods of resistance to the all-appropriating force that is myth today. Poeticlanguage- the equipage of what Barthes calls the“avant-garde”34- even when recognizing the“ideological abuse”10 hidden in bourgeois myth,remains open to “salvage”34. Firstly, at a materiallevel, artists as a minority group depend on thefinancial support of the bourgeois public in orderto voice themselves. Secondly, although, poetryas a language, Barthes elaborates, is anti-semiological in its concerns- in that it stresses thearbitrariness of the sign in the hope of ‘speaking’the reality of things and not about it, oftranscending to the natural and not humanmeanings of things, to the ‘thing in itself’ -inasmuch as it is an essentialist system, itprovides a stronghold for myth. “…the apparentlack of the order of signs…a poetic facet of anessential order, is captured by myth andtransformed into an empty signifier which willserve to signify poetry itself.”35 ‘Nature’, then, canjust as easily be invested with an image of itself.This mechanism deployed by myth is part of aregulated structure that governs its very form:



“inoculation”36. By admitting small doses ofalmost cathartic subversion at a time, myth drawsattention to the liberality of the regime itperpetuates, thereby immunizing the latteragainst a full-fledged overthrow of its power. Theessay ‘Blind and Dumb Criticism’ evidences anexample of this. By waxing complacently abouttheir helplessness, their lack of understanding inthe face of certain (usually ‘Left-of-Centre’)literary works, the professional practice ofbourgeois criticism renders them inaccessible tothe public. This ‘speechlessness’, by chalking thelimits of perceptible ‘Knowledge’ to neatly exclude“poetic ineffability”37, binds it hand-and-foot underthe pretext of acknowledging it as complete,autonomous sign-system. For Barthes, then, theclosest the artist comes is to attacking the ethics,the language of the bourgeoisie- their politics,which is myth, remains unscathed.

If however, Barthes writes, myth is‘depoliticized’ speech, then at least one type ofspeech constitutes its opposite: political speech,in other words, the language of revolution. This isthe language of man as transformer of reality, asproducer and not as possessor. It functions at thelevel of the ‘language-object’ and thereforecannot be mythical. Unlike myth, which is initiallypolitical and finally natural, revolution as speech,from start to end, bears a political charge thatactively crafts circumstance. No sooner, however,does revolution become the ‘Left’, it enters therealm of myth- content henceforth, in the mannerof the bourgeoisie, to eternalize its historicaldeterminants. Nevertheless, it is distinct frombourgeois myth on several grounds- for one, it is

“inessential”38, in that it can never penetrate thefabric of everyday life, as has been seen, mython the ‘Right’ can (detergents and toys, forinstance). Moreover, being invented at specificmoments only, its means of proliferation arecircumscribed. It lacks the luxury of continuity.Lastly, its operation is confined to a singlequotidian language- that of the ‘oppressed’. Itssense of urgency disables the complete distortionof any pre-existing meaning. All in all, it isirregular, “clumsy”39 speech, unlike itscounterpart, whose hold extends over even themost complete (mathematics) or adamant signsystems- including that, as seen above, of Leftistintellectualism itself.

Without even touching upon the immensecomplexity of this proposition, Barthes cites atleast one methodology as, perhaps, a ‘pure’escape from the ‘false consciousness’ insidiouslycultivated by myth. A commitment to ‘Silence’. -S.H.

Citations:1 ‘Panopticism’ in Paul Rabinow (Ed.) TheFoucault Reader. England: Penguin Books, 1984,p. 2082 ‘The bourgeoisie as a joint stock company’in Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. New York: TheNoonday Press, 1991. Selected and translatedfrom the French by Annette Lavers, p. 1413 ‘Panopticism’ in Paul Rabinow (Ed.) TheFoucault Reader. England: Penguin Books, 1984,p. 2094 Ibid, p. 2065 Ibid, p. 207



6 ‘Introduction’ to Paul Rabinow (Ed.) TheFoucault Reader. England: Penguin Books, 1984,p. 187 Ibid, p. 198 ‘Panopticism’ in Paul Rabinow (Ed.) TheFoucault Reader. England: Penguin Books, 1984,p. 2129 ‘Preface to the 1970 Edition (Collection‘Points’, Le Seuil, Paris) in Barthes, Roland.Mythologies. New York: The Noonday Press,1991. Selected and translated from the French byAnnette Lavers, p. 810 ‘Preface’ to Barthes, Roland. Mythologies.New York: The Noonday Press, 1991. Selectedand translated from the French by AnnetteLavers, p. 1011 ‘Introduction’ to Chandler, Daniel.Semiotics for Beginners. Accessed fromhttp://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/sem01.html, August, 2014, unpaginated12 ‘Myth is a type of speech’ in Barthes,Roland. Mythologies. New York: The NoondayPress, 1991. Selected and translated from theFrench by Annette Lavers, p. 10913 ‘Myth as a semiological system’ inBarthes, Roland. Mythologies. New York: TheNoonday Press, 1991. Selected and translatedfrom the French by Annette Lavers, p. 11114 Ibid, p. 11515 ‘The form and the concept’ in Barthes,Roland. Mythologies. New York: The NoondayPress, 1991. Selected and translated from theFrench by Annette Lavers, p. 11716 ‘Reading and Deciphering Myth’ in

Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. New York: TheNoonday Press, 1991. Selected and translatedfrom the French by Annette Lavers, p. 12817 Ibid, p. 12918 Ibid, p. 13019 ‘Myth as stolen language’ in Barthes,Roland. Mythologies. New York: The NoondayPress, 1991. Selected and translated from theFrench by Annette Lavers, p. 13120 ‘Myth is a type of speech’ in Barthes,Roland. Mythologies. New York: The NoondayPress, 1991. Selected and translated from theFrench by Annette Lavers, p. 10821 ‘The form and the concept’ in Barthes,Roland. Mythologies. New York: The NoondayPress, 1991. Selected and translated from theFrench by Annette Lavers, p. 118 [emphasismine]22 ‘The signification’ in Barthes, Roland.Mythologies. New York: The Noonday Press,1991. Selected and translated from the French byAnnette Lavers, p. 12523 Ibid, p. 120 [emphasis mine]24 Ibid, p. 121 [emphasis mine]25 ‘Myth is depoliticized speech’ in Barthes,Roland. Mythologies. New York: The NoondayPress, 1991. Selected and translated from theFrench by Annette Lavers, p. 14226 Ibid, p. 14427 ‘The World of Wrestling’ in Barthes,Roland. Mythologies. New York: The NoondayPress, 1991. Selected and translated from theFrench by Annette Lavers, p. 1328 Ibid, p. 1529 Ibid, p. 16



30 ‘Soap-powders and Detergents’ inBarthes, Roland. Mythologies. New York: TheNoonday Press, 1991. Selected and translatedfrom the French by Annette Lavers, p. 3531 ‘Myth on the Right’ in Barthes, Roland.Mythologies. New York: The Noonday Press,1991. Selected and translated from the French byAnnette Lavers, p. 15332 ‘Toys’ in Barthes, Roland. Mythologies.New York: The Noonday Press, 1991. Selectedand translated from the French by AnnetteLavers, p. 5333 Ibid, p. 5434 ‘The bourgeoisie as a joint stock company’in Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. New York: TheNoonday Press, 1991. Selected and translatedfrom the French by Annette Lavers, p. 13835 ‘Myth as stolen language’ in Barthes,Roland. Mythologies. New York: The NoondayPress, 1991. Selected and translated from theFrench by Annette Lavers, p. 13336 ‘Myth on the Right’ in Barthes, Roland.Mythologies. New York: The Noonday Press,1991. Selected and translated from the French byAnnette Lavers, p. 15137 ‘Blind and Dumb Criticism’ in Barthes,Roland. Mythologies. New York: The NoondayPress, 1991. Selected and translated from theFrench by Annette Lavers, p. 3338 ‘Myth on the Left’ in Barthes, Roland.Mythologies. New York: The Noonday Press,1991. Selected and translated from the French byAnnette Lavers, p. 14739 Ibid, p. 149

ANNOUNCEMENT:

The Art & Architecture of Southeast AsiaThis semester long course is designed to help

students familiarise themselves with the history ofart, architecture and material culture of SoutheastAsia from early centuries to the advancement ofIslam. The people of this large and diversetropical region drew selectively from olderreligious, artistic and technological cultures suchas India and China to develop a sacred art andarchitecture that was entirely their own and of anunequalled variety and splendour. Core thematicissues that will be covered include stateformations, first kingdoms, religious changes andartistic practice, art and identity, art and politics,kingship and temples, temple iconography andrituals. A range of approaches based on currentinternational scholarship will enable the studentsto critically analyse key representativemonuments, sculpture and artefacts.

Dates: 5 Feb 2015 – 17 April 2015Fees: Rs.15,000/-


Queens Mansion, 3rd Floor, G. Talwatkar Marg,Fort, Mumbai - 400001. India.www.jp-india.comwww.facebook.com/JnanapravahaAtMumbaiFollow us on Twitter @Jnanapravaha_M


We know we have made a difference. Our endeavour to encourage and facilitate creative expression meaningfully,continues with the firm belief that the arts are indispensable to the well-being of the community and the individual.

Faisal Devji speaks during ‘Iqbal e Hindu’

Date post:	25-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	lengoc
View:	216 times
Download:	2 times