A couple of years ago  i had heard of a festival that happens at Cochin that showcases art. I had been told that it was brilliant and the stuff that was displayed was top notch. Artists work really hard for a couple of years before they send in their art for display. Imagine the amount of work that goes into each piece. I am not a lover of art or even remotely interested but the festival had a bunch of musicians who i wanted to watch playing. As luck would have it i was getting married at Cochin and the festival was on at the same time. This was one chance for me to check out the displays and try and understand art.

After the wedding day the wife and I borrowed her dad’s car and went to check out the festival.  The first place we went to was on the beach. Found a board that said Biennale and walked in. Nothing much to see as the place was getting done up. Kept walking and stopped for a snack. As we walked ahead we found a small board that said that a portion of the exhibition was help there. Went in to check it out. There was this really nice pyramid sort of thing that showed to events that have happened in the past. The writer who had written a book about the  someone who i have never heard of was around tried to explain the story to us but that dint help. Seemed like something very few people would read. The next stop was the Kalaripayattu performance area. This was brilliant. young kids after lots of training were able to showcase this amazing art form. Since everyone was hungry we went to Seagull,  a lovely place on the water’s edge. Ships would pass by and if you google the name of the ship, you can find out what kind of vessel it was. Discovered that we have lots of small passenger vessels that operate to Lakshadeep everyday.

IMG_20170130_125229On on the way to Aspen Wall with a couple of friends. It was a good thing that it was a Monday and entrance was free. The first thing when we walked in to one of the display area was on a cement block there was a wash basin. No it wasn’t meant for us to wash our hands, but it was up for display. Let me repeat someone lugged a wash basin from Europe for display. The 2nd one was a door that was placed on a stand. It dint open. Did nothing. There wasn’t anything special about the door. IMG_20170202_114848Anyways moving on. I put in the effort to understand what it all meant, all i could come up with was modern art. Anyways made tracks through a bunch of displays and found a place that had a speaker with a word been loudly chanted. They had a bunch of stools that you sit down on and the speaker was attached to the stool. yet again dint know what it meant but was grateful for the stool to rest my legs. The next stop was this huge hall that we normally use to build temporary structures for events, this was filled with water. IMG_20170202_114842I think the theme of it was walking through pain or something of that nature. Obviously i walked in to see what this meant, dint understand it. Was hoping i wont get poked. The next stop was a bunch of displays that had a cycle seat and a bunch of balloon, tables, chairs etc. It was called stool cycle seat, balloon cycle seat etc. My last stop was in a pyramid that had a path that was created inside. As i walked inside the dark pyramid i could hear some music playing. I think the best way to describe it was rumbling. Its like someone learning to play the Djembe.

IMG_20170202_114904One of the better parts of that day was looking at people who were gazing at the exhibition and talking about how it inspired them. None of the people i went with understood any of the displays that were put up. I know art is subjective and not everyone would understand it but this is beyond anything i seen.

So i made a bunch of decisions. I am going to put in my application to display my art next year. One of the exhibitions will be Pip and Trouble running around the hall licking anyone who comes in. The other one would be the state of the pillow after Pip chews it up each morning and the last one would be a picture of my house after it hasn’t been cleaned for a while. I mean come on if a pic of a sink can be displayed, these should definitely be there. I know this the last modern art exhibition i will attend at-least out of choice. As i write this im looking forward to someone looking at the picture of my bedroom and trying to decipher what it actually means. Maybe it can be interpreted to mean something. When you looking for meaning in anything you always find it . Look hard enough and you can find it.