Artistic Freedom

''When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
There was no one left to speak out.''

Confessed prominent German anti-Nazi theologian and Pastor Martin Niemöller

Creativity is the supreme art. The pursuit of art, thus, is mostly a singular journey at the conceptual as well as the practical level. Art is the making of the new and the artists despite all the commercialisation around ‘create’. ‘Creation’, as art never has a precedent, a legacy or tradition in the normal sense of the term. Even if there is a tradition, it exists not to be followed, not to be learnt and copied but to be experienced and felt only to ‘recreate.’

Art is an effort, an attempt to come to terms with the various component parts of countries, memories, histories, families and gods. Art is an experience for the artist and its connoisseurs, and even for those who ‘hate’ it. Hate is not the right term to be expressively involved to art. An effort and especially a creative effort should be only appreciated. But of late, what we have seen in recent times is that some vigilante extremists are trying to determine and control the dimensions of art. Be it the unnecessary controversy around Prof. Shivaji Panikkar , the attack on Taslima Nasreen by followers of the Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) in Hyderabad in August 2007, the furore raised on the issue of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard who caricatured Prophet Mohammed wearing a bomb-shaped turban or Haji Yaqub Qureshi , a minister in the then UP government announcing Rs 50-crore reward publicly, on the head of Danish cartoonists are all vigilantism.

Agreed it was not for art’s sake. It was uncalled for, deplorable and done with a vicious motive. But, it is also true that such violent reactions, somehow, undermine the spirit of creative urge of all the stakeholders. In any case, there will always be a section ready to misuse things created with the best of intention.

The society needs to look for ways to control over-assertion of any short of identities. At the same time overreaction ought to be discouraged for both are forms of radicalism and hence dangerous. What was done to Maqbul Fida Hussain is condemnable. The way an artist of his stature has been forced out of the country is a loss for the tradition of art in this country. Equally condemnable is the ostracising of Salman Rushdie whose writing promises a whole new era in English language and literature.

The impact is for all the reasonable persons to experience. The impact has been disastrous. Creation has got ‘ideology’. Art has become ‘political’. Love for art is being subjected to the whims of collectivism . ‘Individualism ’ has suddenly become a bad word. The expression of feelings is being subjected to hooliganism. It has suddenly got ‘national’ and ‘ethnic’ colours. Suddenly artists being attacked have got media attention. Suddenly a few artists are being blamed for being insensitive and hurting sentiments. The alarm bell is for there to pay attention to. The way not only extremists but also the so called rationalists are taking extreme positions are both detrimental to the cause of institution building.

If all this is not enough we need to revisit the last line of Martin Nimoller’s confession. Otherwise art will be tied either to art galleries who are guided by business considerations at the end of the day or to ideologies. In its existence since times immemorial the love for art was probably never guided so ‘consciously’.

Salman Rushdie once commented, ‘to say that beyond self-exploration lies a sense of writing as sacrament, and maybe that's closer to how I feel: that writing fills the hole left by the departure of God.’

I don’t want that hole to be determined or defined by anyone else.

What Makes Art Contemporary

The three word ‘arts’, ‘aesthetics’ and ‘contemporary’ are in a relationship. But a contemporary art is not necessarily contemporary aesthetics and many art practices and aesthetics sensibilities are not necessarily contemporary despite being in practice.

An art is contemporary, if identified by contemporary people who matter. At the same time an art of a better genre might not be appreciated because of bad marketing or, managerial practices. So what determine the contemporariness of arts and aesthetics is mostly not the art of the arts but the art of presenting art in front of people.

The world famous Indian artist like Subodh Gupta took themes which got an international recognition. But that does not mean he is the only person who thinks on similar lines. Subodh got cows and cow dung, tongs and daily utensils, and such materials of common use to reach this stage. But no less was the role of Flora Boillot in promoting Brand Subodh. What I feel after five months of research and exchanges with these contemporaries is it’s really dependent upon things which might have nothing to do with art.

The conclusion I am able to reach as of now is- contemporary aesthetic beliefs of those who matter is critical for an art to be contemporary.

The fact remains that any folk art is better understood and practised by a larger number of people than any abstract or modern art. Any traditional art, simply because it is in the common psyche since ages is easily understood. But a folk art is not considered contemporary as it is not taken up by the marketers to the Sotheby and the Biennale.

Utility is again not all together a lost case. The survival of an art practice requires it to be of some use. There are many experiments which are in demand today but that might not be the case about them just after a couple of years. While votaries of arts would talk of art for arts’ sake, ultimately, the purpose should be commonly identifiable.

When we visit the market, many old crafts and practices have become contemporary. Yoga and meditation have become contemporary because of their utility. Because Yoga is a rage today, it has affected all forms of contemporary fitness practices. Meditation does not give much scope of changing itself, still it is a rage. Similar patterns are visible in the art world.

Contemporary is not art but the aesthetics of men who matter and the marketers who are able to drive home the point in their mind. These marketers are not the traditional painter artists but those who got taught in Wharton and Harvard: how to sell a product.

Is it good or bad? Will this trend hurt art practice? Do we need to search for better ways to identify or classify what is contemporary art and what is not? These questions are confusing. We really don’t know what’s going to happen after 10 years to the art world. As of now the most difficult is the art of waiting to watch.

Mortuary is no mystery

By Tilak Jha, Sanjeev Kumar and Manisha Sharma

The sight of a corpse leaves many with a palpitating heart. We think it is very difficult to be in a morgue handling the dead day in and out. Death, for man, has always been difficult to come to term with. And we all want to stay away from a mortuary. But “science”, says Dr. Sunay Kumar, senior resident doctor, forensic medicine at the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, “has proved that the fear of dead is a misplaced notion.” “This sealed room has all the skeletal remains of the Nithari serial killings case. It is critical until the trial goes on”, says Dr Adarsh Kumar, Asst. Professor, forensic medicine at, AIIMS. A dead body is as important as those alive to ascertain the cause of death. When there is no evidence, a dead body is the greatest witness of the dead. Autopsy is what helps to know the reasons behind the death. The forensic experts in the mortuary along with their toxicology counterparts make a dead tell the tale of their death, of their claim for justice and peace and the pain and frustration they underwent while alive. But a lot of facilities and care is required and the results can be, at times, startling. Dr. D. N. Bhardwaj, additional professor of forensic science and toxicology at AIIMS, recalling one of the autopsy says, “Everyone believed the death to be a murder, but it was a road accident, where the person was hit by a truck.” Dead bodies can be of great research value. Organ donation especially eye donation is another thing being actively promoted. Dr. Adarsh Kumar, assistant professor of forensic medicine at AIIMS says, “There can be no substitute of a dead body for research purpose. And there are a few NGOs who are promoting contribution of dead bodies.” Even in a hospital mortuaries are the most ignored places. Discussing the problems of mortuaries Dr. Kumar says that good infrastructure is limited to metros. Even at AIIMS, the lack of enough hands does affect the quality of autopsy. Another major reason is the lack of enough remuneration. “Forensic experts are the highest paid people in Australia and England.” Dr. Sunay Mahesh, senior resident, forensic medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi says, “the stigma attached to this department is another major reason why the department struggles for enough manpower. But apart from monetary consideration, the stigma attached to the job is especially for the 4th grade staffs who actually manhandles the body is significant. “Life is a great surprise. I do not see why death should not be an even greater one. Wrote Vladimir Nabokov in his 1962 novel ‘Pale Fire’ The obviousness and the triviality of death is enough to recognise that misconceptions about dead be removed.