Let’s make it art for all!

Yahan pe Hrithik Roshan aane wala hai. Shooting hone wali hai.’

These were just some of the stories that Giulia Ambrogi and her team heard when they started setting up the Sassoon Dock Art Project at one of the busiest docks in the city. But once the installations and murals were up at the experiential exhibition, the Co-Founder and Festival Curator, St+art India Foundation, found that the audience, specially the fisherfolk living in the neighbouring areas, were not only curious about it, they were appreciative as well. “Their response has been not only been active, it’s been respectful as well. As for the more informed crowd, they feel Mumbai needs more experiential exhibitions that are open to the public,” she says.

Sassoon Dock might be one of the busiest docks in the city, nestled in an area surrrounded by art galleries, but it has more or less stayed forgotten by the city-dwellers. The exhibition, being held as part of the St+art Mumbai 2017 Urban Art Festival, takes interest in places that have a huge relevance for the city in many ways, but have, over the years, become neglected. As for the exhibition itself, more than 30 Indian and international artistes have created works of art, keeping in mind the context of the city and the multi-layered stories and traditions of the area the exhibition has been set in.

Some of the works can only be termed as spectacular. Plastic Ocean by Singaporean artist Tan Zi Xi, made with 400 kgs of plastic found in the local areas, is suffocating to say the least, reminding us of the ignored plight hidden inside the coasts of the city. Australian artist Guido Van Helten’s Untitled profiles three portraits of the fisher women he met and shelled prawns with, delving into the eco-system of life at the docks. Hanif Kureshi from India, who is also the creative director of the festival, has put up The Idea of Smell. Using fishnets and words floating in the room, the visual artist has tried to create a link between smells and memories.

“At other places, the idea of art is that it belongs to a certain class of people. Here, we are not trying to be anything that way. Art doesn’t need to be viewed as something that’s difficult to understand, and at the same time, you can’t dumb it down either. It doesn’t have to be a landscape or a portrait, it can be something in between. You just have to form a connection with your senses. It’s art minus commerce and that’s the only way it can become art for all,” says Hanif.

The Sassoon Dock Art Project is open from 12 pm to 10 pm, Thursdays to Sundays until December 30. Entry is free.

Plastic Ocean: Tan Zi Xi

Singaporean artist, Tan Zi Xi’s immersive installation invites the viewer into a room that creates a floating effect of an ocean with the aid of tons of plastic. Working with about 400kgs of plastic found within the local geography, the artist opens a pathway for Mumbai to reconnect with the ignored plight hidden inside its coasts.

The Idea of Smell: Hanif Kureshi

Playing with the idea of smell and memory, Hanif Kureshi establishes a direct connection between those concepts while inviting the viewer to immerse themselves in a path of feelings through the idea of smell.

Untitled: Guido Van Helten

Australian artist Guido Van Helten spent three days taking portrait shots of the fisherfolk present at the dock. “I saw these women shelling prawns at the dock, they sat together and I talked with them briefly smiling, focused and strong. I chose to represent these three because of their close friendship.”, explains Guido. With his signature style, Guido profiles three portraits for the facades that overlook a primary space of the warehouse. The piece will be a permanent trace and tribute to the dock even after the exhibition ends.

Parfum Sassoon Showroom: Sameer Kulavoor

Taking on from his background and the distinct smell of Sassoon Dock, graphic designer and multimedia artist Sameer Kulavoor fabricates an experience of being inside a showroom that sells an imagined exclusive cologne from the dock. He plays with the colour palettes of the dock to create the brand of Parfum Sassoon that drives the view and the desire for the exclusive product.

Dead Fish: Arthat Collective

Mumbai-based design studio Arthat Collective uses the skeleton of a fish to develop a deeper narrative that looks at Mumbai’s buildings as an entity that encapsulates the flux between massive urban developments and lost traditions.

Sassoon Dog: Faizan Patankar

The Sassoon Dog works along with undertones of the condition of animals caught up in the contemporary urban scenario. Perceived through the lens of the many stray dogs, which is “We see when we want to, and don’t when we don’t”, this installation occurs at different areas of the venue.