The artists have created a space in the centre of the museum where museum goers can take part in games that put both the body and mind to work. There are trampolines to be jumped on while reading the newspaper, text messaging while cycling, lifting weights while reciting poetry and wrestling while playing musical chairs.
'New Bombay, a twin city, made pretty by the city committee, being witty and gritty ready for a ditty,' this tongue twister will be part of the Verbal Kabaddi section in the 'Games People Play' exhibit at the Dr Bhau Daji lad Museum. Delhi based artists Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra have given new meaning to performance in motion by making the audience the centre piece of the art work. The artwork is based around the museum's collection of indoor and outdoor games from ancient and traditional Indian homes, and is open to public till July 28.
The artists have created a space in the centre of the museum where museum goers can take part in games that put both the body and mind to work. There are trampolines to be jumped on while reading the newspaper, text messaging while cycling, lifting weights while reciting poetry and wrestling while playing musical chairs.
The idea, Tagra, said, was to bring humour in 'serious' games. “When we saw the museum's collection, we felt that every figurine was doing an activity, but was frozen. Everything was static and we felt that it needs life. We thought of making it performative and participatory where three categories of people could be brought in – the museum guides, the viewers and the artists. The information we had was that the collection was from the late 18th century to early 19th century, and we tried to bring out the mythology through our art,” added Tagra.
The artists have also created a board game of their own called the Walk of Life, where a player who gets the Satya Yuga dice gets to start the game, and all players record their deeds and deaths on their Karma cards. If the players have a negative score, they need to roll the Kalki figurine (the destroyer of filth) according the score and make confessions about each stop to reach zero. The confessions can be about lust, greed, envy, theft, etc. The player who completes the Kali Yuga stage the first attains 'enlightenment'.
“We got the idea from the ancient Ganjifa cards that had 120 cards. The purpose of that game was not gambling, but being closer to God. The person who had the Lord Rama card began first, and if the game was played in the evening, the Lord Krishna card holder began first. The idea was to be in a state of prayer and meditation,” explained Tagra. The duo has made paintings based on these cards showing the evolution of Dashavtar Vishnu.
The exhibit also has a table made in the shape of Mumbai's landscape and the viewer can play table-tennis on it, with the ping pong balls stuck on the walls. They are supposed to be a comment on the game invented by the British and the city which was transformed by them.
Besides these installations, There is a sculpture 'stone wings' where one can stand between two large wing sculptures and take a selfie; a short film Q scene 4 which is a scene from a larger film to be completed in 5 years.
The museum has even kept a games mela where Land and Water can be played on a map of the old seven islands of Bombay drawn on the floor, besides Snakes and Ladders, Hopscotch and the Mayfair pole.
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