Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Future Funny Forces, Art Installation, Can Serrat International Art Center, Barcelona


Future Funny Forces, Site specific art installation, Mixed media, 2015

I was one of the artist-in-residence at the Can Serrat International Art Center in Barcelona, during the month of June 2015. Can Serrat is located in the outskirts of Barcelona, within the Montserrat Nature Park. During the residency, I wrote a story and a song that got translated into a site-specific art installation project called "Future Funny Forces", drawing inspiration from the Montserrat mountains, Gaudí's tree-like columns at the Sagrada Familia, his mosaics at Park Güell, my visit to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, the story of Caganer (a customary figure used in traditional Catalan nativity scenes) and similar traditional decorations created for the festival of ‘Janmashtami’ that is celebrated in India. 

As part of explorations, I did series of drawings and interviewed local people and asked them to share their childhood memories and their vision of the future while recording their conversations on my video camera. Later, I tried tweaking the sound by mixing different voices to create a futuristic soundtrack. 

I made five clay sculptures and worked with mosaic for the site-specific installation display. The intention was to create a three-dimensional story scene. I tried creating miniature mountains, forest, fields and a path made of stones and other found objects. 

In the story I wrote during my stay in Can Serrat, the future forces of nature have time traveled to deliver a message (the message is a song). But the by-product monsters have put these helpless forces of nature in funny situations. I collaborated with very talented Grisel Acosta (writer-in-residence) for the Spanish translation of the song, Fina la Ina, musician sang the vocals and Pere Subirana, also a musician, sang and composed the song in Spanish, based on Eskorbuto’s song "la sangre, los polvos, los muertos". It’s a wonderful feeling to hear your song sung in another language. 

https://soundcloud.com/kavita_singh_kale/future-funny-forces

"Future Funny Forces" is my own interpretation of forces of nature and the pathetic condition they are in. The installation is a sarcastic comment on the current environmental condition and impacts of climate change. It’s a coincidence that during my residency stay, the whole of Europe was experiencing unprecedented weather conditions as there was record breaking heat wave during the month of June and July.














Open Studio, Can Serrat International Art Center, Barcelona