by bangaloREsidents Matthias Beckmann and Sandra Havlicek
Matthias Beckmann and
Sandra Havlicek see and experience Bangalore from different perspectives. While Matthias Beckmann
documents everyday situations in the immediate neighbourhood with his
watercolour drawings created on site, Sandra Havlicek is interested in the
higher-level structures and
concepts of the metropolis, which she translates into a
complex sculptural work.
Matthias Beckmann - How to cross a road in Bangalore
© Matthias Beckmann
1Shanthiroad Studio/Gallery is located in the heart of
Shanthinagar. Every morning, the Berlin-based draughtsman Matthias Beckmann goes out and
explores the district and the immediate neighbourhood.
In front of the motif, he
draws and watercolours what he sees: Temples, motor scooters, street scenes, demolished street signs, cows, dogs, goats, a mosque, the cemeteries in Cemetery Road, the butchers in Johnson Market, the baskets of flowers in KR Market, all the little things and oddities of everyday life.
Children surround him as he paints in watercolours, many observers stay with him from the beginning to the end of the painting process and ask many questions. In the meantime, he has also learned how to cross a road.
A richly
illustrated catalogue with texts by
Suresh Jayaram and Matthias Beckmann is published to accompany the exhibition.
Sandra Havlicek - Promise Build Collapse / After MASTERPLANS
© Sandra Havlicek
A complex
urban structure can be expressed by
everyday materials and how we
engage with these. They are connected with different associations. Sandra Havlicek describes a condition of the metropolis with these materials.
The Snake Stones (Nagas), the multi-headed serpent representation, are directly linked to the worship of trees. From an urban design perspective, worshiping the trees informally generates community spaces at the neighborhood level - public space is defined by citizens and occupied by the snake stones.
Another multi-headed representation are the
unique advertising media for motorcycle helmets. They flank the streets like memorials, reminding one of how public space is replaced by streets. Every citizen one vehicle.
The two representations are the starting point for Sandra Havlicek's sculptural examination of the metropolis as
a place of perverted conditions, loving gestures and contradictory feelings.
The exhibition opens on
Thursday, December 7 at
7 p.m. and is
on view til
December 9 from
11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
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