Above : I’m standing in front of a painting by artist Gigi Scaria.
This was my first time visiting Bhavna Kakkar’s art gallery called Latitude 28, which is located at the colloquially called The Art District at Lado Sarai, New Delhi.
Traversing The Noosphere
Diptej Vernekar | Gigi Scaria | Noor Ali Chagani | Niyeti Chadha Kannal
In his book The Biosphere and The Noosphere, Vladimir Vernadsky elaborated on the Noosphere as a new evolutionary stage in the development of the Biosphere when the human-and-nature interaction would be consciously balanced.
In his projection of the future he considered the emergence of the Noosphere as a critical evolutionary step needed for preserving and reconstructing the Biosphere in the interest of humanity as a single entity. In our time of environmental crisis and deep rooted uncertainty about the future, Vernadsky’s optimistic premise of the Noosphere may seem like a stark contrast to the zeitgeist of the contemporary era, where collective consciousness is peppered with critique on a solely anthropocentric worldview and the environmental hazards of mankind’s activity.
We live at a very special time in the history of humanity – a time of developing ecological crisis where our survival as the human race is threatened by the progression of climate change and depletion of natural resources. The Noosphere, as Vernadksy considered it, envelops the world as a sphere of thought that has emerged as a consequence of the increasing complexity of human consciousness, a natural culmination of biological phenomenon. The existence of the sphere is indisputable, yet its nature and consequence for humanity is an exploratory angle of Traversing The Noosphere.
This exhibition calls attention to perspectives on the unprecedented rate of human development of our times, our rapidly evolving relationship with the world around us and our changing sense of self in relation to the natural world.
Noor Ali Chagani
Noor Ali Chagani creates works, composed of hand-made miniature terracotta bricks to demonstrate his unique take as a sculptor on the tradition of miniature painting. His work revolves around the concept of the absence of home; his quest for a personal space that he can call his own. On a very personal level, Chagani feels that bricks are a symbolic way for him to connect to the rest of the world. His brick works also demonstrate a fascination with the symbolic power of colossal walls, which connote silence and strength. In contrast, Chagani also works with the idea of self-comparison with walls, as obstructive, stagnant objects.
Gigi Scaria
Gigi Scaria’s series of works, ‘Comfort Zone’, is reminiscent of the continuous tussle between nature and humans to create a modern urban landscape. There has always been a debate on human comfort and the price we pay for that comfort. Cities have been built and sustained by the logic of prosperity and an easy lifestyle. The depletion of natural resources and the environmental disasters force us to look at modern life and cities through a new prism. A prism, which will straighten many of our distorted views. Through his painting Scaria creates absurdist environments of the future, challenging the human psyche and its relationship with modern progress. He explores the issue of non-belonging and unsettlement in his works.
Niyeti Chadha Kannal
Niyeti Chadha Kannal’s works, in many ways are a direct outcome of lens based wanderings into the spectacular labyrinths of growing metropolises like New York, London and Bangalore as well as renderings on paper of the chance materialisations of architectural monstrosities encountered by the flaneur at the unholy intersections of disparate materials, sensibilities and times. What shines through the works of the Bangalore-based artist Niyeti Chadha Kannal is a search for the elusive and the visionary in the slowly-yet-surely transitioning purlieus of our urban landscapes.
Diptej Vernekar
Diptej Vernekar is interested in exploring the relationship between objects, his surroundings, the space and nature which is in a constant state of flux. His work brings together fragments of these disconnected verses, stitching them together into visual poems. The current body of drawings revolves around the weathering of thoughts, where abstract memories get accumulated and translate into obscure species and how beauty and its contradiction co-exist, creating an atmosphere of its own.
The “Traversing The Noosphere” exhibit is on till the last week of August. If you are driving yourself to the location, you will be able to find parking towards the Saket end of the inner road and you will have to walk approximately 200 meters at best. Carry an umbrella if you’re going now. If you’re in a cab / have a driver, they will be able to drop you right in front of the gallery but be prepared for some traffic. You will be climbing one flight of stairs to the viewing space.
See previous Art Features and Photo Stories on the Naina.co Blog.