An exhibition about the proposed public art project 'Embrace our Rivers' - initiated and supported by the Goethe Institut and curated by Florian Matzner and Ravi Agarwal - will open at the Lalit Kala Akademi (National Academy of Art) in Chennai on Friday 2nd February. It will display proposals from the group of artists who have worked on this project, including 'Lake 301: A Lake in a River' by Ooze and Marjetica Potrč.
'Lake 301' is like a window in to the future - showing that it is possible to restore the city's relationship with it's (currently heavily polluted) water into a positive one that is beneficial to all citizens and the city as a whole. A new lake is created - an insertion of a pocket of clean water in to the polluted Cooum River. The water is cleaned by pumping a small amount of river water through several septic tanks and a plant filter, closing the water cycle at a local scale. The resulting installation forms an accessible public space that allows visitors to question and experience what clean urban water could mean to them.
The exhibition intends to raise awareness of the River as Public Space, and the importance of artists' contribution towards its future. It aims to ignite a public discussion about river, ecology, public space and art.
Participating artists:
Anna Wit
Arun Kumar H.G.
atelier le balto
Atul Bhalla
Gigi Scaria
Layout 2050
Mischa Kuball
Ooze (Eva Pfannes & Sylvain Hartenberg) and Marjetica Potrč
Parvathi Nayar
Raumlabor
Rohini Devasher
Shweta Bhattad with Gram Collective
Friday, 2nd February 2018 - Sunday March 4th 2018 / Lalit Kala Akademi / Chennai / India
