Daily Archives: November 28, 2021

New Delhi

A form of art that almost instantly lends meaning to spaces is a sculpture. Even a slight variation in the expression adds another perspective to these three dimensional pieces of art. And thats why the 35 contemporary sculptures by 18 artists at this show in the city entice the viewer to look and absorb the many ways in which art can be interpreted.

Ranging between abstraction and figuration, the exhibition titled 18 Dimensions: Sculptural Manifestations, pairs upcoming contemporary sculptors along with the established ones, and also provides four new sculptors with a platform to showcase their work. Curated by gallerists and fashion designers Rahul Khanna and Rohit Gandhi, this collection spanning across artistic thoughts, materials and methods features works of Arunkumar HG, Ashiesh Shah, Gigi Scaria, GR Iranna, LN Tallur, Narayan Biswas, Mrinalini Mukherjee, Manjunath Kamath, Pooja Iranna, Himmat Shah, Jagannath Panda, Rajesh Ram, Riyas Komu, Sangam Vankhade, Sumedh R, Subodh Gupta, Sudarshan Shetty, Valay Shende, Vibha Galhotra and Vipul Kumar.

Our focus was on curating a show dedicated to sculpture because we felt sculpture has been ignored in the art space, explains Khanna of Palette Art Gallery, adding, In fact Indian art started with sculptural art. Today, there are so many sculptors doing contemporary and modern sculpture in the 21st century. And this show explores the kind of art we like as collectors, and what we grew up seeing. The idea behind this show was to showcase sculptural expressions to a bigger audience in a physical space, as compared to an online show.

Each artist presents his/her individual voice that exudes their interest and concerns in the contemporary context. Take for instance artist Pooja Iranna, whose work Still Standing Strong is taken from monuments across the globe that have a distinctive character to them, with stories behind them all. Iranna says, It reflects architectural spaces that have been there for long and their presence is still felt; which is something that cannot be said about modern constructions.

One of the highlights of the show include a selection of the rare hemp works by Mrinalini Mukherjee, and works by Sudharshan Shetty and Narayan Biswas. There are also two exhibits by Vibha Galhotra, which contemplate on the human impact on the planet. These are part of my larger practice addressing the question of Where are we Going? says Galhotra, explaining, Ephemeral Utopia projects a hypothetical scenario of environmental collapse of the Earth and a subsequent uncovering of the globe as an archaeological remain, an evidence of a past time when Earth existed with all its geographical borders and divisions. Similarly the work Presence of an Absence - Debris addresses the state of the co-habitors of the planet and their extinction.

Catch It Live

What: 18 Dimensions: Sculptural Manifestations

Where: Bikaner House, Pandara Road

When: November 28 to December 6

Timing: 10am to 6pm

Nearest Metro Station: Khan Market on the Violet Line

Author tweets @siddhijainn

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Admiring art in the third dimension - Hindustan Times

Huma Abedin hadnt been working in the White House long when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. Although she would eventually become like a second daughter to Hillary and Bill Clinton most visibly as the formers right-hand woman during the 2016 presidential election campaign she was then just a distant junior aide to the first lady. Perhaps that explains why, as she writes in her new memoir, she initially assumed the rumours couldnt possibly be true. Everyone in politics was young and starry-eyed once.

Unusually, however, Abedin seems to have stayed that way. Even when the president actually confesses to the affair she was sure hadnt happened, she resolves sternly to put my judgments and emotions aside and focus on the bigger picture. Hadnt she been taught as a child that slander, gossip and exploiting peoples personal weaknesses are among the worst forms of conduct for any Muslim?

Its at this point well before the story of the older senator who lunged when she went back to his place for what she genuinely assumed was coffee, or the husband who betrayed her that some readers may wonder whether the author is almost too pure for her chosen world. But then, in her telling, so is half the White House. Bill Clinton comes across as thoroughly avuncular. The first ladys office is a sisterly utopia where the boss instantly apologises for getting even mildly tetchy under pressure. Hillaryland is how is your mom feeling? and you should talk to my allergist, Abedin writes. Hillaryland is Happy birthday! and amazing job! and get some rest! Hillaryland is all of those things because Hillary Clinton is all of those things. Working up close with politicians means getting to know them warts and all, and most aides have their moments of doubt or despair. But either Clinton is uniquely inspirational or Abedin uniquely generous. Its the dynamic between the two women that makes this book compelling.

It opens with a fascinating exploration of a childhood spent between two worlds. Abedin is the daughter of two professors: an Indian-born father, and a mother whose family moved from India to Pakistan after partition. They emigrated to the US separately on academic scholarships before meeting and starting their family in Michigan. When Abedin was a toddler, the family took what was meant to be a sabbatical in Saudi Arabia, and ended up staying.

She had to get used to covering up, and watching her mother relinquish the right to drive. Yet in the book, Abedin argues that growing up overseas in a culture supportive of her familys Muslim faith built her confidence: Id never had to be the brown kid in an American school who was teased for bringing weird ethnic food in my lunchbox I was never the other and I found I could fit in everywhere. Returning to New York for university, she slips comfortably enough back into American life, though she steers warily clear of dating. Its this ability to move between cultures the most obvious both/and of the title which makes her stand out, first as an intern at the White House, and later in her first big job organising foreign travel for the globe-trotting first lady. What also sticks in the mind, however, is her promise at the job interview to do whatever it takes to help the woman she idolised succeed.

The next section of the book is the only one that drags a little. More glorified bag-carrier at this stage than strategist, Abedin offers little deep insight into the Clinton presidency or Hillary Clintons subsequent career as a New York senator, despite some intriguing glimpses behind the scenes. (At one point she overhears Clinton calling home, telling the now ex-president where to find cleaning materials under the sink.) The story crackles back to life, however, when Anthony Weiner enters it.

He is a confident, and suspiciously smooth, young congressman a decade her senior; she is a virgin with a tendency to see the best in everyone. Reading about their courtship is like watching a horror film and screaming at the heroine not to go into the haunted house, while knowing that, of course, she will.

When Abedin finds a flirty email from a stranger on Weiners phone not long before their wedding, she accepts his explanation readily enough. Even when her husband is caught sexting other women, having accidentally posted an indecent photo on social media, a newly pregnant Abedin initially believes that his account must have been hacked. Besides, having lost her own father young, she desperately wants their baby to grow up with a daddy. Thus begins a painful spiral recognisable to anyone ever sucked into a toxic relationship.

Abedin is often asked whether, in standing repeatedly by her sexually transgressive man, she was simply copying Clinton. Yet the book suggests that is too reductive an explanation. Weiner was her first ever lover, and she believed he could change. By the time she realised he wouldnt, she had a toddler to consider and a job reliant on a spouse taking care of everything at home. (After his political career ended in scandal, Weiner became a house-husband.) The final chapters see her worlds colliding messily as she attempts to reconcile being both vice-chair of Clintons 2016 presidential campaign and a wife embroiled in a scandal.

Despite pressure to fire Abedin and protect her own career from the fallout, Clinton resisted. She stood by her closest aide even when Weiner did it again, this time in such grim circumstances sending indecent photographs of himself with their sleeping son in shot that Abedin finally filed for divorce. Both Clintons emerge from this episode as unfailingly kind, particularly to Abedins son, and true to the feminist principle that a woman shouldnt pay for her husbands crimes. (A year after the election, Weiner was jailed for sending explicit pictures to an underage girl.) But this story raises the haunting, hard-nosed question of just how wise that was.

True to form, Abedin apparently didnt see her bosss defeat coming. She understood some voters didnt warm to Clinton; she knew how damaging an eve-of-election FBI investigation into her bosss use of a private email server was, having been dragged into it after her own emails were discovered on Weiners laptop for reasons she cannot explain. Yet she still couldnt quite believe Donald Trump would beat a better-qualified woman. Does that make her naive, or merely human? Perhaps for Huma Abedin, its always a case of both/and.

Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds by Huma Abedin is published by Simon & Schuster (20). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

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Both/And by Huma Abedin review an innocent at the heart of power - The Guardian

Fans of the Lethbridge-Stewart lineage were understandably upset when UNIT got defunded off-screen back in 2017, and while its doubtful that Chibnall had this planned in mind back then, its nice to see their closure used for something more than narrative convenience. Its also nice to see Jemma Redgrave return as Kate Stewart for the first time since 2015s The Zygon Inversion, and hopefully shell go a second round with the Grand Serpent at some point before Vinder gets to him.

Quite how thats going to happen is still up in the air, as Vinder himself is currently trapped inside a Passenger along with Diane, having missed Bel by a matter of seconds because her stolen ship was yoinked to Earth by Karvanista. Bel gets embroiled in a brief firefight with her canine captor but the two soon find themselves on the same side when the Lupari come under attack, so with any luck theyll be tearing stuff up good and proper next week. One thing that Flux has done well is to combine and recombine its sizeable cast of characters in different ways, exploring the various chemistries in play.

Despite the threat of a second Flux wave that will finish what the first event started, the Doctor is increasingly distracted by a Gallifreyan fob watch the kind last seen in Utopia, which Tecteun claims holds her missing memories. She tries to use it as leverage to have the Doctor accompany her to a new universe, only to be unexpectedly interrupted (also: killed) by Swarm and Azure. Theyve used the power theyve been accruing to break out of our doomed universe and board Division, which will offer them both revenge and access to the multiverse to do, yknow, more bad things.

The episode ends not with the Ravagers, but with the surprise return of the Sontarans, who flood into Williamsons tunnels and also materialise a space fleet to assault the Lupari. Judging from the next time trailer, it looks like theyre a bit more successful at conquering the Earth this time around, but theres plenty to pick through before then. Starting with the return of Tecteun

Personally, the reveal that Division still persists as an illuminati-style force left me cold, because introducing all-seeing shadow societies almost always does. For one thing, they create the same kind of problem that Chibnall was trying to sidestep when he wrote out UNIT in the first place having to explain all the times they didnt show up. Now were left to ponder why the Division didnt step in when the Daleks built a reality bomb, when Rassilon called for the end of time, or the hundred other times the universe was under threat by anything that wasnt Division itself. And if they really were secretly masterminding the universe, what was their ultimate goal?

Beyond that, though, I share the Doctors incredulity when she asks if Division would really wipe out the entire universe just to avoid her giving them some grief. If they were that worried about her finding them, and really are that powerful, why did Division allow the Master to tell her everything? Things are only muddled further when Tecteun suddenly changes her mind and starts trying to bribe the Doctor into joining forces hold on, Division, arent you only wiping out the universe because its the ultimate way to get away from the Doctor? Also, having imprisoned him originally, were Division really responsible for releasing Swarm, as he implies? They certainly dont seem to need him for their plan, nor are they in cahoots, so again why?

Continue reading here:

Doctor Who: Flux Episode 5 Review - Survivors of the Flux - Den of Geek

The Roaring Twenties: Wieki Somers explores 1921 vs 2021 through design

Dutch designer Wieki Somers has curated the design section of The Roaring Twenties: a reflection on the parallels between the 1920s and the 2020s through the lens of art, design and fashion at Museum Kranenburgh, Bergen (until 3 April 2022)

Museum Kranenburgh, Bergen, presents a new exhibition exploring parallels between the 1920s and 2020s in art, design and fashion. Dutch designer Wieki Somers was invited to curate the design section of the show, while Colin Huizing and Liesbeth int Hout curated the art and thefashion sections, respectively.

Studio Minale-Maedas Inside OutCabinet from 2014 next to aGerrit Rietveld Piano Stool, 1923. Inside the cabinet:Cartesian node (wood construction) by Gerrit Rietveld, 1920; Pierre Charpin U-joints Nez, 2018, and Triplo, Edition Venini 2003

What do the artists hope for, at that time, and today? How do they represent the spirit of the times? asks Somers. In times of crisis, the role of art and culture often becomes particularly clear, revealing new perspectives.

A time of contrasts (from the aesthetic innovations of the Bauhaus to fascist regimes and a worldwide pandemic, the Spanish flu), the 1920s were dominated by development and change. Will it be the same for artists of our generation, wonders Somers. Its tempting to ask if history will repeat itself, she notes.

Through her curation, the designer identified six key themes, which she explored through a series of vignettes combining early 20th century creatives with some of the most exciting names working in design today. The exhibition looks at innovation, emancipation of women, nature, social impact, radical thinking and utopia. We investigated material studies of the 1920s, which showed an urge to innovate that we can still find today, says Somers.Think about sustainability, gender equality, Black Lives Matter, gender fluidity: looking at the body of work collected for the exhibition, spanning from historical to contemporary artists, designers and fashion designers, we can see a world that is changing rapidly under the influence of technological progress, social engagement and a new view on gender. The role of the arts during difficult times is to reveal new perspectives.

The works on display include Alvar Aaltos laminated wood furniture alongside Christien Meindertsmas biodegradable flax chair, Charlotte Perriands modern approach to design presented next to Konstantin Grcics cutting edge industrial design work. At the more poetic end of the spectrum is the work of Oskar Schlemmer, whose 1922 Triadic Ballet is placed in conversation with Wang & Sderstroms digital images. The durable influence of the 1920s can be easily identified in the fact that many of the historical pieces on display(such as thefurniture byAlvar Aalto and Charlotte Perriand) havebeen reissued in recent times and feel more current than ever.

Savoy (material studies) by Alvar Aalto, 1934; ExCinere Step for Dzek byFormafantasma, 2019;Seok-hyeon Yoons Ott/Another ParadigmaticCeramic tableware set, 20192021

To accompany the show, Somers also designed a collection of nine rugs (a design she originally debuted during Wallpapers Handmade exhibition in 2019), which nods toBauhaus textiles, the flat surfaces serving as dividers for the exhibition themes.

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Curating the exhibition gave Somers a chance to ponder the current creative climate. Its difficult to predict a world post-pandemic, she observes. The Roaring Twenties were animated by a drive for innovation; artists and designers thrived in that period. What you do as a researcher in any field is to look back at history and recognise patterns that will help to predict the future. I trust the role of the arts in times of crisis, and I believe that artists perform with purpose during turbulent times and lead the way.

Studio Minale-Maedas Inside OutCabinet from 2014;Cartesian node (wood construction) by Gerrit Rietveld, 1920; Pierre Charpin U-joints Nez, 2018, and Triplo, Edition Venini 2003

Bernhard Hoetger chair, 1924;American Apple and Sugar Loaf lights byJonathan Trayte, 2020 and 2018.On wall: animations and digital prints by Wang & Sderstrm, shown alongside Oskar Schlemmer works includingThe Spiral, The Abstract,group photo of the Triadic Ballet, all from 1926, collection Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin

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The Roaring Twenties: Wieki Somers explores 1921 vs 2021 through design - Wallpaper*