With new art on the way, a new and refurbished Media Museum, we will be expecting our city’s creative and historic building to be back better than ever. What we are most excited about is the new exhibitions that’ll be presented. We will have a range of diverse artists who will be making wonderful pieces for the museum which we are all looking forward to.
Recently, I had the opportunity to interview an artist for the museum who will be doing a live video installation for the museum. Nayan Kulkarni is an artist living in South East London. Born 1969, he made his way through school and university pursuing a bachelors in Fine Arts. He told me about his classes, the people he met and how he made his way into the world of art.
He was always interested in art growing up and learnt more about incorporating sound and light. Art isn’t all about drawings and paintings, it’s important to know that there are other aspects to it as well. Nayan uses light and sound to immerse the audience and manages to capture all the senses which means the viewer can experience the art at the most and feel what the artist is telling them.
I asked Nayan a series of questions, but one of them that may be useful for other artists reading is – How do you deal with creative blocks?
‘For me practice is the everyday. I do not expect to know what I am doing or why all of the time. When one strand of thinking gets intractable I move to other or endeavour to learn something new. This often, but not always, means looking at and thinking about work I admire, or work I do not understand, or seek out new work.’
‘Thinking is hard work and easy too. Making becomes a habit. I am fortunate to know other people who have to deal with the same issues. After a while the intractable changes and becomes malleable again.’
Onto the live video installation. Circus is an artwork that comes from an ongoing engagement with live video and space. The room is approximately 7m x 7m x 5m.
It will be a room with no doors.
It is a room comprised only of cameras and screens.
The cameras are connected to the screens.
They peer at each other; active, passive, codependent.
On entering the room the reader/viewer breaks this closed economy (closed circuit) and makes an image.
They are in the image that they have made. They are the image they have made.
Participatory art is an approach to making art that engages the public participation in the creative process. The audience become observers of their own work and it is incomplete without the viewers physical interaction. This is very similar to interactive art as it offers the audience the opportunity to be part of the creative process. This allows them to explore the art piece in a much more personal way.
This art piece will be new for the museum as it is going to be something not a lot of us have experienced before. People will become engulfed in the art – become the art!
Our city has won the UK City of culture, which means in 2025, the city will be set to deliver over 1000 new performances and events including 365 artists commissions. The year with include major arts festivals and will be combining national and international collaborations.
2025 is going to be a big year for the museum. The reopening will be a perfect time for the museum because there will be new visitors and the museum will be one the best attractions for people looking for new art that dives into culture and creativity. We are all looking forward for the new technology, workshops, IMAX and the activities that will be available in 2025. See you there!