The city - sliced, diced and served with a dash of sauce
Pic/Ashish Raje
Keep them hanging
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A waiting water tanker is repurposed as a clothes drying rack as residents queue up to fill their buckets at Prabhadevi on Saturday.
A virtual history screening
Nehru Science Centre in Worli is conducting a free virtual film festival, which started on Sunday and ends on April 23, as part of their Swachhta Pakhwada initiative. The films will be streamed through the Centre’s YouTube and Facebook accounts. “Since the Centre is closed for visitors at present, we are conducting online programmes; the festival is part of one of the few virtual events we have curated. For this, we have partnered with the Film Division in Mumbai, who have a great collection of movies on Indian heritage sites. The festival is free and open to all. Since we also celebrated World Heritage Day on April 18, most of the films and documentaries will exclusively showcase the history and knowledge behind sites like Hampi, the various Buddhist stupas, the Taj Mahal and more,” shared Umesh Kumar, senior curator at the Centre. “We are doing this to popularise the ideas of art, science and culture amongst people,” he added.
A gallery’s acid test
Flux by Osheen Shiva and HolyTrip by RuiningMagazines, which are part of the exhibition at Method Bandra
On April 19, 1943, Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman, who synthesised Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) in 1938 as a medical stimulant for the circulatory and respiratory system, ingested a dose of this substance. He then took an (in)famous bike ride that revealed its psychedelic nature. Method Bandra has now put together an exhibition of artworks that showcase the influence of LSD on art and popular culture.
The exhibition is titled Dosed: A Bicycle Day Special Microdrop. “The Beatles to Timothy Leary to Steve Jobs and everyone in between has spoken about their experiences with LSD. Our exhibition takes inspiration from the culture built around this controversial substance and includes works by 12 contemporary Indian artists. The works will be printed on perforated blotting paper, as an homage to the medium through which the substance is consumed. We aren’t advocating the use of psychedelics through this exhibition; rather, we are recognising Hoffman’s invention for what it is — an important scientific discovery that has changed history in its own way,” shared the gallery’s founder and curator, Sahil Arora (inset).
The list of participating artists includes painter and poet Kim Kaul, photographer Rema Chaudhary, pop-surreal artist Rogan Joglekar, digital artist RuiningMagazines, street artist Tyler, and visual artist Priyesh Trivedi, who are all based in Mumbai. With galleries closed for now, the exhibition can only be viewed on Method’s website. However, the founders have decided to keep it running for a week after the gallery opens to the public. Check it out at themethod.in.
An artistic tribute to Meena Kumari
Bollywood Art Project (BAP) is an urban art project that aims to transform Mumbai’s walls into living memorials of Bollywood’s tradition of hand-painted posters. During the ongoing lockdown, its founder Ranjit Dahiya has moved his work indoors, to the safety of his studio at Chapel Road. Here, Dahiya is creating a tribute to actor Meena Kumari to mark her 49th death anniversary, which was on March 31.
“The film I have chosen is Chitralekha [1964]. It was based on a Hindi novel by Bhagwati Charan Verma and Meena ji plays a courtesan, Chitralekha, in the Maurya Empire,” he said. The mural is 7x10 feet and Dahiya is adding the finishing touches. While the pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to street artists through the last year, he is determined to keep the art alive until public walls become available to paint on again.
American intervention for Divine
Indian hip-hop mainstay Divine’s star has risen even higher. Gil Green — an award-winning American music video director who has worked with the likes Snoop Dogg and Nicki Minaj — recently directed the video for Rider, a track from Divine’s sophomore album, Punya Paap. The song also features Indo-American songstress Lisa Mishra. The video shows a rags-to-riches story featuring the two artistes, set in Mumbai and Dubai. “I loved the message of the song, which is about an independent woman who [Divine] is so comfortable with that their connection goes beyond just a relationship,” Mishra shared.
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