Thursday 4 March 2010

Dance Of Democracy

> Click on image to enlarge <
I went to the Saatchi Gallery's current exhibition entitled "The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today". It was a very interesting exhibition, largely because I'm so used to seeing work that reflects western culture, it was fascinating to see eastern culture in this way. I was surprised at just how political a lot of the work was.

One artwork that stood out to me was "Dance Of Democracy" by Mansoor Ali, it's the picture above. A series of chairs precariously perched together. When you stand in front of it there's a feeling that it may fall any minute, if luck is what holds it all together. You start looking for logical reasons as to why it stays together, glue sticking it? A frame inside it? The chairs have notches that interlink? All to no avail. It somehow against all odds stays in place, as fragile as it is.

I really liked that visual interpretation of democracy, as it is also in it's nature bureaucratic, made up of seats, committees and departments. Thus the humble chair is a prefect choice to symbolise it.





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