On Wednesday, February 11, acclaimed Indian video artist and filmmaker Surajit Sarkar showcase media in multiple dimensions to a reasonably-sized audience in West Hall auditorium. Sponsored by iEAR Presents, Sarkar displayed a bit of Indian culture through his films.
With the clear understanding that the arts are not the primary focus of this institution, I anticipated a barely occupied room upon entering West Hall Auditorium. I must admit I was surprised on seeing a half filled auditorium of students and adults engaged in the presentation. With notebooks and pens at hand, many of the audience members attentively took notes.
Sarkar showed clips from many of his films. In one film entitled “A Deeper Fried Jam,” he uses video as a texturing device. Video is used as stage light to accentuate the movements of the performers. The works of Sarkar focus primarily on the spacing and light on stage. “A Deeper Fried Jam” is a “socio-political cabaret that presents stark perspectives on contemporary existence from an urban Indian location,” stated Sarkar. As he presented his work to the audience, a video clip of a female performing was being showed. The clip focused primarily on the foot movements of the performer. Through body movements, issues such as prejudice, survival, food, and culture are highlighted.
As Sarkar states, “You don’t have to depend on stage light all the time. You can use diffused light,” such as video, as a source of light. He admits many of his films are experimentation. In one film entitled “a Bush a Bush a Bush,” Surajit played with the concept of performance space. He moved the presentation out of the theater and recreated the big screen magic on the streets of an Indian village. This was an extraordinary accomplishment in an era ruled by video and television.
I was intrigued when Sarkar referred to video as helping to create the sensation of objects for the audience while remaining an external eye. As he stated, “in everyday life we see many things, but we only focus on what we want.”
Toward the end of the presentation, Sarkar spoke of the Catapult Arts Caravan. It is an innovative multimedia communication initiative on rural and urban themes. It uses videos, musicians, folk tellers, painters, potters and many other artists in bringing the arts to the people of India, and spreading the Indian culture worldwide.
As Sarkar presented this initiative, the audience remained focused on the images of Indian villages and listened attentively to the interviews with the residents of the villages being played on the powerpoint slides.
This presentation, though prolonged, proved to be unique and intriguing. New perspectives on film and art were showcased.
The audience undoubtly seemed perplexed by Sarkar’s unique ways of thinking. He forces one to re-evalute the the way they define art and reimage their understanding of the intention and uses of video in our culture. Sarkar is an experimentalist that will bring film to new heights.
