Mahesh K.S.’ ambitious installation transforms the ordinary pedestal fan into a dynamic member of a kinetic dance ensemble. By deliberately embracing the term troupe, not for its military connotations, instead conjuring the image of dancers moving in synchronized harmony. A carefully composed musical score adds to the tension, building anticipation for the fans' surprising choreography.
At the core of this installation is Mahesh’s innovative use of technology as a creative medium. Each fan’s rhythmic, almost human-like motion becomes a delicate dialogue between art and technology. This work challenges us to view machines not as cold, mechanical entities, but as collaborators capable of expression — partners that can expand our ability to see, feel, and connect in unexpected ways.
Text: Text: Animikh
Visuals: Animikh and Sandipan Chatterjee
#MaheshKS #Dance #BengalBiennale #WestBengal #Shantiniketan #Art #Culture #Artist #Heritage
At the core of this installation is Mahesh’s innovative use of technology as a creative medium. Each fan’s rhythmic, almost human-like motion becomes a delicate dialogue between art and technology. This work challenges us to view machines not as cold, mechanical entities, but as collaborators capable of expression — partners that can expand our ability to see, feel, and connect in unexpected ways.
Text: Text: Animikh
Visuals: Animikh and Sandipan Chatterjee
#MaheshKS #Dance #BengalBiennale #WestBengal #Shantiniketan #Art #Culture #Artist #Heritage
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Art should be something that should work in both ways, right?
00:06It should be something that resides in the creator's mind as well as to the viewer's.
00:12So, for me, it's more like a bridge between that.
00:23Hi, I'm Mahesh KS, a visual artist based out of Bangalore.
00:28This idea and the installation, The Truth, has come to me three years back
00:33when I was making some drawings of the pedestal fans.
00:37And as a person, I always cherish the moment when the air current hits me through a pedestal fan.
00:45And also, anybody who can't even afford a ceiling can get a pedestal fan.
00:51And it's something, an object that witnesses every conversation that we do in our household.
00:58And it's also something that takes away, like maybe for a common worker,
01:03after all his work and all, once he comes back home, he can relax himself under the air that it produces.
01:13And it's always something like maybe a contemplation of his day can be done there.
01:19For the last three years, the emotions that I've been going through, like multiple breakdowns,
01:24and also like, you know, getting things done with like a small infrastructure that I have back in my studio.
01:31It's very hard.
01:33And when I see this fan, I was having a lot of mixed feelings like, you know, things are getting into place.
01:40I can see them dance. I can see myself there.
01:43And also whoever like, who have connected with me, who I have to discuss the work with.
01:48Like, I can see everyone having that bliss in their face,
01:53and the emotions that they've been like, you know, also carrying through the process.
01:58When we were working on the choreography, like, you know, the direction that I gave like, was something,
02:14you know, I don't want to see people this as a mere performance.
02:21It should be something like, you know, people should relate themselves to.
02:26If it's just like a performance with maybe like so much of light and like, you know,
02:31so much of like added qualities that makes it look more dramatic, then it takes away the element of life, right?
02:40It should be something, you know, like everybody's life has its own like ups and downs.
02:45So the formation or like the performance itself should have that.
02:50And you can see like some fans are having some kind of like, you know, they are not syncing with each other.
02:55And the reason for that, like, let it be like that.
02:59It should not be something like, you know, very like articulated or like strictly following some rules.
03:06It can have its own like moments and it can thrive.
03:09And somebody coming in also should like, you know, relate it with that.
03:14I'm not a person who can dance in front of somebody.
03:17And also, but like I, when I dance, it will be like something coming out of my heart.
03:23So that's something like I want to like bring in this work also.
03:28I see this work as more like, you know, connected with things that we daily interact with.
03:35That which we may not be like, you know, observing or like, you know, more receptive to.
03:41I see myself as a person who is more receptive to the environment that I live to.
03:46Whether it's be a human being or whether it's be an object that somebody has made.
03:52So I would say it's a culmination of everything that I see or like I interact.
04:07When I was making the music with the composer, very first brief that I given them was to like, you know,
04:13the overall mood for the music should be something that gives joy.
04:18But it can have like, you know, multiple layers of emotions.
04:21It can have like certain, like, you know, because like the life of a common man has everything.
04:29Like it is not at all like joy every time.
04:32There will be like, you know, sorrow.
04:34There will be like hard, like what, despair and anticipation, excitement.
04:41So we can have that.
04:43But like overall, like if somebody is like walking away from the space,
04:47it should be something that I would say the emotion that should,
04:52that they should take away from this would be like happiness or joy or bliss.
04:58I had to find some junction in between the engineering, the technology.
05:02And also, as we all know, like artwork should not go to a position where it's tech heavy.
05:09It should always have that balance between the, you know, the aesthetics, the technology.
05:18And also it's all about making an image to the viewers.
05:22So over these three years, I've been like continuously working.
05:27And I got some beautiful people who can, you know, work with me in terms of like, you know,
05:34building this or make this happen.
05:36I've been like, you know, seeing people like, you know, watching who are my friends coming in,
05:41like, you know, have helped me in like different steps in building this.
05:46I can see like happiness, like more of happiness in their face, like, you know.