The portrait of an artist as an activist

Tushar Joag makes a case for calling a motorcycle ride from Mumbai to Shanghai, art, and extends his metaphors to bring in the other A word -- activism -- into the landscape of his oeuvre

Tushar Joag makes a case for calling a motorcycle ride from Mumbai to Shanghai, art, and extends his metaphors to bring in the other A wordu00a0-- activismu00a0-- into the landscape of his oeuvre

Last year, city-based performance artist Tushar Joag was invited to participate in an art show in Shanghai. Instead of preparing his works in a studio, Joag took out his motorcycle, named it Rocinante (Don Quixote's horse) and rode to Shanghai.


Joag at La Gyan La Pass in Tibet. The artist's motorcycle journey from
Mumbai to Shanghai was 53 days long

His 53-day long journey was named Riding Rocinante: From Bombay To Shanghai and subtitled 'A journey through Sardar Sarovar and the Three Gorges'. This performative art work culminated in an installation in which the motorcycle was dismantled and submerged in a trough of water.

Come Tuesday and Joag will talk about his journey and other works, and will attempt to answer the question always posed before him: how does he call this art?

"For me art is a way of negotiating life. It's about asking how one does that, about the experiences involved and how life moves on," says Joag, when we ask him the same question.

Prod him further and what emerges is the voice of concerned citizen, the activist.

Referring to the subtitle, Joag says, "These two giant dam projects are supposedly going to help a lot of people. But what about the huge number of people displaced? Through this project, I wanted to raise awareness about the situation of those people."

In fact, Joag is known as an artist-activist. Earlier in May this year, he locked himself up in a tiny space measuring 150 x 91 cm for five days. All the room contained was a small makeshift toilet, a desk, chair and notebooks in which he wrote over and over again: "I will not lose faith in the Indian Judiciary and Democracy."

He was passed food and water through a small window. According to him, this performance questioned state repression, and came at a time when Chhattisgarh activist Dr Binayak Sen had just been released, after wrongful incarceration.

Joag, however, doesn't feel he deserves to be called an activist. "Medha Patkar is an activist. She has been relentless in her fight for the disadvantaged. Not me," he says.

Nevertheless, his UNICELL Public Works cell is widely regarded as one of the foremost examples of his art activism.

Begun in 2004, Joag mimics corporate or government bureaucratic set ups and suggests absurd solutions. For instance, when the Maharashtra government was demolishing a large number of slums and talking about making Mumbai like Shanghai, Joag started the Venice of the East project. Here, he delivered eviction notices to residents of upper middle class households, saying that Mumbai was being converted into a city like Venice and their houses were in the way of canals.

"I delivered letters to 6,000 homes. Assuming there are four members in each family, I must have reached at least 24,000 individuals," he says.

While he was almost thrashed by those who didn't take the message well, others abused him on the website he had listed in the notices. A police report was also filed against him. Joag says the idea was to raise awareness about the plight of slum dwellers among the middle-classu00a0 that is apathetic towards the lower social order. But how did it help? "I know I can't help poor people's houses from being demolished. But someone has to ask the questions," he says.

When asked what's next, Joag replies, "Drawings on paper pulp that are based on my journey from Mumbai to Shanghai."

"There is a sacred lake in Tibet called Yangdruk. The Chinese government however, is draining the water for a hydroelectric project that will benefit Chinese industries. One of my drawings will be based on that." The drawing will depict a hill shaped like sleeping Buddha. Water will be flowing out from his head.

One can then see why it is difficult to separate his art from activism.

Tushar Joag will speak about Riding Rocinante: From Bombay To Shanghai at 6.30 pm, August 23 at NCPA. Admission is free. Call: 66223737

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