Barman’s work, quite fittingly, investigates new possibilities of living in once grand, now decrepit, often abandoned, old colonial buildings in North Kolkata, co-occupied by migrants from fragmented lands. Paintings of quintessential Bengali ingredients like dumur (raw cluster fig), uchhe (bitter gourd), and mocha (banana blossom) line one wall, while large and small architectural interpretations in the form of murals and sculptures loom over the others. The second room contains a skeletal reconstruction of an old courtyard, similar to those that would have hosted an antiquated celebration I would have been excited for as a child in this city. The components of this reimagined courtyard remain purposefully disjointed, coalescing into a whole only when viewed from certain perspectives.
Image courtesy: Experimenter. Photo credit: Vivienne Sarky
Although entirely renovated, the art house had remained closed for about a decade. Now, this exhibit, and the ones that will come after at the Experimenter Outpost, promise it a new life. The museum itself has about 2,000 daily visitors on weekends and an average of 750 on weekdays, and the fact that this can be a genuinely public-facing programme is evident to the founders. “The goal is to present both solo and group exhibitions by local and international artists working across diverse media—incorporating performance, salon-style workshops, discussions, and community gatherings, among other public activations,” Raja said. The future holds a myriad of prospects, as Experimenter Outpost is “a flexible, agile and easily deployable idea” that takes the form that the architecture offers, like a vine that traces the shape of the trellis it climbs.
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