German initiative to add colour to dull MRTS stations

Chennai:

In a bid to boost art in open spaces in the city and a add a new lease of life to MRTS stations, Goethe Instut is planning first of planned artistic activities in Thiruvamiyur rapid transit system Station.

Speaking at a three-day symposium ‘Human Space – Cultural Space: on Urban Ethics’ here on Thursday, Karl Pechatscheck, director of Goethe-Instut Chennai said an exhibition titled Chennai 24/7 wil be inaugurated on Wednesday.

The expo will present photos from professionals and amateurs as a result of workshop conducted by Travelling Lens.

In addition we will present a German Jazz ensemble ‘Lautstark 4’ together with Chennai born guest musician Ramesh Shotham at Thiruvanmiyur station, he said.

Presenting art projects in public spaces has a double function. On one hand they make art public besides creating art space as social space, he said.

He also said that large extent of ‘art in open spaces’ is unknown in Chennai, except from traditional, mostly religious formats and historic sculptures.

“Because there is no public space as a space of social encounter in the western sense of the word, the production artist activity meets a dilemma. The urban audience even in small numbers must be gained even to spot the open space,” he said.

He also felt that Chennai’s urban development is affected by an infrastructure that is not keeping up with the growth of population.

Pechatscheck said existing or planned metro projects are destroying traditional dwelling zones and rivers leaving behind slums besides adding ecological damage due to conditions of waste disposal.

He said rail stations in the city fail to provide urban life a living face and are no centres of communication, no meeting points, which can give urban life a living space.

“The rapid transit system Stations are gigantic blocks of buildings, nearly empty, dreary, stinking, without any infrastructure and often hardly accessible,” said Pechatscheck.

“They are not cross-linked with the surroundings. Even adjacent shopping malls ignore their existence,” he said.