Understanding the Philosophy of Art...

14-03-14 

Prof Sarukkai initiates Nagpurians

on to path of Philosophy of Art

* The unique event ‘Philosophy and The Arts -- In Conversation with Prof Sundar Sarukkai’ draws packed house

By Kartik Lokhande

There is Art. There is Philosophy. And, when representation of both the diverse entities converse with each other, a listener is initiated on to the path of Philosophy of Art. Nagpurians were in for initiation to this path through a unique programme ‘Philosophy and The Arts -- In Conversation with Prof Sundar Sarukkai’, organised by The Indian Institute of Architects (IIA) Nagpur Centre, on Friday.

The conversation was a unique exercise as it involved the finest minds from different fields of Arts and physicist-philosopher Prof Sundar Sarukkai. During the conversation, the enlightened minds on dais raised several questions, tried to find answers to those through collective thinking, and also provide new dimensions to the entire process of thinking. Though it was a conversation between the Arts and Philosophy, it proved to be an exploration of the Philosophy of Art as it dealt with several concepts of interpretation, expression, form, aesthetics, truth, lies, beauty, and more importantly representation and nothingness.

All these concepts served as the common points of thinking of the stalwarts from different disciplines of Art namely Prof S A Deshpande (Architect Planner), Mahesh Elkunchwar (playwright), Vijay Phanshikar (Editor of ‘The Hitavada’), Vikash Khurana (theatre director), Chandrakant Channe (painter-artist), Rita Aggarwal (psychologist), and Dev Bildikar (architect). Their conversation with Prof Sarukkai proved to be a meeting of minds and churning of thoughts. Bildikar started the conversation with explaining the premise of representation of abstraction in forms through various Art pursuits in proper literal and logical context. He quoted several examples of works of architecture that re-presented the works of Art. And, this involved philosophy, he said. 

Taking over from this, Prof Sarukkai made it clear that Philosophy was not about text but a way of understanding the process of thinking. Stating that re-presentation was fundamental cognitive human capacity, he asked -- What is the difference between re-presentation of original and the original itself? Of course, he provided an answer too. “Even in re-presentation, we want to put something of us in it. There is never an exact copy. And, here the Art comes into play,” he said. But, that led the gathering to some more questions -- What is Art? What is the task of an artist? Why is one an artist? In his opinion, truth formed the essence of Art to some extent.

This generated a a variety of responses with gravitas of thought at their core. A highly acclaimed theatre personality Vikash Khurana delved into the issue of truthfulness in Art and re-presentation. According to him, one lives a ‘real lie’ through a character on stage. What evolves during rehearsals is re-presented as final product during show on stage. And that, he felt, is re-presentation of truth in performance.

Rita Aggarwal took the conversation a notch deeper by quoting Picasso who had said, “Art is a lie which makes us realise the truth.” But, the painter-artist in Chandrakant Channe expressed himself in a different colour. “Why should we insist on truth in Art? If we draw pleasure from a lie, that also is Art,” he said while making an important statement that Philosophy of Art cannot be defined. Getting the discussion back to re-presentation, Prof Sarukkai intervened by adding that truth was just one suggestion of what should or is re-presented in Art.

Making the bud of suggestion bloom into a thought of sublimation of human soul, Vijay Phanshikar said that Art could not be a lie if it sublimated human soul. “It is one’s re-presentation of truth. The underlying process is that of refinement. If that process of refinement goes on continuously, how can that be called a lie?” he counter-questioned.

Taking the discourse into the realm of intellect, Mahesh Elkunchwar found a new string attached to Philosophy. “Philosophy informs intellect. It does not effect any transformation into one. This information has to be processed into knowledge and experience. This is where Philosophy migrates into the territory of Spirituality,” he said. As far as representation was concerned, he believed that representation or Art was not a lie. At the most, it could be termed as created illusion.

Elkunchwar quoted from Sartre and others but said that their work was intellectual argument and not the Art. Elaborating his point, he observed that artists tried to transcend the barriers of time and space to the territory beyond intellect. And, there lies the state of ‘nothingness’ and ‘beingness’, he added. “What is the moment of transcension?” Prof Sarukkai chipped in with a question. Elkunchwar responded promptly with deeper statement, “One need not be aware of being an artist. One just is.”

Prof S A Deshpande, who is ‘attempting to teach’ for over 50 years, picked up quickly from this point and said that Philosophy was a product of intelligent mind. He said that Philosophy of Art was deeply entrenched in the field of Architecture. “Philosophy connects the surrounding space with internal space of a structure or a form. The underlying thought of re-presentation in Organic Architecture is understanding architecture in nature and giving form to that understanding,” he said. Still, he felt, best understanding of anything was the level where not a question was asked and not an answer given.

How to express this understanding then? Through language, one would say. Prof Sundar Sarukkai directed the conversation to language as an example of re-presentation. “Language re-presents sound. But, no sound can capture any object entirely,” he said adding another dimension to collective thinking.

Phanshikar shed more light on the ‘thought of language’. “Area of thought does not have any language. The point of origin of thought is free of re-presentation, limitation, height, depth, or language. It is during expression that the thought assumes form of language and this leads to sublimation of soul,” he explained.

Here, Channe connected back to the concept of ‘nothingness’ and the beauty in it. Rita Aggarwal added value to the expression. Referring to the evolving field of ‘neuro-aesthetics’, she explained that the perception of common underlying principle of beauty in human beings as well as animals created a work of Art.

Prof Sarukkai took the entire conversation to pinnacle and concluded that bliss was final aim of Art. “Sense of beauty is present in all Arts, and Philosophy is about asking right questions to take the thought further. However, philosophical thinking does not mean negating experience, nothingness, sublimation or re-presentation. In fact, re-presentation is present in day-to-day life through various artistic expressions. And, there is philosophy in everyday Art,” he summed up.

The apt conclusion brought together the Art and Philosophy and the gathering, which was listening to entire conversation in rapt attention, realised what Philosophy of Art meant.

It was followed by ‘Open House’ in which members of the audience asked questions to Prof Sarukkai. Those who asked the questions included Prof Supantho Bhattacharya, Jaishree Chhabrani, Vaijayanti Asolkar, Dr. A.S. Mahajan, Architect Shelar and others. 

photo to be added--- 

(CONCLAVE OF MINDS: The conversation between Philosophy and the Arts proved to be a conclave of minds and churning of thoughts. (From Left) Vikash Khurana, Prof S A Deshpande, Mahesh Elkunchwar, Dev Bildikar, Prof Sundar Sarukkai, Vijay Phanshikar, Rita Aggarwal, and Chandrakant Channe in a contemplative mood during the course of the conversation. (Photo courtesy: Anil Futane) 

******************************* 

‘Architecture is an art of sculpting space’

By Kartik Lokhande
Philosophy is everywhere, in every art-form, in every individual, and in every mindscape. To bring this hidden philosophy out of abstraction and into practice, it has to be recovered. And, this is no simple task. For, it requires a deep thinker who knows perfectly even the complex dimensions of time and space and how to uncover those through the equally gruelling processes of thinking and imagining.

Prof Sundar Sarukkai, Director of Manipal Centre of Philosophy and Humanities, Manipal University, did just that while making a power-packed (not the power-point) presentation before a select audience, at Hotel Centre Point here on Friday. The Indian Institute of Architects (IIA), Nagpur Centre, had organised his presentation on ‘Thinking and Imagining Space’. Paramjit Ahuja, Chairman of IIA Nagpur Centre; Parag Yelne, Secretary; Sujit Rodge; Rajesh Bhowmik, Branch Manager of sponsor Century Ply, shared the dais on this occasion.

Through his mature understanding of Philosophy of Art, Prof Sarukkai etched upon the mindscape of the gathering the significance of time and space in the art of Architecture.

“Work of Architecture is to unmask a structure or discover it, which is present there. True Architecture is uncovering hidden shape of space present there,” said Prof Sarukkai. He equated Architects with Sculptors and added that Architecture was an art of sculpting space. Of course, this summary of his scientifically philosophical presentation came up after a brief journey into the past. Actually, it started with the physicist-philosopher making a simply profound statement that Architecture was not about buildings but about space. Then on, he elaborated on understanding of space.

Prof Sarukkai did a wonderful job in increasing the understanding of the concept of space and time. It goes without saying that he also performed the basic function of a philosopher -- of raising questions and offering answers after churning. He asked what was space, and offered different answers -- Space is the biggest myth created by humans, Space is a relation between two objects. At the same time, he also said that space could not be experienced by any of the five senses. Space was not present in mental, physical, or abstract forms, he added. Just as the gathering was provoked to think deeper about the concept, he led the minds to Architecture.

Quality of space -- infinite or finite -- related to Architecture, Prof Sarukkai said. This quality is related to causal relation between space and object. “Space can influence objects. Hence, an Architect needs to design space and not buildings. Architectural imagination shapes space and not the objects,” he added. After ‘recovering’ the understanding of Philosophy of the art of Architecture from the gathering, Prof Sarukkai added more value to it by making another important statement that human body was ‘site of origin of space’. Hence, he added, space was designed for imagined bodies around which space had to be given shape. Putting it in simple terms, he explained, “Imagined bodies of a family make home of a building, and imagined bodies of public made a community.”

As one would expect, there was a loud applause evoked by an inner understanding of the concept of space vis-a-vis Architecture.

Paramjit Ahuja made introductory remarks at the outset. Noted architect Dev Bildikar (Bengaluru) introduced Prof Sarukkai. Rajesh Bhowmik made a presentation on behalf of Century Ply. Dr Smita Khan conducted the proceedings.

Prof Sarukkai appreciates ‘The Hitavada’ column 

Prof Sundar Sarukkai was all praise for ‘Prose’, the widely acclaimed column by ‘The Hitavada’ Editor Vijay Phanshikar. In his presentation, Prof Sarukkai quoted from ‘Prose’ episode with headline ‘One Single Universe’ while explaining the concepts of space, inner space, ‘distanceless’ space. In the above-mentioned episode of ‘Prose’ published in ‘The Hitavada’ on October 22, 2013; Phanshikar had written about ‘distanceless journey of a space whose limitless vastness we are yet to realise or discover’. He had also discussed inner space, outer space, and non-existence of ‘inside our inner space’. Prof Sarukkai quoted from the column and also spoke on the concepts, during his presentation.

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Chanda boy Dr Vipin Itankar is UPSC topper in State

Hinganghat: Here rests the great surveyor of India...

Eknath Ranade, the man with ‘Rock’ solid determination