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.
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