We began our third class by answering the questions asked in the previous week. We talked about the way blind people sense and perceive things around them.
Our facilitator talked about his experience with some blind people in Ahemdabad. We thought that maybe these visually impaired people are more humane than we are. This could be because of the fact that they are more depending on others than we are.
After the discussion, a question was raised. Are we more blind than they are?
Later, we talked about what aesthetics are. Is it a conscious decision? We talked about how so many people a are displaced from their homes for the sake of 'aesthetics.' Narendra, our facilitator talked to us about his experience in Ahemdabad, where people who were not well off were displaced from the home land.
Over design/ Over beauty or Over comfort is easy to kill anyone. This is why everyone needs change. Change is the only human thing.
Narendra gave us a brief introduction to performance art.
After this, we were given a task. We had to form pairs and research on performance art, and then come up with one act that we would like to perform during the break for the public. All of us went and researched. The part of spontaneity stuck me and Barkha Gupta, my partner. We wondered how people reacted when put in a situation. This is why we wanted to take up a performance which would involve the public as well.
We had to present our ideas to the class. All we wanted to do was have fun with the performance. So, we came up with an idea where we would connect ourselves with a ball of yarn and then that ball would be passed around to random people who would have to entangle themselves in any way and pass the ball further. We knew that a pattern would be made in the end, but what we wanted to see was how people connect and how they react to this situation.
We shared our idea with the class, and went out to buy the material required.
At 12:45, we were set to perform. We asked a friend to record our performance. We stood at the centre of the cafeteria and I rotated the string around my hand and passed it on to Barkha. Barkha passed it on randomly to a friend and so began the game. It was interesting to see how people wanted to participate in it voluntarily. The number of people kept increasing and they kept entangling it around their body parts in interesting ways. Some wrapped it around their waist, some around their neck, hair and so on.
After about 15 minutes, it came to an end when the yarn ended. Everybody had their own idea about what we should do now. Some said we should dance, move around together, pull, push etc etc.
We decided to move in opposite directions, and slowly everybody got more entangled inside. Slowly everybody un-entangled themselves and let go.
It was hands on experience of performing art, rather than just sitting and reading about it.
After performing, we went back to class and shared our experiences. Then, Narendra shared with us a few Performing artists and their works like : Yoko ono and her performance 'Cut Piece' in 1965, Marina Abramovic, Frida Kahlo. All of us were so enthusiastic to see more of their works and learn how they perceived art.
Today's class has been the best one ( for me ) in all these 3 weeks.
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