This project seeks to nurture and encourage contemporary expressions and forms of spirituality, inspired (in this case) by the poetry and songs of the 15th century Indian mystic saint-poet Kabir.
A brief history: In March 2005, Arvind Lodaya joined Shabnam Virmani, filmmaker and artist-in-residence at Srishti, and Tara Kini, educator and musician, in their journey to trace the ideas and legacy of Kabir in the heart of India. They collaborated to offer senior Srishti students an interdisciplinary 2-month lab where all the material compiled & researched by them would be made available to the students, with the hope of inspiring a cross-section of creative responses and output from them.
The first lab is over (with an exhibit at the Ars Electronica in Linz), but a new iteration is in the making. The information offered on their website is very general, and liable to change. On the other hand, you can follow it close and watch it while it grows into previously unexpected shapes. The 2005 lab had the following projects:
A furniture design student worked with Smriti on curating and designing an exhibit on Kabir’s universe, a print-media based campaign that inspired people with the power and relevance of Kabir’s words, a fine art project on making Kabir more vividly accessible to school children.
The starting points for the lab were: the navigators, the road map, the instruments and the projects. Similar starting points exist for the new iteration as well.
The travellers are: Shabnam Virmani (filmmaker),Tara Kini (singer), Linda Hess (scholar), and Arvind Lodaya (designer). The road map is both external (bangalore, malwa, rajasthan, banaras, california, japan) as internal (self, mind, body, soul, spirit). The instruments used are: intellect, intuition, word, song, travel, stasis, dispassionate, passion, passive, active, motion, emotion.
Project Lead: Arvind Lodaya
Project Site: Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology, Bangalore, India
Participation Criteria: Having an spiritual inspiration that is local but with global relevance.
