Power of imagination: ‘You may say I am a dreamer’

Recent exhibition at VM Art Gallery offers 'unaided and uninterrupted visual stimulation'

KARACHI: The artists offering their works at the VM Art Gallery provide the visitor a chance to visualise what they have perceived through the aid of sound - the process is similar to John Lennon's song, Imagine, which allows you to perceive a utopian world with equality and high humanist values.

The title of the exhibition, which opened on Thursday, is a line from the song: You may say I am a dreamer. According to curator Sara Mahmood, the works are aimed at providing the visitor a chance to 'walk into a dream'.

Eight artists from around the world, along with the Pakistani Awami Art Collective, have their sound installations offered at the gallery. They were Bas Van Den Hurk from Netherland, Mahbubur Rahman from Bangladesh, Poornima Jayasinghe from Sri Lanka, Mohamed Abdelkarim from Egypt, duo Magda Fabianczyk and Tilly Flower from the UK and Poland, respectively, Shreyas Karle from India, Wang Sishun from China and Khanyisile Mbongwa from South Africa.

Mahmood told The Express Tribune on Wednesday before the opening that since nine works will be on display, only nine visitors will be allowed to wear the headphones and listen to the artists' recordings. She explained that the purpose of the exhibition was to offer listeners 'unaided and uninterrupted visual stimulation' and a 'visual narrative from sound'. She said that they were contemporary artists and the exhibition was providing a 'way of looking into their world'.

"When you see a visual, you [directly] see what the artist is trying to show and you conjure that image in your mind," she said. "However, when you would read about that same piece, you would then may be conjure 10,000 different kinds of images in your mind." According to her, it is about the way an artist would let you see her/his work. "There are no visuals in this show," she said. "It's all about conjuring images in your mind [with the aid of the sound clips]."

Another important aspect of this exhibition, which, according to Mahmood, is the first of its kind in Karachi, is how visitors respond to the sound clips. Drawing material will be provided for vistors to respond in as artistic ways as possible after listening to the artists' creation of the image. "It is just like you would walk into a dream" said Mahmood. "One can never know where one's mind stops in a dream. We would give them [visitors] material and, if they like, they can even draw on the walls."

This process will be documented over a period of a month to create a developing artwork and sent back to the artists living in their own countries, said Mahmood. "To begin with, it is what the artist wants to say," she said. "It is what the artist is trying to show. So, the starting is the artist. It will be an interesting reversal of the dialogue, where the artist has said what he wants to and there is going to be a direct response from the viewer and it will go back to the artist."

Mahmood played the clip recorded by Sri Lankan artist Jayasinghe. It was an interesting experience, in which the artist talks about a landscape in quite a hypnotic voice. It begins with the sound of flushing the toilet, which repeats throughout the clip every now and then. It makes you feel as if you are in a bathroom and contemplating about a forest, in which there is water and grass.

The show will continue till April 10.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2016.