Art exhibit: Creating treasure from trash

Sculptures created from disposed of gadgets on display.

ISLAMABAD:

As technology comes to define much of human emotion, artists too strive for creative meaning within the context of a connected world.

For sculptor, Imran Hunzai, the challenge of disposing outdated gadgets holds a certain amount of awe, which he explores in his exhibit, “Body Extensions,” which opened at the Satrang Gallery on Wednesday.

Hunzai’s work drives inspiration from the unsettling sense that technology has overwhelmed much of the human urgency to emote and create, replacing the thoughtful and tactile with convenience, efficiency and inherently, disposability.

“My goal is to elevate the status of the things we dispose of and give them another chance to survive,” said Hunzai, who is an assistant professor at his alma mater, the National College of Arts in Rawalpindi.

The exhibition comprises of 27 untitled pieces fashioned with electronic components that were salvaged from the trash, and given the appearance of jewellery and clothing. In this way, the disposed gadgets are purposely transformed into new forms of human accessories.

In his critique of the shifting role of humans as “operators, rather than creators,” Hunzai evokes the distressing sentiment that much of this generation is exposed to the illusion of the tactile through tablets and cell phones, rather than a curiosity for the natural world. One of Hunzai’s pieces is a sculpture of a child – dexterously made out of toilet paper rolls- with a trajectory of figures made of transistors. The child towers over them in sheer curiosity and relates a sense of ambivalence towards societal progress.

Italian diplomats and guests of honor at the launch of the exhibit, Dr Frederico and Lavinia Filippi Bianchi, felt a strong connection with the sculpture, citing their own two-year-old as an instance of her generation’s attraction to and intrinsic ease with technological contraptions that were perhaps alien to previous generations.

“There is tendency within most artists to look towards the past for inspiration,” shared Frederico Bianchi, explaining that Hunzai’s engagement with the present was an endearing ownership of a modern and evolving landscape. “Our own daughter, barely two, can open Skype and call up her grandmother in Italy!”

“Hunzai engages with his contemporary environment to question reality and explore his emotions,” expressed Ms. Bianchi, who admitted that much of her affinity for the artist was because of his use of different materials, including wood and stone. “His commentary comes from the heart.”

Hunzai’s work has been widely exhibited across Pakistan and hailed for his experimentation, which the artist feels is necessary in order to capture ideas largely in a state of flux. The exhibit is on display at the Satrang Gallery till February 28. Pieces range between Rs40,000-150,000.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th, 2014.