In a pioneering initiative to engage the public imagination, the Museum partnered with ZegnArt, a project of Ermenegildo Zegna Group, on a programme titled Public. Artist Reena Kallat was selected to conceptualise and create the public artwork for ZegnArt Public. Her work, Untitled (Cobwebs/Crossing) highlighted the relationship between public space and the city's history.
ZegnArt Public
In a pioneering initiative to engage the public imagination, the Museum partnered with ZegnArt, a project of Ermenegildo Zegna Group on a programme titled Public. Seven contemporary artists were invited to engage with the Museum and its immediate environs and create an artwork that reflected the nature of urban discourse and the tensions embedded in the idea of the ‘public’.
The exhibition sought to encourage dialogue about the nature of public space and explore the dialectics between art and the urban environment.
Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings) by Reena Kallat
In Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings), an oversized web made with hundreds of replica rubber stamps wove a history of the city onto the façade of the Museum, with each stamp bearing a colonial street name that has been replaced by an indigenous one. By recovering the memory of one aspect of the process of decolonization - the renaming of anglicised British street names with Indian or regional ones - the work forms a palimpest on to which generations may re-inscribe stories.
Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings) Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings)Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum
A cobweb is evocative of time, and just as a room left vacant, stories that are not visited gather cobwebs that appear to hold dust from the past - Reena Kallat
Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings) Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings)Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum
Kallat's web of 550 resin rubber stamps joined with steel rope weighs over 1 ton.
Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings) Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings); detailDr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum
Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings) Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings); detailDr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum
Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings) Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings); detailDr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum
ZegnArt Public / India, 'Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings)' by artist Reena Kallat's, behind the scenes installation photographs, Behind-the-scenes photographs of the installation processDr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum
The artwork weighs over 1 ton. To install, the work was pre-assembled on the ground, bamboo scaffolding was built across the front facade and pulleys were fixed onto the roof.
ZegnArt Public / India, 'Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings)' by artist Reena Kallat's, behind the scenes installation photographs, Behind-the-scenes photographs of the installation processDr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum
It took 7 days, 70 men, 8 pulleys and 1 crane to secure the web onto the 140 year old facade of the Museum!
ZegnArt Public / India, 'Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings)' by artist Reena Kallat's, behind the scenes installation photographs, Behind-the-scenes photographs of the installation processDr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum
The initially installed pulleys proved insufficient, and the work had been lifted only a few feet when this method of installation had to be abandoned.
ZegnArt Public / India, 'Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings)' by artist Reena Kallat's, behind the scenes installation photographs, Behind-the-scenes photographs of the installation processDr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum
At the end of the day, a crane was required, lifting the work effortlessly into position.
Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings) Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings)Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum
Display of shortlisted proposals; installation view (2013)Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum
The 7 shortlisted proposals on display in the Museum’s Special Project Space.
Display of shortlisted proposals; installation view (2013)Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum
The 7 shortlisted proposals on display in the Museum’s Special Project Space.
Display of shortlisted proposals; installation view (2013)Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum
As part of the collaborative project ZegnArt Public/India, between the Ermenegildo Zegna Group and the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, the installation Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings) by Reena Kallat was commissioned for the Museum's permanent collection.
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