Weathered Walls: How Street Art Bridges Culture And Science
With the first open-air art museum in New Delhi, street art has a new audience. But isn't it all about beautification of cities?
Once an ordinary wall outside the Mausam Bhawan (Indian Meteorological Department) in New Delhi now has transformed into an open gallery with 38 murals narrating a century-and-a-half of the Indian meteorological legacy. Inaugurated by Union Minister Jitendra Singh, the street art on the walls depicts more than another art installation we might usually come across by the sides of Indian roads. In fact, it is where forecast - crafted by Delhi Street Art- meets folklore through art.
"Public walls are storytelling canvases," late Yogesh Saini, founder of Delhi Street Art, used to say. Indeed, street art reflects something rebellious in itself. Unlike high art that is found enclosed behind glass frames in museums, street art is for everyone and no one. A form of self-expression, it lives on the urban canvases democratizing public spaces. Like a being with its own identity, street art offers accessibility, inviting even the alienated to pause for a moment amid the daily grind.
Many years ago, when graffiti started picking momentum on Indian streets authorities were quick to brand it vandalism. Ironically, if you do a quick search for vandalism online, the first images that pop up are artworks. The power of Street art is such that it thrives in the most unexpected of canvases- the walls of government buildings. Public art in India may collect dust but it's a connection that fosters in the quiet moments of reflection for onlookers.
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But isn't street art about beautification of our cities?
Well no. Rather it is a way to bridge the gap between tangible experiences of everyday Indians with larger cultural experiences. Cities like Delhi alongside Kochi, Kolkata and Mumbai have been known for some epic eye-gagging street art by independent group of artists, further creating a bigger dialogue for its rightful place in the art circles. Beyond the debate of vandalism in recent years, street art now has a newfound appreciator in government bodies giving rise to state-sponsored art on many occasions.
The Politics Of Public Spaces
In India walls are rarely just walls. Rather they hold dust of dynasties, stains of monsoons and brushstrokes of betel juice spat by on-goers. A wall painted with colours and creativity is distinct and refreshing delight much like India's first open air- art museum. To the general public, it offers a peek into the rarely engaged discussions of science, literary history and environment. It speaks of two stories, one of meteorological advancements and the other how art in public spaces reclaims those spaces for the public. Pretty meta, wouldn't you say!
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The fact that the discourse around street art has moved beyond its perception of vandalism to a celebrated and legitimate form of artistic expression. Particularly, highlighted through the first 'Open-air art museum for weather science in India, the 38 murals including the Tansen's rain-bringing ragas share a wall with Doppler radar visuals forces the government body to mingle outside the borders of its offices and institutions with the public, stripped away of jargons and VIP culture.
Away from academia, the 38 murals of the new IMD museum democratize access to art, nature, and science simultaneously, leaving it to the public to discuss. The streets that have always been spaces for revolutions, protests, debates, and life amid chaos take place, the new Open-Air Art Museum not only celebrates weather science but is a poignant reminder that walls that can separate us can also connect us. That public places are still spaces for the public and that art like weather is an ever-present force.