Chennai’s VR mall turns into an open gallery with paintings, photographs and installations

Madras Art Guild’s third edition has installations laid across the layout of VR Chennai along with stores-turned-makeshift pop up galleries

It is not everyday that a GAP outlet is flanked by an installation, or an empty store space turns into a pop up gallery in a commercial shopping center that sees thousands daily in footfall. In Anna Nagar’s VR Chennai today, shoppers and walk-ins are met by a bommai — of a wooden horse, painted in many colours, standing firmly between a crowded McDonald’s and a lean GAP outlet. While some walk by, others dodge, and whole families go on to take selfies. This level of public engagement is at the heart of Madras Art Guild’s 2023 (in collaboration with Yuj Arts Foundation) edition that brings student art, that rarely gets exposure through galleries, to the masses. The horse bommai is just one of over many installations placed across the layout of VR Chennai apart from two pop up galleries exhibiting work by art collectives that have taken up store spaces.   

The concept that puts student art at the centre is what wins in this display which is populated with installations (especially ones that are laid out along the corridors) that would have benefitted from more depth. Aimed to encourage public engagement and connection with the local community, Madras Art Guild is now at its third edition in the city. Connected by a single theme impinging on sustainability, A Fine Balance as it is called, the display hopes to put upcoming artists and their work at the forefront. 

This public art festival was launched in Surat nine years ago with the Dumas Art Project. “We have since been doing this pan-India across Bengaluru, Nagpur, Mohali, Amritsar and so on. The kind of response we receive each time is overwhelming,” says Sumi Gupta, curator of Madras Art Guild. 

Sumi continues, “In a shopping centre environment, such as this, where tens of thousands of people come every day, the footfall you get is unlike anywhere else. Every artist needs a viewer, and public spaces are the best places for the same.” The concept also debunks the exclusivity and niche that a gallery space provides, making the work inaccessible and often restricted to many. This year, there was an overwhelming response from artists and collaborators as well, adds Sumi.

Some of the notable collaborations for the edition are Cholamandal Artists Village, Chennai Photo Biennale, South India Film Institute, Aravani Art Project, Iconic Women’s Project, UNESCO and Madras Art Weekend apart from individual artists, to name a few. Artist T Athiveerapandian’s ‘art car’ stands displayed outdoors, lending a view into the artist’s contemporary, abstract style. A large, vibrant and a tad crowded mural that depicts the cultural similarities between India and Australia shares space with a series of styled portraits of women who have largely been forgotten in the annals of history like mridangam player Ranganayaki Ammal, and UNESCO’s photo series of Indian women achievers in science. The wall opposite is entirely dedicated to a photo series (the result of an open call) on what Chennai means to its people. 

A single bubble holds many colours as well as the reflection of Harish R, a Class 9 student at Mary Clubwala Jadhav Special Higher Secondary School for the Hearing Impaired, one of 66 student photogr̥aphers exhibiting at the second pop up gallery, a restored American Eagle store (with 85 photographers), helmed by Chennai Photo Biennale’s Prism team. “We wanted to look at how children interact with their own lives, their cities and neighborhoods. We curated pictures depicting how they see their city. At a young age, that’s their first interaction with the world,” says Gayatri Nair, director of education, Chennai Photo Biennale.       

Sumi says, “The other thing we have been fortunate to start this year is a mentorship programme. And on the mentorship panel, we have Bose Krishnamachari (Kochi-Muziris Biennale), Jaya Asokan (India Art Fair), photographer  Amit Pasricha, film critic Nina Puri and British artist Pierce Berke. Once the year is over, from across all our festivals, we pick two students from each stream — film, photography, sculpture and fine art — who will be under the mentorship of the panel.” There are also plans to set up a grant in the future.