Research trip to Dhaka, Bangladesh 2017

Bangladesh is comprised of eight districts - with Dhaka being the prime conglomeration situated in the centre of the nation's geography. Dhaka also came to be more centralised with an intent of the government to create a fresh capital for the country of Bangladesh. While the main language of the country is Bangla, one finds it with various dialects across different districts. As one prepares to land down on Bangladesh from the sky, the landscape of numerous river-fingers is evidently observable. The waters have principally oriented the place culturally - in what they eat, live and think. Moreover, industries are mostly located near the waters.

Dhaka from the flight window

Dhaka from the flight window

Meanwhile, our visit to Bangladesh was with respect to selecting artists for the second cycle of the Young Subcontinent Project that is to take place in Goa in December 2017 under the umbrella of the Serendipity Arts Festival. The purpose of our visit was to understand the cultural and political landscape of the place - that which is the principal concern that the present project aims to address. Over our short stay, we visited artist studios, cultural enthusiasts, patrons on one hand, and cultural institutions, museums and art spaces from where we gathered a sense of the art field in the country. There are a several art schools in the country, however many artists also go to Kolkata or Baroda in India to study art. Earlier art wasn't a viable field in the country, however the recent opening of the market and the need for filling the void for marketing, visual branding and communication have made it an acceptable vocation in Bangladesh. In popular culture, Bollywood further allows access to understand English and Hindi. Dhaka film industry is mostly famous for their focus on art films.

Ruxmini Chaudhury, from Samdani Foundation was our key point of contact to navigate Dhaka and it's artscape. We were joined by Farzana Urmi, who was one of the selected artists for the young Subcontinent artists for the Serendipity Arts Festival 2016. We began our journey by visiting the studio of well known Bangladeshi Photographer Shahidul Alam. Although we were unable to meet the artist himself, we were able to look through his exhibition space that hosted the exhibition of the state of affairs in Bangladesh. Alam's photography is mixed with activism and social concern. He is also the founder of one of Drik picture library as well as one of the premier photography institutes Paathsaala in Dhaka. Riyas was observant enough to notice that photojournalism and photography is one of the most thriving visual art forms in contemporary Bangladesh. The historical reason for the emergence of photography as an artform in Bangladesh needs  further investigation.

In the meantime, we also visited Counter Foto - another photography institution that has been founded by the young Saiful Haq Omi. As the name suggests, Counter Foto "represents a counter discourse, a counter representation, which promotes dialogue and activism". It is a small space that teaches photography and holds other programs like lectures and workshops on the subject. It was quite inspiring to see young photography enthusiasts sit up in the small library / photo-collection of Counter Foto on the upper floor and spend quiet time looking at visual material. Counter Foto is instrumental in raising a post colonial voice, taking photography ahead of just documenting native Bangladeshi life from its poverty and pain. It enables photographers within the country to look at their environment with empathy and find new energy within its content.

Industrialist Rajeeb Samdani broadened our knowledge about the art scene in Bangladesh at his residence, which itself has a collection of some of the best contemporary art works from across the world including Anish Kapoor to Zaha Hadid along with Rabindranath Tagore. Over dinner, Mr. Samdani brought to light that people in Bangladesh are much open to consuming music as art, however, other forms are still to receive equal attention. Much of Bangladeshi art is not collected by the State or native patrons, rather, collectors from outside, he explained. Talking of this, Samdani recollected of the time of 1971 when Bangladesh became independent. Immediately after receiving freedom, Bangladesh went into the hands of the military who did not have much interest or knowledge about its native art. Besides, the new people in power were themselves figuring out what to do and how to handle the newly formed State. The Pakistani Statesmen in this period were still the more conscientious ones, and they were the ones who actually collected some of the art works of prominent artists, including those of one of the first Bangladeshi sculptors. In this manner, much of the work of Bangladeshi artists from the earlier generation is in the present day Pakistan. (Samdanis worked hard on acquiring this work back for their country)

On the other hand, the Government's understanding of contemporary art is very limited. Thus they are not able to value the work of young Bangladeshi artists. In addition, unfortunately the works of young Bangladeshi artists is still not winning the confidence of the veteran artists of the land due to ideological differences. Thus in a limited discursive space, with little encouragement from their seniors or the State, the artists from Bangladesh seem to prefer moving out to other countries where their work is appreciated and where it finds more meaning. With the identification of this crisis, Samdanis have now commissioned a private museum to the well known architect Kasef Choudhury, where they aim to give place to much of their collection, as well as contemporary artists' work from Bangladesh through the Samdani Art Foundation.

Dhaka is infamous for it road traffic - no amount of planning can help you get anywhere in time! It can be frustrating to be  stuck on road  for long hours without anything to do. Ruxmini informed to us that inspite of the high taxation on automobiles (800%), the amount of cars on the street do not go down. There is no centralised system of public transport - just like Kathmandu. There are no efforts by the State government to provide for such a need, or intervene into the traffic situation. The only modes of public transport that exist are the buses and rickshaws - both fuel and people driven. The sate of roads is fair. Dhaka has a good stock of modern buildings, lushes of green land. 

The Bangladesh Parliament building built by Louis I Kahn remains one of the most celebrated architectural projects of the country. Indeed, the monumental scale gives a lot of hope and inspiration to the youth and public. Kahn's architectural imagination to keep the campus accessible to the public without having any boundary walls has unfortunately lost value today. Farzana Urmi, who accompanied us around the site recounted her experiences from childhood when the entire campus was available for all kinds of play. Today, the campus is fenced and protected, leaving the public in a mixed feeling about the barricade. Riyas and I had the opportunity to take a tour inside the building, where we marvelled at the monumental spaces of the project. The perfect alignments, large cutouts and lofty volumes echo Kahn's ideas of silence and spiritual space. 

Ahmed Rasel showing his works to Riyas Komu

Students waiting outside Counter Foto Photography Institute in Dhaka

Riyas Komu discussing ideas at Counter Foto

Visit to Artist Studios: Riyas Komu listening to Mizanpur Rahman Chowdhury

Facility of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy

Palash Bhattacharjee showing his works to Riyas Komu in the Kala Academy corridor

Reetu Sattar explaining her ideas to Riyas Komu

The Dhaka Parliament Building designed by Louis I Kahn

Independence Museum, Kasef Chowdhury

The Bangladesh Independence Museum designed by Kasef Chowdhury

Dhaka Rikshawalas

The vibrant campus of Dhaka University

Urbanity - Dhaka

Dhaka Roads

Towns around Dhaka

Exhibition at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy

Riyas at Shahid-ul-Alam's photo gallery

In discussion: Riyas with Farzana Urmi and Ruxmini Chaudhuri

A street view around the city

Road traffic in Dhaka

Riyas observing work of Rahman Chowdhury at his studio

Riyas Komu discussing works with Marzia Farhana

Work in Progress: Rahman Chowdhury

Installation at the Independence Museum, Dhaka

Installation at the Independence Museum, Dhaka

Central Contemplation hall at the Independence Museum, Dhaka

It might be worthwhile to recount our experience at the Dhaka International airport on our way out of the country...As the primary international gateway to a country, airports often index the economic, cultural, social and political state of affairs of a country. At a glance, one will be taken over by the predominant presence of male bodies at the Dhaka airport. On a closer look, one realises the mass exodus of male labour from Bangladesh to the middle-east evident through the visas on their passports. Questions of flight details about Saudi or Dubai and their schedules are perpetually murmuring in sheepish voices, being asked to educated / literate people by the local immigrants. Having waded through a confused and unorganised queue at the dysfunctional ticket counter that left us with an impression of the lack of management and apathy, we were circled by these young men at the threshold of immigration counters. To most of them we appeared approachable and educated enough to help them with filling their immigration forms. What was more surprising was their unfazed trust in handing over their passports to strangers for registering their personal details within the forms. Riyas kept attending to their innocent pleas to fill up the immigration form slips until I intercepted. I suggested these men sternly (feeling discomforted with their lack of confidence) to fill up their own forms, which I was ready to guide through. However, I soon realised it wasn't the space to do so. Rather, they weren't in a position to receive.

At that moment, I was caught in a mixed feeling of helplessness and despair. How was it that a country that exports so much human labour to the prospering lands did not treat their own public with minimum grace - in extending them counseling counters on how to work out intimidating immigration formalities? How could a population be(come) so under-confident that they could unquestioningly trust strangers with their most intimate stately documents like passports? The airport was quite a feudal environment, holding a public raised with strange insecurity - one that arises from the failure of the State to deliver its subjects the basic minimum amenities; a public that exhibits loss of faith in its very governance...Such insecurities have made a lot of citizens of South Asian countires to take several constitutional aspects of survival in their own hands. 

To be sure, these are precisely the questions that come to subversively shape the curatorial concern of the Young Subcontinent project. The trip left me with these important reflections, those which also made my engagement and belief in the project more meaningful. How do native artists reflect upon these issues through their work? Do they confront them, or reflect upon them, or evade these questions to bring out completely different dimensions of their cultural landscapes? The evasion, or denial if at all, is also a necessary response to negotiate these politically charged landscapes. Through what factors do art practices get shaped in these South Asian countries? These are interesting questions that the Young Subcontinent project opens up for a broader dialogue and contemplation during the festival. Artists and ambassadors shall demonstrate their responses to such questions through exhibition and dialogue.

Dhaka Airport

Dhaka Airport