Page 270 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

CONCEPTUAL ART AND NEW TRENDS 267

many of the contemporary practitioners of these arts consider them to be a completely
new trend originating in the west, Bangladesh has its own comparable history of such
arts, like other regions of the world. Before investigating the local comparable history,
it is worth mentioning the observation of Bonita Ili on conceptual art and new trends,
more specifically installation works. Bonita Ili, an Australian sculptor and head of
department of sculpture, performance and installation studies of New South Wales
University, said, “Installation is often referred to as a new medium of art, as if it has
sprung from nothing and it does not have any history. During the period of political
unrest in Paris in 1986, in his writing titled The Death of the Author, Ronald Barth
challenged the popular belief that the ‘genius’ comes up with original ideas un-aided
by other pre-existing notions. Barth’s reflection can be used in investigating the
history of installation art.
Firstly, the history of the main element of expression in installation art – imbuing the
concept of space related problems and possibilities - is as old as the history of
architecture, sculpture, music or dance. Secondly, installation lies in the intersection
between architecture and sculpture, sound and instability. and thus its deep relationship
can be found with such traditional places where a mingling of cultural activities in
various media has been taking place.” Saying this, Ili ventured to define the position
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of installation in the history of art and identified some places and cultural activities that
could be termed as the predecessors of this particular stream of art. She identified the
shifting of importance from the figure or the object to the base as the principal feature
of the modern artistic efforts. At the same time, she identified the western allusive
presentations related with colonial space and the acquaintance with local narrative
elements as the catalyst of the conceptual principle as its main character. According to
her, ‘Increasing awareness about the conceptual aspect of the possibilities of space has
completely changed the grammar of western art.’ [Trans.]
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She went back to the era before the twentieth century and described how the character
of traditional installation, as cultural activities, is embodied in ancient architectures fig. 6.16 Chaitra
such as the temple of Ise in Japan and the Bithila temple of Hampi in India. The volume Samkranti festival,
of space, architecture, sound, dance and ceremonies flow to the viewers through direct Magan dance, Old
experience, and Ili termed this process as the predecessor of contemporary installation Dhaka, 2002
art. British colonial regime brought an
end to the local mainstream art and
replaced it with western modern art.
But along with the growing interest in
national and social emancipation,
interest in local traditions also
developed within the mainstream arts.
Practice of western art trends and active
participation in the national and social
movements were parallel
characteristics of the local artists. From