Swantantur Singh was determined to fly abroad to a different land, in search of a better life and in hope of a better future. The installation ‘Hope’ by artists Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra represents Singh, an “Uncle” they have been close to for over 20 years. The little ice sculpture, of a bearded man in a turban, stands in a corner of their recent exhibition with his arms stretched-out — a pose similar to that during an airport security check, Tagra notes.
The ice frost creeping over the little statue is symbolic of the bureaucratic struggles of the immigration process — file by file, scan by scan. The surmounting layers reshape his ambitions, aspirations and even identity, turning him almost unrecognisable.
Thukral and Tagra’s artworks are on display at the exhibition, ‘Games People Play 02’, at Lalit Kala Akademi in New Delhi. The exhibition will be on view till October 16.
The first iteration of the exhibition was held at Mumbai’s Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum in 2015, where thousands of people took part in interactive games which were a part of the show.
Based on Canadian psychiatrist Eric Berne’s eponymous book, ‘Games People Play’ portrays the idea of patterns of behaviour and strategies that influence human interaction. In Berne’s terms, “games” refer to the usual, repetitive actions people perform in order to survive in a societal setting.
Rules we live by
The paintings and installations at the exhibition explore the idea of play or games as psychological, social, political, and internal anxieties faced by humans.
. “Whenever we are actually making a participatory project, it is also a playtest,” Tagra notes. “A playtest is when we try out the work with people — friends, peers, visitors — and see how they respond. Everyone brings their own experiences, and that becomes part of the learning. The exhibition itself, in a way, becomes a playtest.”
One of the important works on display, ‘Assets and Liabilities’, features a table tennis modelled like a paper plane — its surface patterned with demonetised notes. Although playable at regulation scale, the table tennis is no longer a neutral ground due to the unevenly spread panels. This skewed area represents the economies, where paper wealth can vanish and rules tilt the game in unpredictable ways.
The artists paint elegant homes, leaves, birds and random objects across giant canvases, in their ‘Dominus Aeries' series. The cotton plant— possibly depicting farm lands and farmers — has also been drawn. The hot air balloons in each art piece in the series portrays themes of migration, nostalgia and the pull of desire to return back to one’s homeland.
From the soil
At the exhibition, ‘Weeping Farm’, is a game and publication that confronts India’s agrarian crisis. “We’ve been working on agrarian issues for more than 15 years,” Tagra tells TMS. “It comes from our own family histories in Punjab. We studied the falling water tables, the debt cycles, and the rising farmer suicides.”
Visitors sit down to play a board game that places them in the shoes of a woman farm labourer, and understand the difficulties faced by these workers. “It’s a mix of research, empathy, and reflection,” Tagra adds. “You play, but you also learn what it means to live through that reality.”
According to Tagra, research is an unending process. “It’s not about how many years it takes,” he stresses. “Some works take ten years, others two. What matters is understanding the gravity of the situation. Each subject we take on teaches us something — about the world, about ourselves.”
The exhibition is accompanied by an audio guide, produced by the artists in their studio. Tagra calls it “a whispering story,” recorded by the artists, along with friends and collaborators.
The artworks by the duo, hence, are a reminder that every rule we follow, every choice we make, and every interaction we have is part of an invisible game that defines who we are and how we move through the world.
