Feeder Art

By -nilavra
Posted on December 14, 2020December 23, 2020
Posted in Projects

Project: Feeder Art

Project Year: 2017

The electrical feeder box, an overlooked urban structure and a ubiquitous urban element found throughout each local precinct, was taken up as a starting point for introducing the “personal” back into the urban life of Kolkata. Each such box was cleared of dirt, grime, weeds, posters, garbage and thoughtless human waste, recoated with art (and of course, the registered utility number of each feeder box) and was left as a tiny spot of colour in the urban greyscape. With encouragement and support of the residents, municipal caretakers and well-wishers, the spots of colour have been slowly, but surely, increasing in numbers, in the huge city, each day waging a war on the grey.

A surprising effect of the art insertions was the urban pride that came to be associated with the inserts. The garbage being thrown around these painted boxes suddenly decreased, the few areas where people tried to vandalize were immediately taken into cognizance by the neighbourhoods and accepted as a social and moral responsibility of the locals to protect the artwork. It is a heartening realization that people are essentially civic in nature, they just need a feeling of connection and ownership to their surroundings. Just like a spark cannot sustain a fire, it needs the fuel to keep going, so is the responsibility of a society to entertain and sustain its culture.

The initiative kick-started in November 2017 looks at it as an opportunity to feed the city with artwork inspired by famous artists thus reclaiming liminal spaces.