Ajaykumar MA, PATHE, ILTM, FRSA, FRAS
Selected Research Outcomes 2000-2006
articles/lectures
- "Sacred concrete? - Towards a Notion of Being, and Notion of Narrative Construction in Contemporary Non-anthropocentric Space-time", Chakra – Tidskrift för indiska religioner (Swedish trans. Chakra - Journal of India Religion). vol. 4 December 2005, pp. 46-60.
- "Dynamics of psycho-spheres: Ellora caves and Tadao Ando", Context: Journal of the Development Organisation for Nature, Arts and Heritage, vol 2, no.2, Autumn/Winter 2005 pp. 37-50
- University of the Arts, London TrAIN summer public lecture
series:
humans are not the centre of life...humans are not even central to life - bionomics and its pertinence to contemporary art, architecture, and design
3rd May, 2005 5-7pm, University of the Arts, London, Room 205, 65 Davies street, London W1
TrAIN is the University’s research centre in the field of 'transnational art, identity & nation'. - "Zen and the Art of Peer and Self Assessment in Inter-Disciplinary, Multi-Media, Site-Specific Arts Practice: A trans-cultural approach", Art, Design and Communication in Higher Education vol. 2:3, July, 2004
- "A hypothesis of 'being' and of 'mind' that may emerge in a relational world, a space-time of montage, an interstitial realm of dependent origination", in C. Soddu, (ed.) Generative Arts 2004, Proceedings of 7th International Conference, Milan: Milan Polytechnic, vol. 2, 2004, pp. 264-268.
- "The 'feminine principle' in Butoh: a methodology that spans history, cultures or disciplines?" Gender Forum, No. 7, May 2004: Anybody’s Concerns II: Conceptions of the Body
- "Butoh and transcending the identity of the sex - Towards a 'tantric' interpretation of Sankai Juku's 'Kagemi'", Gender Forum, no.5, October, 2003: Gender Debat(tl)ed: Gender and War
practical projects
AHRC funded research project:
2001-3 AHRB Research Project "Uses of Ma: towards a methodology for transforming a Japanese aesthetic paradigm into trans-cultural forms".
An investigation of how the aesthetic and philosophic concept of Ma - signifying space-time, emptiness-presence, - relate to architectural constructs in Japan and India; and an analysis of the contemporary trans-cultural relevance of Ma. This has involved field research in Japan and India.
Research outcomes include: garden, a 'zen' garden
without the 'zen'
A series of 'gardens', virtual and actual, from 2003, for galleries, public
spaces, cyberspace, and private homes, investigating spectatorship and active
witnessing; and re-conceptions of psychospheres, void, and emptiness-presence,
using contemporary materials and techniques:
luminescence - a garden of the night
and day, a garden for the Nag’s Head Estate,
Shoreditch, London
Fifth in the garden, a ‘zen’ garden without the ‘zen’:
series and currently in development. Initially created as a joint project
of the Royal College of Art, and the Peabody Trust.
multimedia presentation
at The
Carnival of E-Creativity, New Delhi, India, Jan.
2006
Fourth in the garden, a 'zen' garden without the 'zen' series.
cute micro garden - a garden for people who have
no garden.
in Imagination, Function, Production, group exhibition,
Study Gallery, Poole, Mar-May 2005
Third in the garden, a ‘zen’ garden without the ‘zen’ series. getting to know you, group exhibition,
Royal College of Art, London
Second in the garden, a 'zen' garden without the 'zen' series:
an installation, luminescence, based on research in 2004 in
the Nags Head Estate, near Columbia Road, Shoreditch.
foyer, installation, Riverside Studios,
London First in the garden, a 'zen' garden without the
'zen' series: a time based over fifteen days, primarily
of and for Riverside Studios’ staff and regular spectators,
re-conceiving Tantric and Zen art in contemporary space.
The delicate touch of the installation makes room for social interaction and allows us to share its humour in the present tense of the ordinary. As we move elsewhere towards something, the foyer works as a slow fuse for contemplation... - Live Art Magazine
digital media
tate modern - a tantric viewing, film shown at:- The Carnival of E-Creativity, New Delhi, India, Jan. 2006
- biblio- group exhibition at the Triangle Gallery, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, March 2006
- podcast
This is the first in a series of films on the subject of art, architecture, and philosophy. It offers a radical re-interpretation of spatial dynamics of the Tate Modern Museum, London: perceiving the architecture of this edifice coming into ‘being’ only through cognisant beings' performative kinaesthetics.
Future films/podcasts in the series have as subjects: the rock–cut edifices of Ellora, India; the Water Temple, designed by Tadao Ando; the Guggenheim, Bilbao; the Guggenheim, New York.
iPak - 10,000 songs, 10,000 images, 10,000
abuses, podcast films and net art manifestations
This project is currently in development. It has been supported by an
Arts Admin Digital Bursary, and the Arts Council of England. It is to
be launched by Turbulence, primary online gallery for new media art.
pages of madness – a work for the net and the gallery shown at:
- Turbulence, USA, 'Spotlight', 2004-
- The Community T,V. Channel U.K. ‘Mad for the Arts’ project, 2004-
- National Film Theatre, 6th Disability Film Festival, December 2004
- Generative Arts 2004, Milan, December 2004
- Picture This Film Festival , Canada, February 2005
- Rampton High Security Hospital, March 2005
Accompanied by a lecture. - The Carnival of E-Creativity, New Delhi, India, January 2006
2003 Yerma's Eggs, multi-media scenography, Riverside Studios, London and at Explore@Bristol. A performance work investigating issues of bioethics and infertility, directed by Anna Furse. Researched and developed a synthetic, scenography that engenders inter-action between human, 'technological' and spatial. It involved digital video and projections.