Kunal Kalra

'The Fatalist Game' is a video art with the philosophical comment on the uncontrolled situations in today’s so called developed societies. Think any of them and you are connected with this video. The game blocks used in this video act as a sign of situations which happen in the lives of all of us where we feel helpless. Often these situations are beyond our control. In such moments we either accept the situation or fight it. But in both cases results are negligible during the lifespan of a person (which is even much shorter now a day).  In the globalized world the consumerism has created a situation of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, and also this system is using up natural resources as if they are never going to deplete. When I see this situation, as an artist, I feel that this situation is beyond my control or anybody's control. Fighting with this problem is of no use as they say this product is for the betterment of humanity and that product to

Although it is a bit late writing about this work, I feel it is important, as it is one of the milestones for me as an art practitioner. The official opening was on 20th September 2014, which is sponsored by Alliance française de delhi, Gurgaon Centre:   S-24/8 DLF Phase III, Gurgaon, Haryana - 1122001.   Opening day of Exhibition The idea of the exhibition was to create and showcase works representing the Changing Landscape  of Gurgaon and National Capital Region. The seeds of this work are hidden in the philosophical ideas of life, death and reality, and this get confirmed when this quote is read:   for whom the whole world was not sufficient. A tomb now suffices him - Alexander the   Based on these ideas I executed an interactive art in HCU named 'Dargah-e-Ayenaah'.When it comes to the ‘Territory of the Winner’, all these ideas are fused together. When I was thinking about the landscape and changes that happened in Gurgaon, I just felt one thin

Invitation card for Dargah-e-Ayenaah The idea of Dargah-e-Ayenaah started building up in my mind because of my spiritual journey during the last two years and some sort of extension of my previous work "We Are the Lights, Within". But this time it came out in the form of Dargah with some modern digital settings. Dargah-e-Ayenaah is my attempt to understand the often occurring questions about the self- The philosophical quest, that implores us to ask ourselves who we are? Why we are here? Why somebody is born rich and someone else poor? What is the relation between different living beings? Is there anything in common which connects everybody, regardless of their age, gender, location, race, colour or physical appearences? If that link is the existence of God or the supernatural, super-conscious, an absolute entity which is a general belief system of almost every human being? If so, then what is God? What does God look like? Where does He stays? Where can we find Him

How one should react on a news that his or her work is selected for National Level competition conducted by Lalit Kala Akademi - New Delhi?  Yeah, I felt good when I received one mail from Lalit Kala Akademi asking me to send the original artwork for the second round of jury. But I was not so excited that time, for being shortlisted, as my mind was saying that it’s not a big thing. It might be because I did not want to send my entry this time. I send my work at the last moment with a thought that nothing would happen. I remember, one of my professors, ex HoD, department of Art Education, Jamia Millia Islamia, Mr. M.G. Kidwai, used to tell me that all these competitions are like winning a lottery ticket. Sending your entry just means that you are buying a lottery ticket and you will not win the lottery until and unless you don’t buy one. He motivated me  always  to send the entries for awards and competitions.  When I read this article in The Hindu, dated March 20, 201

Being born and brought up in a Hindu family, the idea that we humans carry the flame having the same properties of flame from God's big ' Hawan-Kund ' (Flame from God’s supreme sacrificial fire) was known to me. The imagery of the soul got affirmed from the 'Pauranic' movies of 70's and 80's in which a devotees' soul would be getting mingled with 'Vishnu' or some other deity. The Project - we are the lights, within , is the result of this affirmed belief that stayed throughout my life even though my practices changed from hard core religion to liberal self motivated spirituality. But the content remains the same; the purpose remains the same - 'to know who I am, what is the purpose of my life, what I am doing here etc.’ top: Origination, middle: Evolution, bottom right: Realizaion, bottom left: Actualization.  The final four images of the project - namely Origination, Evolution, Realization and Actualization are mainly the diff

'What they will Excavate in 12,014 C.E.' - Video Art Installation When I was working on preparing a portrait of the space I am living - Hyderabad Central University, two words came into existence in my Art practice vocabulary - Primal and Primitive, Which themselves are connected to my search for the origin.  The idea of this video started from the thought of making something big and permanent using very raw and primary material. The quest for permanent leads me to the entrance gate of university campus, where a big cliff witnesses every passerby. I thought of adding my presence in the record book of that cliff. So I made a drawing on that cliff with a piece of coal and video graphed the process. After finishing that drawing, I asked myself what will happen to this work and drawing after few years as urbanization is changing the rocky landscape of the city. Then all of a sudden I felt that this cliff can be the story teller of our civilization after 10