Pathoremanush

Project Proposal : Pathoremanush: The Narrative of the Bricks Brickman (Pathoremanush) is a process-based collective work. This site-specific project is intended to take place at Pathartila in Silchar, Assam. Pathartila is a place where soil mining is the primary source of livelihood. The area is littered with such mines and brick building factories. The majority of the inhabitants depend on these factories as temporary labours. The presence of these factories not only have altered the landscape it has also subtly changed the environment as the high heating underground oven increases the soil temperature of this area to a comparatively more senior level. Why Bricks? The question about choosing brick, as an object of our work was a necessary argument of this performance. Brick is one of the essential units of sky rise urbanity. The urban space dematerializes the singular character of the brick by unifying them into a human-made structure of the world. Interestingly the brick builders are also shaped in a monolithic structure of labour, as they all are proposed to make bricks in the same size, same shape and with the same logotype. Here, we have chosen brick as a metaphor, and our intention is to project 'brick' – mass-produced by machines in factories – as a unique piece of art. We intend to emphasize the sense of the commonness, not upon the so-called common sense. We will try to deconstruct the values of the unifying structure of the bricks by marking them as a singular and unique piece of creation. This will also help us to separate the identity of the brick as well as of the people who are involved in making them. There are two completely different narrations related to bricks. One is how they have created an uncomfortable hyper atmosphere and how they relate to the struggle of a particular class of people. The second is how those are being used in a most comfortable urban space for another level of people. Both these narrations are commoditized and delicately handled by the famous market. In this site-specific activity, we want to explore the peripherals of the working community of Pathartila. We will try to identify the relations among the people, their soil and the bricks as the remedy of their hunger. Here we will perform as a group or an individual in accordance with the preferences of the artists and the situation of the work. The work process will be completely interactive with a critical understanding of the given time and space. These are the one-year process-based, site-specific project involving discussions among the artists about their thoughts and ideas. The works of the groups or specific job will not be pre-planned and would rather be instantaneous. The basic idea, which has been cited above, is our inspiration for spontaneous growth of words, documentation, discussion and texts that will continue for a year archive leading to an archiving process of such performances. Process of Engagement: The area of the brick factory is highly sensitive, where the whole process may pose some risks. I have already interacted with both the owner and the labourers of the factory. The early stage of the entire process I am focusing on is interaction-based. In the initial stage, I would prefer to have days spent in meetings and regular visits to the site to create a comfort zone, where the people can easily interact. I feel that this interaction is essential to the work process to study the idea from multiple contexts. The method of clay preparation type of clay for the bricks, this also a necessary part of work documentation. The project is focused on documentation through video interviews of the labourers; It's a collaborative engagement both the artists and labourers, creating the textual objects out the bricks process, Sound documentation also part of the project. Another part of this project is to involve the labours directly in this process. The people who work for hours in a pretty harsh environment have minds of their own, and they never have the opportunity to explore. I intend to publish a monthly/quarterly unedited article by them which can continue later of the project if they want. Participants of the project? The idea of the project is to involve more significant community aspects. Two different communities are an essential part of the activity. This project-based in Silchar, In the project, students are involved engage with the project.
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Pathoremanush is realized within the framework of Five Million Incidents, 2019-2020 supported by Goethe-Insitut / Max Mueller Bhavan in collaboration with Raqs Media Collective’