Ananta offers a huge range of participatory opportunities for a wide spectrum of audiences. It gives schools, colleges, and formal educational groups many inroads.
The nature of the contemporary visual vocabulary that Sumit Sarkar uses in his work means that people aged 8 to 80 find it easy to engage with the work. The influence of Transformers, Japanese comic strips, Pokemon, and Manga are all inspirations that young people easily recognise, feel comfortable with, and are energised by. Equally the stories of the Hindu gods, the notions of good triumphing over evil, are universal messages and metaphors that allow endless exploration and contemplation.
Below are suggested participatory activities that can be created around the Ananta exhibition, but the possibilities are infinite, and as stated before, Sumit’s beautiful, mystical, and futuristic work offers boundless opportunities.
(We have divided the participatory opportunities we are suggesting into direct experience of the exhibition, and remote participatory opportunities, e.g. via the use of the internet.)
Schools – Key Stage 1, and Key Stage 2
A one and a half hour session can easily be run for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 pupils. Many schools now study Hinduism as part of the R.E. comparative religion. Schools studying art and design, or topics such as comparing materials have visited the exhibition. There are clear curriculum links to English, Geography, and ITC.
Take the pupils on a tour of the exhibition. Point out and describe the main Hindu gods represented in the exhibition e.g. Shiva, Vishnu, and Ganesh. Then point out the main attributes of each god, e.g. “Shiva is often represented with snakes wrapped around him. He is the god of destruction, so is often shown holding a ball of fire.” Etc.
After talking briefly about the main gods in the images and sculptures then talk about how the sculptures and images were made using the latest technology. This can lead on to a short discussion about the artist’s influences such as Manga, Japanese cartoons, etc. Encourage pupils to ask questions about what they are looking at. (How you pitch the talk will be determined by the age of the pupils.)
The tour tends to take about 30 – 40 minutes.
For the other half of the session, take the pupils to a making space e.g. somewhere that can get a bit messy. You are going to ask all the pupils to create their version of Ganesh. Explain that there are many different interpretations of Ganesh. Tell them the story of Ganesh and why he has an elephants head. Talk about the symbolism of the image of Ganesh. E.g. the bowl of sweets he holds represents his love of the good things in life. His is usually seen accompanied by his ‘vehicle’ the rat. He is shown holding an axe. This is because he is the remover of obstacles. Etc.
Then provide the pupils with small quantities of modeling clay. Bright colours work really well, and then task the pupils with the challenge to make their own Ganesh. If possible ask pupils to leave their Ganesh models to create a ‘field’ of Ganesh’s.
The end results have been stunning so be prepared to be bowled over by the young people’s creations. If possible display their work to your other audiences. Make time to gather some feedback or evaluation from the pupils and teachers before they leave.
Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4, and Further Education
Key Stage 3, and 4, and further or higher educational groups tend to have a specific interest in the Ananta Exhibition. For example a GCSE course in R.E. Or a Fine Art course. With these groups it’s important to cater for their specific needs, so preparation is vital.
Contact with Sumit the artist makes for a great dimension to a visit but of course might not be an option. Questions and Answers can be posted on the Ananta site for Sumit.
A led tour of the exhibition with an explanation of relevant information is a good starting point. Then an open discussion about some of the issues raised by the work is a good follow on.
Where possible give older students the opportunity to explore the exhibition and the text themselves in their own time. Then a final bringing together of the students, and a chance to explore issues or ideas the exhibition has thrown up is worthwhile.
Blender is the software that Sumit used to create all the work in Ananta. It allows the creation of digital 3D images. Blender is a free downloadable piece of software which is open source, so there is no cost in using it, and it is legal to download.
For 14 – 18 year olds with a basic understanding of ITC, given adequate time and good tutoring, they are able to learn the techniques Sumit has acquired whilst working on Ananta. We have run 6 workshops – one workshop a week (after school or college hours) led by Sumit himself, and the participants have quickly picked up the basic techniques. It has required a good deal of planning, a good tutor who is well acquainted with Blender, and adequate funding to fund the course but the course has been very popular. In fact there has been a good deal of interest from adults in the Blender course so that it would be possible to run adult Blender workshops too. These workshops would be easily replicated at other venues.
A collection of physical resources linked to the exhibition are amazing tools.
Children’s reference books about the Hindu faith are a great starting point. These can be accessed easily via your local library. Reference books about general Indian culture are also very useful.
Physical artefacts such as Diva lamps and pictures of the Hindu gods that people can handle and look at closely are valuable.
Another aspect of the resources that can be made available are all the artist’s influences linked to his love of contemporary visual comics, animations and film, such as Transformers, Pokemon, and Japanese Manga graphics. Transformer comics, Manga annuals, or actual Transformer toys are easy to find and collect.
All these resources, where possible, should be made available to be handled. Some visitors to the exhibition commented on how drawn they are to the sculptures and how they want to touch the actual sculptures. So to have some resources that can be physically handled is a very useful alternative.
Adults with learning difficulties who visited the exhibition especially loved this dimension to the exhibition. Family groups of all ages have also really benefited from the Resource Box/Room.
The Ananta Exhibition offers many different themes that can be easily explored in family-friendly or inter-generational workshops/projects.
Some of the themes that can be explored include; the imagery around the key Hindu gods, the notion of visual metaphor, the visual language of contemporary imagery such as Manga and Pokemon.
A creative practitioner or artist could take any of these themes and build an interactive workshop around them. So for example family groups can be tasked with the challenge of creating a family ‘icon’ representing several things that are important to the whole family. This could be achieved by creating a 2D, or 3D representation, and could be created physically or digitally.
Schools or colleges might not be able to visit the Ananta exhibition as often transport costs can be prohibitive. Using this website pupils or students can be given an idea of the work within the exhibition without actually visiting.
Accessing Sumit Sarkar’s own website can offer a good sense of his other work.
Bafta award winning Cumbria Education Online (CLEO) offer free on-line resources for schools and colleges. They have worked really closely with us on the Ananta Exhibition and have created a fantastic range of interactive activities, and add-ons such as questions and answers with Sumit and pupils from a Lancashire school.
The Gujarat Hindu Temple in Preston is extremely helpful and can give advice about exploring issues around the Hindu faith.
For information about the Hindu faith the BBC website offers some good basics.