During last week (17th – 23rd) there were a couple of art events. An opening at the Palette Gallery featured shallowly decorative paintings, with quotes from philosophers and statesmen printed on the gallery walls, inviting us to see the work as a profound statement on the human condition. It was not being ironic. The gallery is run by two fashion designers, and the crowd at the opening had a high opinion of their own importance.
Of rather more substance was a screening at Khoj of a film about Kashmir. The film is being vilified and attacked by the Hindu right for its critical portrayal of Indias brutal military occupation., and the film makers have responded by organising scores of small screenings. Inevitably, that means preaching to the converted. The other problems were an absence of any formal innovation, or of any identifiable characters, and a bum-numbing 135 minute length. Now if it had sequences of soldiers singing and dancing as they torched villages, then it might have more of an impact.
