Getting in the Way

Giant images of the head of a living man being buried under waste; a piano

between two TV monitors, with animated stills and sounds that coordinate the

theme; a life-sized video of a naked man being covered in cow dung; grotesque

close-ups of dogs devouring meat… That was the digital show at the new Apeejay

media gallery on New Delhi’s Mathura Road, built to showcase new media and

emerging technologies.

I walked through the mirror-finish building on a crisp winter evening, trying

to absorb the images, their message, the use of technology. And began to

question the very notion of creativity in our world, one overawed by technology.

Vivan Sundaram, Subodh Gupta, Sonia Khurana, among the artists being

projected, are names of repute in the Indian art world. So it is not their

ability that I question, but the notion of creativity today, and the impact of

infotech. These technologies are not unfamiliar to me (a textile designer, these

20 years) even though they’re peripheral to my working life. I am not

anti-tech. But neither do I embrace it unthinkingly in my life. I cannot imagine

life without these advances. But I dread to think of technology squelching the

subtler nuances of the human experience, the painstakingly meditative quality of

hand embroidery, through which I express what I wish to communicate...

I have tried to use the computer for designing, but I find it tedious, and

resort instinctively to drawing with the hand. Yes, this is habit, for I have

used my hands to draw with for almost 40 years. But I’ve seen even those adept

at using the PC actually go through a very tedious process for even minor

changes. Yet design software is stupendous, and I’m glad the tedium has been

taken out of creating color combinations, combining weaves and patterns and

images, and making design simpler and quicker. But in terms of creativity I do

feel that technology hampers rather than aids.

Creativity arises out of a need to say, or do, or possess…a need often

governed by circumstances. Think of early man, drinking from the river with his

hands. Then his mate is ill. How does he bring her water? He cups his hands–but

this doesn’t work well. Frustration, angst, creativity…and you have a

coconut shell cup, then later, a clay pot.

The hand is like today’s computer–an accessible and fascinating tool, but

not necessarily appropriate or adequate. Infotech gives us images that are so

slick, that the overawed mind forgoes the essence of what it intended to

express. The efficiency and convenience actually detract from the nature of

creativity, which is often driven by the angst–and the desire to explore

beyond what is available. Digital archives and networks let us retrieve images

in seconds. There is no gestation period for the mind to absorb and internalize

these images. And like in that gallery, the ideas, though clever, seem

superficial. I wonder what these artists are trying to tell me that demands the

use of these technologies. This is often the case with design too, where the

computer is used when it need not be. If the idea needs the help of digital tech

to express itself, then it justifies its use. But to put forth ideas in the

creative realm using technologies just for the sake of it–that denigrates both

the creative element and the technology.

Technology is indeed central to industry. But the computer cannot be the

pivot for creativity. Efficiency and creativity are often diametrically opposed

to one another. And how does a machine generate the most integral of all

elements that make us human the feeling that creates a cognition of need, that

inspires men to express? The computer cannot emote. It has no feelings.

Infotech can only be a tool to aid the creative process. It can never take

over design, or art.

Gopika Nath is a textile designer