A few years ago I went through a predicament as to what business art had to exist at all, what use was it to society? I thought art was not enough, not even if its subject matter was explicitly political- one had to aesthetise politics not just politicise aesthetics.

After organizing a numerous events in the public domain through Open Circle an Artists' initiative (of which I am a founder member) in the past 4 years, like study circles, public actions, protests and other interventionist strategies of art making and some amateur activism; I realized that art cannot on it's own bring about societal changes- not without a political revolution- but an atmosphere conducive to such a political revolution can only be created by the questions that are raised in the ideological /cultural sphere. Art is responsible for maintaining cultural continuity as well as providing ruptures that bring a fresh outlook through its questioning of the present.

UNICELL

Public Works Cell (www.unicellpwc.org)

UNICELL is a project under an assumed identity of a corporate. It creates works of art that seek to make interventions in the urban space, by designing and producing objects that are functional, and aesthetic. The idea is to bring into focus through UNICELL the various concerns of the immediate situation in a satirical way.

UNICELL and Utopia.

UNICELL is a project that seeks solutions and creates strategies to negotiate the arduous existence within a metropolis such as Bombay. The devices UNICELL proposes are in no way serious solutions to the urban situations. UNICELL is in fact quasi – utopian and carries within it a tautological reference to the problem rather than a solution to it. It is like telling a lie to cover up a lie. UNICELL is more about mitigation rather than the aggressive effort to bring about a change in the society- like the packing one puts under a table leg to stop it from rocking and spilling your coffee.

Though Utopia remains somewhere in the background of the whole endeavor it remains a malfunctioning effort.

UNICELL and Self-organisation.

UNICELL is a single person organisation (that enters into collaborations when necessary) it's task is about ‘organizing one's self' in the ‘Do It Yourself' style to insert aesthetics in social and political arena. Though this happens entirely in the cultural plane, most of the actions/ objects are placed in the public domain.