Gurugram needs street art to make public spaces engaging

Gurugram needs an outdoor art movement to get people to engage more in a public space. Forms of art, expression energise public spaces and make them appealing for people.

Cities are cultural spaces and need to be visually and aesthetically appealing as well as challenging, forcing residents to think, engage or critique. Public art is ubiquitous around the world. It could be the famous Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate in Chicago, the squiggly steel things near AIIMS in Delhi or the anonymous wall art in cities across the world. The Metro station at Arjan Garh is beautifully painted in bright colours and engages the passerby.

A general view of the makeover of a flyover by artists of "Delhi Street" with Paintings at Hanuman Temple, Yamuna Bazar in New Delhi. Neighbouring Gurugram, on the other hand, there is very little street or public art. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

Some public art is elevating, and some can be an eyesore. But it is an aesthetic and cultural expression and can be very defining for public spaces. Subway steps painted to look like a piano adorn stations across the world enticing people to use the stairs rather than the escalator. Here the art is a message about promoting walking and health.

Graffiti has always been an imaginative movement, challenging the notion of art and ownership. In Penang, Malaysia, street artists have painted walls juxtaposed with physical items to produce delightful works of art such as the one with two children painted to look like they’re seated on a parked bicycle.

Indian villages have many different forms of wall paintings, which in a sense become public art. Our cities have only recently begun sporting street art as a form of expression. In some parts of Delhi, we see innovative designs on walls. The process of creating street art is also one of engagement. It comes up over a period of time and the local residents can either be involved or be witness to its birth and development. Some of our street art is of deities. In India, one unique use of such street art has been to paint pictures of gods and deities to prevent people from urinating at that place. Another unique form of public art has been that of paintings and messages on the back of trucks and autos, including the ubiquitous “Horn OK”.

In Gurugram, we have very little street or public art. The aesthetic dimension of the city is still undeveloped, except for a few murals along MG Road, designed to spread social messages. Art can be used to give social messages, but it carries the possibility of doing it in non-traditional and challenging ways where the medium itself can become the message. Some street art is commissioned, while others done in the dark of night. But, both contribute to the visual appeal of the cityscape.

Street theatre is also a form of art used to engage citizens, particularly on social issues. All these forms of art and expression energise public spaces and make them more appealing for people to be a part of. Gurugram needs an outdoor art movement to get people to engage more in the public space.

One reason for the lack of engagement and ownership in Gurugram could be the presence of gated communities, where people only engage with people and spaces inside the gates and not outside. Streets are where a city congregates. We need more appealing streets and public spaces. Maybe we can organise events where children paint the streets or artists engage the public with their creations.

To quote the Association of Public Art: “Public art is a reflection of how we see the world—the artists response to our time and place combined with our own sense of who we are.”

(Kalpana Viswanath works on issues of women’s safety and rights in cities )