Mapping the Concern of Art and Its Political Relevance in Kerala: A Note about Public Art and Its Formula

Abstract

In recent years, the question of challenging perspectives on the position of art and its public acceptance has arisen within the academic works of artists and cultural practitioners. Art is an unsystematic form of political discourse that complicates our understanding of reality and transforms the existing socio-political conditions. Work of art is not a position. But a work of art situated in a street with an intelligent metaphoric dimension creates its position and drags the attention for space and time. An art is politicising in this criteria. Political philosophy considers art as a powerful tool to convert political as public. Theoretically, the prime most function of public art is to convey the position placed in that terrain that upholds the politics of concerned civic and promotes social changes. The scope and value of public art have not been estimated and understood in Kerala, not even in India. It is just a fleck in the art terrain of Kerala. This article is an inquiry about the relevance of the symbolic and tangible representation of the culture in public based on the value of art. The first part of this essay deals with the critical aspects of work of art and its public engagements. An attempt is made to place art within the political philosophy discourse, largely a Marxian framework. The second portion is an appeal regarding Kerala’s art position and its validation in the public sphere. Finally, the paper ends with detailing the ‘place making’ capacity of art and its surroundings, in a particular geographical area and its forwarding capability.