The amalgamation and creation of a substantial dialogue between two very important mediums of artistic interpretation, like music and visual arts, is perhaps an essential impetus behind the birth of this project. This has been my yearning for a long time. The process of materialising this urge needed a relevant reference and a practical outlook. Being a music lover and an ardent listener, I was browsing through various songs that could be my references, and after a prolonged struggle for existence, my idea attained realism. ‘BLACK HOLE SUN’, this very song, aided me big time as I conceived the idea of showcasing the mental landscape of four contrasting minds with regard to a single subject through two distinctly different mediums. Personally, I felt that the content of the song, as composed by Chris Cornell, is very significant for the current status of our contemporary society, as it very surreally talks about an optimistic plea and the craving of someone who desperately hopes for the rejuvenation and independence of mankind from the hands of various social evils, which sadly but very truly govern us today. Contemporary society coexists with these evils, and their relegation is a must for the betterment and peaceful existence of humanity and the society of which we are all part of. I believe it would be genuinely interesting for people to see the abstract reality of our society, and the exhibition would perhaps become a mirror in which we could see the practical scenario of our own existence and our civilization.

This project has been conceptualised around this song from 1990’s ‘BLACK HOLE SUN’ composed by the eminent musician Chris Cornell. The existence of black holes in space,in the centre of most galaxies, is known to us. Cornell in this song has composed a dreamscape of his own where he has portrayed ’Black Hole’ as a symbolistic element and reversed its role as a rescuer rather than a tormentor. Black holes are such a region in space through which nothing, not even light, can pass through. An optimistic request to the Black Holes to use their gravitational power and depth to attract and absorb all social, personal, and other evils that have an authoritative existence in our society towards them and wipe them out of the world can be felt very vividly in this song.

My concept of the Black Hole Project includes experiments on display, their format, and their mounting. The design, as per the principal idea of this project, consists of the involvement and display of the works of three contemporary visual artists with their perceptions and narrations about this subject through their visual practice, along with the mind-cape of a musician through his composed song and its video. The composition and the display very naturally transform themselves into a multimedia affair. The format has been purposely perceived to spur the involvement of the common mass and general public, apart from regular art lovers and viewers, as the subject itself suggests and talks about the existence and repercussions of its content in the daily lives of human beings who comprise the Society. The works, as we can see, are spread out and visible both inside and outside the studio space (the conventional gallery white cube), taking the show on to the roads and in between the masses, as I have deliberately tried to seek the active and passive involvement and engagement of our society and the art fraternity.

Black Hole Project, namely, has Soundgarden and Chris Cornell with their musical interpretation, along with Arindam Chatterjee,Chandra Bhattacharjee,and Srikanta Paul, who have their take on the said subject in their language of visual arts.

Ayan Mukherjee
Curator