mathewd

New project at Coorg

It has been a few days since I arrived at Coorg. I've settled into my new home. I will be here for a few months, working out of the NCBS office and spending time at a field site that has been leased out by NCBS for research purposes. The field site is 100-acre primary forest. I will be spending a lot of time in this forest, looking at the flora and fauna, conducting artistic research. Below is a photo of the abandoned paddy field at the entrance of the forest. Abandoned paddy field at the entrance of the forest It is an absolutely stunning place to be in. Last week, I accompanied a few bat researchers and we took a few long walks in this forest. They came with their devices for research and data collection - thermal cameras for night vision, ultrasonic bat sound recorders. As the night crept in, the character of the forest changed, and we started to hear sounds of an owl, echoing across the land. The slender loris, a small, tree dwelling primate also was calling occasionally, adding another layer of otherworldly-ness to the forest. These experiences and many more are beginning to shape my understanding of this site. So now I am off, it is around 4pm and I will be walking under the canopy until dusk. I will post more photographs, process sketches and other content later.

Milipede study exhibit at BCC

I just took down my exhibit for 'Milipede study' at Bangalore Creative Circus. They are very kind people, and my exhibit was part of their monthly carnival. I learnt a lot from setting up this exhibit. One, it was my first time projection mapping on organic material - leaves. The organic, irregular shape of leaves brought many challenges, such as light spill over the edges. The whole set up took me 4 full days with very little sleep but the exhibit was a success. Go to my projects page and scroll down to the project 'Milipede study' to see the work.

Site is live

Today evening my new website has been deployed, having been upgraded after a few years. Lots of thanks to my friend Sunny Haladker from Ripple Design for his help. Now I gotta keep it going and updated. Have a nice rest of the day everybody.

Three poems about day boy

day boy 1: At the river

at the break of dawn off to the temple to seek the blessings of day boy flowers in his hair a bandana sprouting chrysanthemums eyelashes dripping holy ashes taming the sun He burning the waters I witnessed the solar eclipse and I ejaculated the hot white gleam descended and settled on the river bed I jumped in o but it was night I wish I could be like you ladderless rudderless day boy I admire your vine-swinging attitude I know you drinking sun with bamboo straws I've watched you roll, cataclysmic upto a new thing everyday

day boy 2: Composition

people are made of dots. so are chairs things trees, light even is made of many dots. day boy is one dot. thats why anything can become He can become anything but for m he is day boy. concepts that are familiar such as voices mean people birds are the morning an eye means a person do not matter to day boy. in the west he sees the sun and decides now is the time for dreaming and enters the cosy cove of a fish's mouth the fish swims the world. who loves ideas ideas are his art. who thinks of food and is hungry no more. who can see the wind blow in a clear night sky. who shakes stardust off his shoulders. who does the day. last I saw him he was at the cemetery correcting punctuation on the tombstones.

day boy 3: Why the rain

mystical day boy. climbing up a ladder to the Sun. pop the top to drink the brilliant orange juice. day boy drinks so much Sun he becomes the Sun. but now he wants to fall and he is too hot so he becomes Girl and rains. Girl falls to the water she is water. Girl loves fish so she becomes fish. in Girl's mouth is a ring she refused to swallow as a child. Girl exchanges the ring with a fisherman for a compass that points to the desert. In the desert all there is is sand. but it is not sand that Girl is looking for. she is looking for monk Toad. why is she looking for monk Toad? monk Toad will answer her most burning question Why the rain. but she must find monk Toad before the hot hot desert Sun, the desert Sun where there are no hawks in the sky. but monk Toad is secretly in love with Girl. he knows that if he tells her Why the rain she will leave him forever. so he thinks her into an ice block made of diamonds so shiny shinier than the Sun can penetrate. Girl, happy in whatever form is happy this way but she still wants to know Why the rain. Girl hatches an egg made of water droplets and gifts it to monk Toad so he will tell her the answer. monk Toad drinks the egg in one enormous slurp and there is no more water to be found anywhere. then he realises his mistake If there is no water how can there be the Sun? with no Sun where the desert? the world the whole world slips into an in-between the shape of a peach pit, hard and dormant. monk Toad has no place to go so he goes nowhere. Girl is left alone and now has all the time in the world all to herself so she closes her eyes to nap think and finds herself in the ocean. Girl remembers falling from way above. remembers her home in the cotton tree. Grandmother used to make her pillows. When Grandmother died they wrapped her up in her own pillows and set her in orbit. Girl wonders where Grandmother is? If Grandmother will tell her Why the rain? tired of thinking Girl falls asleep and melts into diamond droplets. When Girl wakes up she sees a bright light day boy stands before her. he says It's been a long time lets go, and they both go away.