KBF’s Master Practice Studio a Hit with Lulu Mall Visitors

KOCHI:
For the past two weeks, visitors to the Lulu Mall have witnessed the transformation of a retail space into a setting for live artistic intervention and engagement as senior artist and sculptor Reghunadhan K. held court.
The latest entry in the Kochi Biennale Foundation’s (KBF) much-lauded ‘Master Practice Studio’ series, the unique clay-sculpting studio in the mall’s ground floor has been thronged by visitors clamouring to catch a master at work. The experience has been described variously as edifying and entertaining.
So much so that the KBF and the Lulu Group have decided to extend the run of their successful collaborative project to Thursday, June 30. Held under the aegis of the retail major’s environment awareness campaign, ‘Nature First’, the studio has helped the green initiative bring in over 30,000 visitors daily over a first phase that ran from June 5-15.
“The Master Practice Studio in Lulu Mall has been able to bring in a lot of people who wouldn’t normally come to a gallery space. They have the interest and a desire to know more and talk about what they are seeing,” Reghunadhan said.
“Normally when I do a show, I meet people who are already interested in art or have studied art, but here I have been able to meet a much larger varied group of people and that has proved a really satisfying experience for me,” the city-based artist said.
He noted that the event had been as personally instructive to him as to his visitors.
“The most interesting thing is to hear from the audience what they think my art means and it is often completely different from what I had imagined,” Reghunadhan said.
“There were several 3D art students who had never seen an actual clay-modelling process and they even suggested that there should be a class in clay-modelling,” he added.
While the first phase of the studio had the artist chiefly overseeing the creation of several artworks, the next couple of weeks will see him producing his own work to fully showcase the adaptability and transformative nature of clay, his favourite material.
“We couldn’t be more elated by this association with the KBF,” said Shibu Philips, Business Head, Lulu Mall. “The sculpting studio by the Biennale team has been thronged by art lovers from across the state and hence we are glad to extend the studio.”
“We hope visitors take this opportunity to witness in person the magic of art using materials born from nature itself,” said Philips, noting the concurrence of the studio work to the Lulu mall’s ground floor ‘Nature First’ theme: ‘Preserve soil, preserve life!’
“As an activity aimed at creating awareness about preserving our planet and conserving its resources, Nature First – Lulu Group’s CSR initiative of the year 2016 has gained the support of the public at large,” he said.
“This is only the beginning for Nature First. Lulu Group shall be undertaking yearlong activities relating to the sustainability of the environment.”
The Lulu Group’s association with KBF and the Kochi-Muziris Biennale goes back all the way to the first edition of the Biennale in 2012, and over these past years the partnership has strengthened.
The Lulu Group is now the Kochi-Muziris Biennale’s biggest corporate sponsor.