This is a proud moment for the art community of Bengaluru. Young artist Navin Thomas has won the Skoda prize for contemporary art 2011. Famous British artist Marc Quinn handed over the trophy and a cheque for Rs 10,00,000 for Thomas' work "From the Town's End." which was earlier shown at Galleryske.
Thomas admits he has always been interested in the after life of electronic junk. Take salvaged junk like old telephone boxes, discarded radio transistors or tapes and Thomas has been preoccupied in beta testing their possible audio capacity. Another pastime he reveals is "observing how pets and smaller species react to magnetic fields." Investigating the intersection between art, ecology and science has been on the artist's mind right from his first show in 2004.
At any given time, believes Thomas, you are listening to some ‘form’ of radio. He says, “The spatial radius and temporality of the radio phonic field brings in an intimacy of experience. More importantly, radio is a triangulated set of relationships between the listener, the player and its spatial environment. Its transmission afloat and unanchored, measuring our bodies and spaces invisibly thereby creating a sort of poetic virtuality and space, where we can register ourselves and still not know who we are.”
Not one to be competitive and ‘collect’ awards, Thomas says he was pleasantly surprised when his name was announced. “I wasn’t raised to be competitive and have never taken part in any kind of sport. This is the first time I have ever won an award...I don't understand the idea of ‘winning,’” he confesses. Not only is Thomas' work cutting edge, it also demonstrates his ability to understand material and form. His use of digital technology is not a new genre as many would believe. “When people think of so called new media, they associate the words digital and technology with it. The truth is that artists have been using these materials for over fifty years now. So what a lot of people consider as “the new” has actually been around for a while now.”
With the prize money, the young artist hopes to move to a more functional studio space and pursue projects that he had to shelve for the lack of space and resources. But for now, the artist plans to take off to his dream destination, Borneo.
