‘Train’ing Public to Make a Visual ‘Platform’ for Themselves – H.A. Anil Kumar
Around 1000 tickets, costing ten rupees each, were sold during the weekend recently, to watch an ‘art
exhibition’ of puppets from various cultures. All the shows of leather and wooden puppets performances,
held thrice a day during weekends in an auditorium, ‘Rangasthala’, of about 120 capacity, were sold out. The
puppets were from Anupama Hoskere’s ‘Dhaatu’ collections. About a hundred drums were distributed over
to onlookers to join in and be a part of three-four hours ‘drum jam’ session on Sundays, conceptualised by
singer Vasundhara Das every month. The children would often wait for the elders to make way from the 20’
x 40’ spread of snakes and ladders game made of tiles.
All these and similar events have been taking place in 2013 at Rangoli-Mac or ‘Rangoli Metro Art
Center’, which was earlier the boulevard space on M. G. Road, Bangalore. The half a kilometer boulevard,
‘Hoovina Haadi’, runs over the half a kilometer Rangoli-Mac space, which consists of several art galleries,
a multipurpose intimate theatre ‘Rangasthala’, a children’s section ‘Chilipili’, a ‘Friendship point’ where
people can tie a friendship band as an offering and a Bangalore-Information Wall. Contemporary artist
Surekha is the curator of the overall space and some of the conceptualized programs that are permanent
features of this metro space.
Rangoli-Mac is, arguably, the only ‘artistic space’ located below the only metro-line attached to
M.G.Road metro station, which is one end of the single line metro in Bangalore. Around 25 installations
‘Trai n’ing the
Publi c to Make a Visual
‘Platfor m’ for Themsel ves
Rangoli Metro Art Centre (Rangoli Mac) is a ‘metro’ art gallery
in Bangalore. Doubling up as a museum and happening space,
it has become the new art hub of Bangalore, not only for the
art lovers but for the daily commuters of the newly introduced
metro rail system in the city. Art historian, H.A. Anil Kumar,
gives a complete picture of this new ‘metro’ initiative.
like permanent sculptures
produced by selected
students of all the art schools
of Bangalore, have surpassed
their identity of being mere
sculptures. It is a favorite
spot of many who want
to click their photos next
to it. The three important
galleries are ‘Vismaya’,
‘Belaku’ and ‘Chaya’ that
see hundreds of visitors
daily, and upto thousands
on weekends. ‘Rangasthala’
is multifunctional and has
been utilized for holding
seminars, theatre plays and
film screenings. ‘Bayalu’ is
an open area for community
jam sessions, music, street
plays, theatre activities,
demonstrations and
workshops.
Rangoli Metro Art Center
has begun to operate at a
crucial time in the history of
Bangalore as a ‘metro’polis,
immediately after the first
metro train took off in the
city, to ease the traffic woes.
It consciously intends to
reintroduce the notion of
‘art of the public’, ‘art by the
public’ and ‘art for the public’.
This is in continuation to the efforts made for the last two decades by various public and private agencies,
in an attempt to activate and redefine the passive role of the public in relation to art.
The Rangoli-Mac metro art is not showcased ‘in’ or ‘at’ the metro rail or platforms, but artistically defines
the boulevard attached to Metro station. The original intention of BMRCL was to activate the interactive
role of art as well as the people in relation to movement (read as ‘metro’). The role of the authorities like
Shivashailam and Vasantha Rao has been crucial in deciding the initial outlook of R-Mac.
Rangoli-Mac began operating in November 2012 and was

years ago, was intended to dissuade the billboards from making ugly scenes on the city walls.
The new paintings, instead of doing the intended, gave a new definition to ugliness at the most,
according to experts’ opinions in the cultural field. While the public seem to like those populist
imageries, the contrasting opinions between the ‘art public’ and ‘art specialist’ saw a clear divide
over the aesthetics of public space in Bangalore. Rangoli has been addressing these issues, and
refuses the division between art and its public in practice.
Consider some of the shows that were held at Rangoli-Mac: The photography show about
old Bangalore (photographer Clare Arni’s collection), the first ever show here, though scheduled
for a couple of weeks, ended up being viewed for about two months owing to the appreciation
showered by the public. Complemented with another show of models about the ‘Making of
Metro’ it gave an idea of how the city was and how it is going to be in the near future when the
metro work would be completed. Added with the Bangalore Information Wall (the only wall in