Writing a diary every day of my increasingly dramatic life in wakefulness and in dreams, has been my dream for years. I never get around to doing it consistently just as many other things i dont update, including this blog. But here is a page from my Coimbatore Diary.Staying in the outskirts of Coimbatore at DJ Academy of Design made me feel like i am soaked in a small windy oasis of the Design World. I came here to teach two courses for seven weeks to two very interesting batches of twelve beautiful people.
We made a few films, watched a lot of films, talked about them and talked about ourselves, too.
Films make us talk about ourselves. They make us talk about ourselves to ourselves. I believe that is when we start looking at the world ...The real looking.
So 8 students made 8 films about themselves and then a film about the flower market in Coimbatore. It was an overwhelming experience since all the films were so different, highly creative and so unique. Though working first time with the camera, constantly searching for the languages of their own. The other batch was of four people, on four different planets. They made a beautiful film on The Wind, personifying it into a character.
The process I insisted was simple. It was to enjoy the effort and not the outcome. We really tripped on it.
Teaching in NID is like working at home, in a place where you know how things work. Teaching in DJ was new and therefore much enlightening. Actually both are two very different experiences on all fronts:The human experience, pedagogical experience and the design experience. Places make people.The visual language, the verbal language, body language, pace of work and the very idea of work is very much dependent on the space where people are working. So Design as a concept also changes wherever it goes. I experienced this as a teacher this time unlike otherwise I do as a designer practicing design. At times I wondered if I am forcing my students to look through the camera the way I look. but realized very soon they were much intelligent and were looking the way they wanted to look, as diligently as I was myself.
Yesterday I dreamt of Coimbatore. The windy roof where we sneaked. The beautiful and cathartic music jam we had the day before I left which summed up everything that I was saying. About getting together, understanding the other, understanding the self, imagine a world together and make music! The films started it, music ended it.
(Hey DJadians I had a good time and I can go on about it. Thank you and so long. Till then finish your assignments! and also help me by uploading your films...)
