Ganpati, Street Installations and Ghostbikes

My colleagues Varun and Bheda have created this masterpiece - a Ganpati made up of cycle parts. They had shared the thought while it was still a thumb-nail. At that time, I never fathomed it would come out this awesome!! It was displayed at the Kala Ghoda festival. You can read more about it here...

While all the praise and adulation coming their way is well deserved, perhaps the greatest words of wisdom came from a simple street-side urchin. “Bangaar se bhagwaan banaya!” (They made God from junk!) he exclaimed. Here’s wishing the duo much luck in their ‘divine’ bicycle mission!(Mumbai Mirror)

Wikipedia defines Street Installations as a growing trend within the "street art" movement. Whereas conventional street art/graffiti is done on surfaces/walls "street installations" use 3-D objects/space to interfere with the urban environment. Like graffiti, it is non-permission based and once the object/sculpture is installed it is left there by the artist.

While on my hunt for street installations I stumbled upon ghostbikes.org. Ghost Bikes are small and somber memorials for bicyclists who are killed or hit on the street. A bicycle is painted all white and locked to a street sign near the crash site, accompanied by a small plaque. They serve as reminders of the tragedy that took place on an otherwise anonymous street corner, and as quiet statements in support of cyclists' right to safe travel.

The first ghost bikes were created in St. Louis, Missouri in 2003, and they have since appeared in nearly 75 cities throughout the world.I feel street installations have the innate ability to create Talk Value for brands. They straddle between the commercial and art worlds quite ambidextrously...The hand crafted installation gives the brand a more authentic voice. One just hopes it doesn't get over-abused by clients and brands in the future.