Photo Courtesy: Taragaon Museum

‘Project #1336’ is an installation art in exhibition at Taragaon Museum, Bouddha under the theme ‘Object in Focus: One object, one artist, one big idea’ curated by Roshan Mishra that began on Friday. And the exhibition is inspired by the Room 3 gallery of the British Museum, UK.

Visual artist Manish Lal Shrestha created the installation art, which is a 1336 meter long knitted woolen rope. He created the exact length 1336 meter to represent the elevation of the Kathmandu Valley from the sea level.

In the exhibition, the installation work looks like a pile of colorful intestine spread around 1300 sq/ft area. But when looked closely you could get a feel of the Kathmandu Valley that is surrounded by hills. Then both the ends of the rope are visible as if symbolizing; with the beginning of life, there is always an ending to it.

Likewise, for Shrestha, the installation is the representation of life in the Valley. He shared, “Life is never straight; it is like the lane of the Kathmandu Valley. I see women gathering in small courtyard knitting along with their neighbors’ interaction with joy about life and values. They knit with the stories, and knitting becomes the story of seconds. Knitting is like making things happen, intricate connection between threads and journey of life, which is yet full of struggle, hope, and chaos like the lanes in the city.”

This installation began in 2017 as the part of Kathmandu Triennale for a community project that included local women and youngsters. Explaining about the reason to show the installation which has already been displayed, also the Museum Director, Mishra expressed, “This work was presented alongside many other artworks and at that time it had a tangible cause. That is an artwork done together with a community and visitors were allowed to touch the work. Now, visitors are not allowed to touch the work and inside the gallery, they have to focus only on one object and contemplate on it. It aims to know how people react to the artwork and how they interpret the same when there is only one big object on display.”

If you are interested to be the part of this exhibition, on Sunday the artist is leading a 'Public Procession' from Taragaon Museum to Boudhanath Stupa at 2 pm where everyone is welcomed to participate. More than hundreds of people will be carrying the rope in the procession. This symbolizes the association of physical and mental aspects of a human coming together along with a diverse group of people. 

The exhibition inspired by the Room 3 gallery of the British Museum, UK continues till Monday.