Nek chand saini biography of william
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Book Review — The Boy Who Built A Secret Garden : Nek Chand(Dreamers Series)
The Boy Who Built A Secret Garden : Nek Chand(Dreamers Series)
My take on the book:
In undivided India, in the village of Barian Kalan in Punjab, a young boy Nek Chand Saini grew a garden. But this is not your average garden, it was made of sticks and stones, clay, shattered pots’ bits, pieces of his sister’s bangles. He drew inspiration from the stories he heard from his father and mother, from his friends in school and the animals that he saw in the fields, to create this garden.
But in 1947 when the country was partitioned, Nek and his family were forced to leave their home and moved to Qadian, near Gurdaspur. As he grows up and begins working on building the new city of Chandigarh in new India, as a young road inspector, Nek realizes that a lot is being thrown away everyday to make way for the new city.
As memories of his old home and garden keep coming up, how Nek transforms the discarded bits a
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Nek Chand
THE INDIAN FIGURATIVE SCULPTOR, RECYCLER AND LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT, NEK CHAND SAINI'S INFORMAL ART ENVIRONMENT IN INDIA, ENCOMPASSING TWO SQUARE MILES OF WALKWAYS AND POPULATED ASSEMBLIES, IS KNOWN AS THE ROCK GARDEN OF CHANDIGARH.
DESPITE AN IMMEASURABLY HIGH ATTENDANCE OF OVER 10,000 daglig, ITS RECENTLY-DECEASED CREATOR NEVER REGARDED han själv AS AN ARTIST. NOR DID HE SEE THE UNAUTHORISED LAND-GRAB WHICH FORMED THE grund OF HIS MONUMENTAL ARTWORK AS A POLITICAL GESTURE. YET ITS RADICAL ORGANIC FORM AND CONTENT REMAINS A PLAYFUL CONTRAST TO THE CONCRETE STRUCTURES AND MODERNIST CITY-PLAN DESIGNED bygd THAT DISRUPTIVE VISIONARY ARCHITECT, LE CORBUSIER.
EXHIBITION #7, THE MUSEUM OF EVERYTHING (TASMAINA), 2017/8
JOURNEYS INTO THE OUTSIDE, THE galleri OF EVERYTHING (LONDON), 2016/7
EXHIBITION #6, THE KUNSTHAL OF EVERYTHING (ROTTERDAM), 2016
NEK CHAND, ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE (VENICE), 2016
NEK CHAND, PALLANT HOUSE (CHI
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14 Jul-15 Sep 2024
Overview
THE GALLERY OF EVERYTHING PRESENTS AN INSTALLATION OF ORIGINAL SCULPTURES AND FIGURES BY NEK CHAND SAINI (1924 - 2015).
BORN IN INDIA BEFORE THE PARTITION, SAINI WAS A REFUGEE WHO WENT ON TO BECOME A CULTURAL FIGURE OF INTERNATIONAL RENOWN. HIS GESAMTKUNSTWERK WAS A SECRET MAZE OF NARROW WALKWAYS AND SLOPING GARDENS, DECORATED WITH HAND-CRAFTED FIGURINES OF CEMENT, CERAMIC, BANGLE AND BOTTLETOP.
ORIGINALLY TITLED THE KINGDOM OF GODS AND GODDESSES, SAINI’S PHYSICAL DREAMSCAPE WAS PARTIALLY INSPIRED BY CHILDHOOD FABLES OF MAGICAL EMPIRES, RECOUNTED TO HIM BY HIS MOTHER BEFORE THEIR FORCED EMIGRATION. YET IT WAS HIS ENGAGEMENT WITH CHANDIGARH, THE CAPITAL CITY DESIGNED BY ALBERT MAYER, MATTHEW NOWICKI AND LE CORBUSIER, WHICH BROUGHT IT INTO BEING.
IN HIS LIFETIME, SAINI NEVER FORMALLY ACKNOWLEDGED HIS ROLE AS AUTHOR OF THIS OEUVRE; NOR DID HE RECOGNISE THE UNAUTHORISED LAND-GRAB, WHICH FORMED THE BASIS OF HIS MONUMENTAL ARTWORK,