MINIATURE AS WORLD / MINIATURE AS METHOD

Alternate worlds of miniatures here are an assemblage of smaller-scaled objects which often resemble

or are imagined to resemble a full-size object. Miniature worlds are something which I have engaged

with for several years and find them engaging even today. There is an underlying desire to engage with

these miniature objects, to arrange and rearrange them to imagine alternate worlds, to construct stories

and string narratives with these tiny objects. The miniature objects thus become the main

actors/characters/ingredients/elements in these worlds which draw on newer connections. While doing

these acts, we imagine ourselves to be inhabiting a space around them, or at times within them. As one

explores the world through a curious mind, one starts building up territories, journeys, and experiences

with these elements. Newer imaginations build up new meanings and new associations between these

discrete objects. Miniatures and their alternative worlds have capabilities to transport people through

space to explore what is unknown and what lies beyond. Miniatures are often in relation to the

referential scale. Giant sizes make something feel tiny and miniatures make things seem to be giants.

This correlation of scales and objects makes these narratives provocative, reflective and exploratory in

nature. This course is premised on the argument that conscious alternative worlds created by the

assemblage of tiny objects may not only add the possibility of escape, fantasy & alternative worlds but

may also provide valuable reflections of current times.

This course will

1. Develop an understanding of miniature art forms through history.

2. Develop capacities through miniature apparatus to construct alternative imaginations/

narratives of the world which are provocative, reflective and exploratory in nature.

3. To develop a practice as a miniaturist through paintings/ dioramas/ text/ installations, etc.