Madhu MN

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA will engage sixth and seventh grade students of Government Model Primary School in Kengeri old city, Bangalore Urban district with the project titled Installation Art with Kids. This project will engage students in the creation of a large-scale mixed-media installation. By exploring various techniques, including light, sound, texture, and scale, it encourages students to interact with the artwork, and connect it to their curriculum in science, mathematics, social science and language. Madhu MN will be the Coordinator for this project. 

Madhu MN is a visual artist with a Masters of Visual Arts from Chitrakala Parishath. His artworks have been exhibited in various galleries and art shows across Bangalore. He has performed across India in various art festivals and events.  Through his work, he aims to evoke emotions, challenge perceptions, and invite viewers to experience a different perspective. He has facilitated many painting and theatre workshops for children over the past few years and has been involved in exploring the learning possibilities with this art form. Given his experience he is best placed to be the Project Coordinator of this Foundation Project of IFA.     

Installation art is a form of contemporary art where artists create large, three-dimensional works that transform a space into an experience. Unlike paintings that you simply look at, installation art surrounds you; it can be walked through, touched, or even interacted with. Artists often use everyday materials, sound, light, video, and objects to express ideas or emotions. Therefore, this kind of art encourages students to think, feel, and see the world in new ways, making the experience of art more engaging and personal. It can have a profound impact on the school atmosphere and benefit students in numerous ways - transforming the space, blurring the lines between art and the surrounding context, and creating immersive experiences for students and teachers.

This project focuses on the learning possibilities offered for students and teachers by understanding installation as an art form. The Project seeks to spark creativity and inspire students to think outside the box, transform school corridors, classrooms, and common areas into vibrant and engaging environments, promoting a sense of shared ownership among students, teachers and school staff. It seeks to make learning more engaging and interactive, encouraging students to analyse and interpret art installations, developing their critical thinking skills, self-expression, confidence, and a lifelong appreciation for art and creativity.  

The Project coordinator will work with students in selecting the topics from their science, mathematics, language, and social science curriculum and connect visual art activities with each of the topics. Further, a series of classroom teaching will be conducted to explore pedagogical approaches on these selected topics. Classes on science and mathematics will engage with art models of the solar system, plant and animal habitats, the water cycle, models of body organs using clay, paper mache, and recycled materials. Students will explore biodiversity by studying colours in nature, animal patterns, and camouflage through art and leaf printing. They will learn symmetry, shapes, angles, tessellations and mandalas; patterns and sequences through beadwork, rangoli, and block printing; and fractions through cutting and designing shapes like pizzas in art. For language activities, students will create storyboards and comic strips to retell stories and poems from their curriculum; making masks and puppets for short skits; illustrating picture books; and performing using costumes and props made in earlier art classes.  And lastly on social science there will be classes on drawing of maps and timelines using artistic elements, creating posters about historical events and figures, illustrating cultural art forms, traditional dress, and community festivals. 

Through these yearlong activities and explorations, the project will work on the possibilities of art integration with classroom teaching. Also, eminent resource persons will be invited to provide an interactive platform for the students. At the end of the project, all these activities will culminate into an Art Installation Show in the school premise. Also a handbook capturing the experience of the students and the project coordinator along with the photographs of the artwork will be published. 

The outcome of this project will be a temporary art installation in the school premise and a publication. The deliverables to IFA with the final report will include a copy of the publication, still and video documentation of the process. 

This project suitably addresses the framework of IFA’s Arts Education programme in the manner in which it attempts to help students connect their school curriculum to the stories from the regions they inhabit and communities they live with.

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees.  

This Foundation Project is made possible in partnership with InterGlobe Foundation.