What is common between music composer Santhosh Narayanan, Chennai Smart City Limited (CSCL) CEO Raj Cherubal and creative director Bharadwaj Sundar? “All our speakers are looking for a way to shake up the status quo and flip perspectives,” says Shyam Sundar, licensee of TEDxNapierBridge, that will be inviting eight change-makers to share their journeys at the Museum Theatre on September 16.

Chennai-based artist CP Krishnapriya is one of the speakers, whose talk will focus on challenging conventional perspectives on art. “Art deserves a place in our everyday lives. But when you sideline art in traditional education, it becomes accessible to only a few,” says Krishnapriya. “People assume that art has just an ornamental value, and is consumed by only a few who are generally the cream of the crop.”

Through her various projects, Krishnapriya hopes to upend this narrative. “For the Kochi Biennale of 2016-17, our project was about labour, a subject matter people don’t normally associate with high art,” she says.

Bharadwaj will also be talking along similar lines, having worked on projects such as ‘Dark is Divine’ (with photographer Naresh Nil) that questioned the country’s fixation with fairness. Another one of his works, ‘60 Jobs, 60 seconds’ that released on Labour Day, was a tribute to the working class, documenting jobs that are not normally spoken about.

On the other hand, there is Raj Cherubal who believes that large-scale changes happen through seemingly basic contributions by an individual of the society. Cherubal, who is responsible for making Chennai a smart city, says, “When you mention smart city, people think it has to do with high-tech computers and sensors. No, it’s about getting the basics right first — reducing pollution, ensuring clean water supply, traffic management and so on. Technology is just the tool to get these done,” he says.

Raj’s talk will attempt to demystify the concept of smart cities, explain why it is a good remedy for the issues plaguing most areas, and how people can contribute towards it. Raj and his team have already started the implementation of previously stagnant projects such as the pedestrian plaza in T Nagar, bettering parking management, introducing 28 smart classrooms and restoring 120 water bodies. “For these projects, we work with NGOs as well, so we need volunteers who are willing to get their hands dirty, and people who can provide their technological expertise,” he says.

Clock collector Robert Kennedy will be showing how change that is extremely personal can still impact the entire society.

“I have decided that all the 2200 wind-up clocks in my collection will not go to my children, as is generally the norm. I want to open up a trust museum so that it is for the public to view,” he says.

Robert’s collection is famous for its tremendous history; the oldest being a 285-year-old clock crafted by the official clockmaker of Napoleon III. “I have never bought a single clock from an antique trader, only from second-hand shops,” he insists.

“We have curated the speaker list to be as diverse as possible,” says Shyam. “We want that diversity to be reflected in the audience as well. So we have teamed up with an NGO to sponsor tickets for transgender persons,” he adds. “Our name itself — TEDxNapierBridge — is based on the bridge that acts as a link between North and Central Chennai. Similarly, we want to connect everyone in Chennai.”

TEDxNapierBridge will be held at Museum Theatre, Egmore on September 16 from 2.30 pm.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society / by Sweta Akundi / September 10th, 2018