Battala woodcut prints surfaced in early-19th-century Calcutta. These prints were made on low quality paper, which could be afforded by commoners. A majority of them reflect dominant religious beliefs and puranic myths of the time, but also depict how traditional Indian aesthetics were merged with foreign styles. Battles and Dalliances: Divinity in the Woodcut Prints of Nineteenth Century Calcutta, an online exhibition organized by Akar Prakar (view here) portrays scenes from Indian mythology, including the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and Krishna leela along with images of Durga and Jagatdhhatri. All 13 woodcuts are stunningly intricate and portray entire narratives in a single scene.

Interestingly, the influence of Bengal’s public theatres and jatras (mobile folk-theatre) is notable in these prints, especially in the way that the stage is set and the cast placed around the paper. This is perhaps not surprising as in the 19th century, when theatre occupied centre stage in the entertainment industry of Calcutta, the battala printers provided these companies with publicity material.

What is also evident from the sartorial choices in these prints is the significant role of the social milieu in which the battala industry developed. From the indigenous crafts of Bengal to imported European paintings, a range of factors contributed in creating a unique visual vocabulary for these woodcut prints.

Now from the past to the future.

Emami Arts recently hosted EXO-Stential — AI Musings On The Posthuman, an exhibition of artificial intelligence art created by Harshit Agrawal. The show melds human and machine intelligence in curious ways — the AI ‘creates’ the art based on human input but by trying to ‘imagine’ that input.

The result of this mingling, however, is mixed. While some pieces such as Strange Genders Manifestation 2 — the canvas is populated by thousands of Warli figures who form varied patterns based on the viewer’s perspective — are striking, most others, especially the Still Life: Icon and Fetish series, are kitschy: a google search with the term, ‘still life’, will yield such depictions easily. AI might be trying to imagine what it feels like to be human, but at present, it can only be a pale reflection of what it means to be sentient.