Lost expression

Shorn of social messaging, art for the sake of aesthetic alone contributes the 'low' to what is otherwise regarded as 'high' art

At a time when his 2008 public art project in New Delhi is under attack yet again, this time by the New Delhi Municipal Corporation, Vibhor Sogani has just completed a similar installation in Dubai. Sprouts, consisting of a 35-ft-high installation and 80 smaller clones, was commissioned ahead of the Commonwealth Games in the capital but is often threatened with removal, or — as now — recommended for concealment with a cascade fountain and flower beds as part of NDMC’s “landscaping” exercise. In Dubai, Joy is one of the larger public art installations in this neck of the woods and