The year is, let’s say, 2675. The sacred Chennai tradition of FDFS (First Day Show) has got an upgrade. Life-size holograms replace cardboard cutouts, while an excited audience cheers in front of a large, perhaps, touchable screen. At Chennai Central Railway Station, auto rickshaws are now air cabs, as they whir past coolies (whose services can be booked online) and the occasional drone. At Marina beach, vendors dole out fresh, 3D printed bajjis against the backdrop of the iconic lighthouse: surreal with a touch of the absurd.
But what may seem surreal for us, is futuristic for the team that conceptualised the art that now stands bright on the walls of Andhra Mahila Sabha on Durgabai Deshmukh Road, Adyar. The weekday morning traffic and the brutal summer sun (a deadly combo might I add), is no deterrent for passers-by to stop and look at the murals that have sprung up recently in the city. And, in a first for India, these artworks are also being sold as NFTs on Jupiter Meta, a curated marketplace for digital assets across the field of arts, making it a digitally-accessible wall that will sport QR codes.
