A documentary series presented by Michael Wood, exploring magnificent masterpieces of the Western world in their cultural and historical settings. The series consists of eighteen episodes, each of which focusses on the artistic contributions of one period in the history of the West, from Ancient Greece to the late 1980s. From the classical ideals in Greek and Roman antiquity, through the Renaissance, to the postmodernism of the later 1980s, the series provides a panorama of 2000 years of architecture, painting and sculpture, and studies the art masterpieces as reflections of the Western culture that produced them.

Two episodes will be presented every week online
IN OUR OWN TIME 

Episode 17: The Aftermath [25:52 min]
The Abstract Expressionist movement established New York as a centre for the visual arts. Works by Pollock, Warhol, Lichtenstein, and the sculptor Oldenburg are examined.

Click here to watch Episode 17

Episode 18: New, Newer, Newest [26:06 min]
With many of the rules tested and discarded, the art world has become international. Art is now accessible to everyone to create and appreciate.

Click here to watch Episode 18
 

[82 min; 1949; b/w; English]
Director: Alexander Mackendrick

With Basil Radford, Joan Greenwood

Recipient of the NBR Award for Top Foreign Films, National Board of Review, USA 1950

A warm and funny 1949 portrait of a Scottish island thrown into a panic when the wartime allotment of whiskey runs out. Conveniently, an American ship loaded with 50,000 cases of Scotch flounders just offshore, and the islanders go to the rescue. Mackendrick's direction of the ensemble cast is impeccable: no one character is allowed to dominate, yet each character is indispensable. A classic tale of gentle anti-authoritarianism.
 

[43:51; 2020; English]
A National Geographic documentary series takes viewers back in time to see aerial footage of how earlier landscapes in China were shaped, including the Great Wall, Kublai Khan's legendary lost city and a newly-discovered city from 4,000 years ago.

In this episode, Dr Allan Maca investigates the biggest manmade structure on earth; The Great Wall of China.

[54 min; 1961; b/w; English]
A film by Satyajit Ray

The documentary was made to celebrate Tagore's birth centenary in May 1961. Ray was conscious that he was making an official portrait of India's celebrated poet and hence the film does not include any controversial aspects of Tagore's life. However, it is far from being a propaganda film. The film comprises dramatized episodes from the poet's life and archived images and documents.
 

[60 min; 2017; English]
Director: Katy Homan

For decades, Margaret Atwood has been universally acclaimed as Canada's greatest living writer. Fearlessly outspoken in life and in her work, Atwood has always been an unrelenting provocateur. Alan Yentob meets Margaret Atwood in Toronto and discovers how a childhood spent between the Canadian wilderness and the city helped shape her vision of herself and the world, set alight her imagination and set her forth on a path to literary success.
 

Presenting selected works of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), regarded as the greatest artist of the German Renaissance. The online exhibition includes paintings (oil and watercolour), woodcuts, etchings and drawings covering an eclectic mix of religious works, portraits, landscapes, studies of animals, of plants and of people.

This online exhibition is on view from 10 to 23 May 2021.

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

Vegetarian Cuisine from the Himalayan Foothills: Flavours and beyond
By Veena Sharma (Niyogi Books, New Delhi: 2020)

ABOUT THE BOOK
A delectable experience for gastronomes, this book has mouth-watering recipes that draw upon local bounties — some delve into forgotten, or less used, grains and greens, spices and fruits — from the Himalayan heights. Exploring a variety of palates and creating a whole range of nutritious and tasty foods, there is an underlay of a desire to retain and re-establish the biodiversity that is vital for your physical and mental health.

Discussants: Prof. Pushpesh Pant, academic, food critic & historian; Chef Gautam Mehrishi, Executive Chef, Renaissance Mumbai & Lakeside Chalet, Mumbai; and Prof. Veena Sharma, academic and author of the book

Moderator: Ms Jasleen Vohra

An online workshop with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

On 8 and 9 May 2021 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm

The two day- workshop led by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, world-renowned Buddhist teacher and practitioner, will specifically look at investigating the nature of our mind and explore the techniques that can help contain our ever-restless mind; inquire whether meditation can be employed as a tool to calm our mind; explore how we can incorporate meditation as a habit in our daily routine; and address precautions and destabilizing effects of meditations and how to handle such situations.

(Collaboration: Ritinjali; Centre for Escalation of Peace; Pallavan Learning Systems; and Vikramshila Foundation)
 

Lead presentation by Shri A.K. Jain, former Commissioner (Planning), Delhi Development Authority. He was a member of the Committee of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on the DDA (2015), and UN Habitat (2007-12). A recipient of the 2nd Urban Professional Award 2014, World Urban Forum, Medellin, Colombia and 2016 IBC Lifetime Achievement Award.

Discussants: Shri A.G.K. Menon, architect, urban planner and conservation consultant; Prof. K.T. Ravindran, urban designer and former Chairman, Delhi Urban Arts Commission; and others 

Chair: Prof. Dr. P.S. N. Rao, Director, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi

Urban India is passing through the Anthropocene, where humans have permeated everywhere and shape everything. The Covid 19 pandemic has exposed the problems of urbanism, sustainability, public health, joblessness, livelihoods and stark inequities. The talk and discussion will focus on how to address the issues of public health, housing, jobs, pollution, energy and water and make the buildings and cities green, carbon negative, sustainable and inclusive.

Historical Letters of President Najibullah and Dr. M. Hassan Kakar, A Collection of Essays

A conversation with contributors of the book — Dr. Barnett Rubin, Senior Fellow, Center on International Cooperation, New York University and a leading expert on Afghanistan and South Asia; Mr. Jawan Shir Rasikh, Editor of the book and doctoral student in South Asia Studies, University of Pennsylvania; Dr. Radha Kumar, writer and policy analyst, and former Director General, Delhi Policy Group;  Mr. Afrasiab Khattak, former Senator and former Head of the Independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Mr. Jawed Ludin, former Deputy Foreign Minister of Pakistan, and member Heart of Asia Society. 

Moderator: Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, former Algerian Foreign Minister and Algerian United Nations Diplomat who served as United Nations Special Envoy to Afghanistan from July 1997-October 1999
 
Discussion based a new volume of essays edited by Jawan Shir Rasikh (Kakar History Foundation & Heart of Asia Society, 2021). In the correspondence, exchanged in 1990, Najibullah and Kakar speak candidly about the hopes and desires of the Afghan people for peace, about plans to bring peace to their country, and about the national and regional-global actors, factors, and obstacles concerning the states of war and peace then in post-Soviet Afghanistan. The contributors to this volume, all established and emerging Afghan and international scholars, offer critical analyses of the correspondence, and fresh perspectives on historical and political themes related to the past and current peace-making processes and efforts.