ARTEAST FESTIVAL 2019: 14 TO 16 MARCH 2019

 

ArtEast is an initiative to raise pertinent questions through Inter/Sections in art, livelihood, social justice, climate change, communication, history – past and present, issues that have a far reaching impact on everyday life of people and of the nation. The festival includes talks/discussions, exhibitions, and performances

 

Curated by Kishalay Bhattacharjee, Associate Professor and Director, New Imaginations, O. P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat

 

Organised in collaboration with National Foundation for India; The Sasakawa Peace Foundation; and New Imaginations, Jindal School of Journalism and Communication

 

Exhibitions:

Brahmaputra – An Imagination

Photography; Art Installation; Poetry; Video Installation; and Music

 

Listening Post – Songs of the River

An audio immersion of river songs including Bhupen Hazarika’s conversations with the river

 

Anthropocene and the River

By Arati Kumar Rao, National Geographic explorer, photographer, writer and artist - charcoal and ink on paper conceptualizing the changing river, its biodiversity delving into the historical discovery of the Brahmaputra; and photographs on the river’s seasonal cycle, landscapes and people

 

A Sense of the Flow: Brahmaputra and Ganga

Installation by Ashima Sharma, amateur artist – using dreams, cartography and material memory, the artist imagines a cosmos that comprise the Brahmaputra-Ganga delta journeying from the mountain ranges to the sea

 

“Nadir Kul Nai, Kinar Nai”

By Parasher Baruah, cinematographer – a video and photography installation that feature the inhabitants of the chars of Assam through songs and explore their relationship with the river, their struggle for survival and the larger issue of migration and Identity

 

Seven Ages of a River: Tsangpo, Siang, Brahmaputra, Jamuna, Padma, Meghna…and?

Curated by Sumana Roy, poet and author

 

A selection of poems to seek a different dis-‘course’ exploring the six life-stages of the river which we recognize in different places of its journey as Tsangpo, Siang, Brahmaputra, Jamuna, Padma, and the Meghna

 

A Bend in the River

Video installation by Apal Singh, cinematographer and explorer – the “sky-river” is one of the most tumultuous river expeditions in the world. This labyrinthine adventure is captured through real time footage that takes the viewer through an impossible journey of the Brahmaputra and its sublime relationship with the fragile and the ever-changing human civilization

 

Inauguration on 14 March at 17:00

 

On view in the Art Gallery, Kamaladevi Complex, 14 to 23 March 2019

 

Brahmaputra: Red River Tales

An exhibition tracing the river from its source to the delta – the “great riddle” and early explorations, creation myths and legends through archives, photographs, books, maps and excerpts – Ian Baker; Harish Kapadia; Deb Mukharji; Parimal Bhattacharya; Jo Woolf; Arupjyoti Saikia; and Royal Scottish Geographical Society

 

On view in the Foyer outside C.D. Deshmukh Auditorium and Quadrangle Garden, 14 to 16 March 2019

 

AT 18:00 IN C.D. DESHMUKH AUDITORIUM

Inauguration

Opening remarks by Ms Jashodhara Dasgupta, Executive Director, NFI

 

1 sq. ft

Concept, Design & Choreography: Surjit Nongmeikapam, contemporary and traditional dancer from Manipur

 

Dance presented by Surjit Nongmeikapam, Waikhom Biken, Senjam Hemjit

 

1 sq. ft is based on the experiences of people who have been displaced by war, persecution or violence. In its present iteration, the work captures the effects of displacement of the human body, exploring how it may react to an unrelenting series of brutal changes. Nongmeikapam draws from the socio-political climate of his home state, Manipur, while attempting to approach displacement as a human, somatic, phenomenon

 

FILMS OF THE SPIRIT

Curated by Rajiv Mehrotra

 

Samskara (Funeral Rites/Kannada)

(100 min; 1970; dvd; English subtitles)

Director: Pattabhi Rama Reddy

 

With Girish Karnad, Snehlata Reddy, P. Lankesh

 

Recipient of the National Award for Best Feature Film, 18th National Film Awards 1971; Second Best Film Award, Best Supporting Actor, Best Story Writer & Best Cinematographer, Kanataka State Film Awards 1970–71; and Bronze Leopard, Locarno International Film Festival 1972

 

Samskara initiated the parallel cinema movement in Kannada. Initially banned by the Madras Government, the film is a bold and blistering attack on the caste system. It follows a religious dispute in a small village community about whether a rebellious meat, alcohol drinking Brahmin who dies suddenly has the right to a decent Brahmin funeral. The beauty of the film lies in its confrontation of tradition with modernity and rationality. The realization that the good Brahmin has about living a life without judgement, a life outside of caste, honesty and humanity as the only path to moksha

 

(Collaboration: Foundation for Universal Responsibility of H.H. The Dalai Lama; and National Film Archive of India, Pune)

 

BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

 

On Leaders and Icons from Jinnah to Modi 

By Kuldip Nayar (New Delhi: Speaking Tiger, 2019)

 

Discussants: Shri H.K. Dua, former Editor-in-Chief, The Hindustan Times and former Member of the Rajya Sabha; Ms Sagari Chhabra, award-winning author, columnist and filmmaker; and Ms Radhika Ramaseshan, senior journalist, Consulting Editor, Business Standard

 

Chair: Shri Soli J. Sorabjee, Life Trustee, IIC

 

 

In Conversation
 

Dr. Ebba Koch, historian and editor of the forthcoming book, The Mughal Empire: From Jahangir to Shah Jahan in conversation with Kavita Singh and Jyotindra Jain 

 

The book is edited by Ebba Koch in collaboration with Ali Anooshahr 

 

(Collaboration: The Marg Foundation)

The IIC Double Bill Dance Concert

 

Kathak Recital

By Rujuta Soman from Pune, disciple of Dr. Guru Rohini Bhate

 

AT 19:00

Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi Duet

By Arupa Lahiry from Delhi, disciple of Smt Chitra Visweswaran with Payal Ramachandran from Delhi, disciple of Guru Jaikishore Mosalikanti

Chameli Devi Jain Award 2018
 

For an Outstanding Woman Journalist

 

Followed by

B.G. Verghese Memorial Lecture

Media and the Present Time

Speaker: Shri M. Hamid Ansari, former Vice-President of India

 

(Organised by The Media Foundation)

FRONTIERS OF HISTORY

 

Amala Shankar: Documenting a Dance Legacy

Speaker: Prof. Urmimala Sarkar Munsi, Associate Professor, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University who teaches Dance Studies and Documentations of Living Traditions. She is a dance/choreographer trained at the Uday Shanakr India Culture Centre, Kolkata and continues her work as a choreographer; and is President of World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific

 

Chair: Rani Ray

 

As a tribute to an extraordinary teacher on her centenary year, this presentation hopes to focus on Smt Amala Shankar’s view of her own art practice, her role as a teacher, and her contribution towards developing a pedagogy out of late dance maestro Uday Shankar’s dance making process

 

Linhas Soltas – Drawings on Paper

By Cecilia Costa from Portugal

 

Preview on Thursday, 7 March 2019 at 18:30

 

Linhas soltas or scattered lines is a series of drawings on paper that engages with the line - elastic, ambiguous, labyrinthic and manipulative, to make the work come alive. In all the drawings there is a constant and common threat to reveal the identity of the portrait model

 

(Collaboration: Portuguese Embassy Cultural Centre)

Celebrating Indian Women in Science: An Incredible Journey
 

The exhibition celebrates women who have been part of Indian science from the late 19th century to the present day. The exhibition reflects on the journey of women scientists as a part of the scientific community in India. Focusing on their inspiration, experience and contribution to science through photographs and text to tell the stories of these women scientists to acknowledge women’s scientific achievements

 

Inauguration by Shri N.N. Vohra, President, IIC and Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary, DBT on Thursday, 7 March 2019 at 16:00

 

(Collaboration: Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India)

 

GANDHI MATTERS

 

Gandhi aur Vibhajan

Speaker: Sudhir Chandra

 

(Collaboration: The Raza Foundation)