Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
Collaborating, the artistic way
|
The four-day forum organised by the India Foundation for the Arts will conclude today. This meet, which had grantees participating from various parts of the country, aimed at an artistic exchange. SHILPA SEBASTIAN ROMELES reports.
|
A FOUR-DAY forum, New Connections and New Creativity, organised by India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) began in Bangalore on March 22. This IFA programme had participation from 20 of its grantees, who are into practising various art forms. The four-day forum had people from various walks of life participating in it, besides children. They seemed to respect each other's views and also work in perfect co-ordination.
Each artiste was creative, talented, and had a story to tell. The grantees have been working in their respective regions, using varied art forms to bring about some change in society. This forum was triggered off by the "curiosity among the artistes. They wanted to see how other groups and individuals fared in their collaborative projects," said Anmol Vellani, Director, IFA.
The aim of the forum was to build a community with shared interests in "creating new spaces for artistic practice, to enable the participants to connect to each other and pave the way for new collaborations."
"IFA should respond to arts and set trends," said Mr. Vellani. The forum had two sessions everyday. Artistes from various disciplines presented their latest works, the problems they shared as performers, and also discussed the positive and negative aspects of the collaborations themselves, in the morning sessions. The presentations were reviewed by a panel of artistes to "evaluate the collaborations".
The presentations saw a blend of storytelling, visual arts, music, and literature to name a few. It was interesting to observe the collaboration between the tribal people from Bastar and visual artiste, Navjot Altaf. Rajkumar, a craftsman from Bastar, said: "Before working with Navjot didi, our work was created to meet the market demands. But today, we work to satisfy our artistic needs." Observing this group in action it was impossible not to notice Shantibai, a widow from the "conservative" Bastar.
From being a docile helper to her late husband to asserting herself as an artiste, this woman has come a long way.
There was the group, Bal Manch, from Ujjain, and puppeteer Prakash Garud, from Karnataka, who have collaborated with Ajit Rao, an architect who designs leather shadow puppets. These works had inputs from children. Bal Manch, led by Satish Dave, showed how new narrative forms can be developed through the use of Indian toys, some of which were made by children. Topics such as personal hygiene, contemporary problems, and science were the themes of the group. Narration was through poems written by children and the members of the Manch. Prakash Garud has a leather puppet theatre, Bombe Mane (Puppet House).
Bal Manch and Bombe Mane have been working with several schools in their respective regions.
Another group which left a major impact on one's mind was Jana Sanghati Kendra (J.S.K.) of West Bengal. This group uses "spontaneous theatre and social activism" to bring about a change in villages. The group, through its plays, attacks "social evil-doers. Even the dialogues are developed on the spot, and for music we use simple things such as plates and spoons," says Bela, a member of J.S.K. During the workshop the topic for their presentation was the clash between Hindus and Muslims.
One often gets to hear and read about popular performing groups and artistes.
But a workshop such as this gave Bangaloreans an opportunity to interact with the less known, who are equally good in their fields.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
|
