News
Baroda Finds Voice in Delhi
As a part of the ongoing struggle against the highhandedness of the right wing fundamentalists and the University authorities in Baroda, a press conference was called in New Delhi on 30th May 2007. Prof. Romila Thapar, Prof. Jayati Ghosh, Prof. Shivji Panikkar, Deepta Achar and Vivan Sundaram addressed the press and explained the situation.
Prof. Romila Thaper said that whatever happened in Baroda was an attempt to clamp down creative freedom and the autonomy of the university. “Today a student is targeted. Tomorrow it will be literary people and day after the fundamentalists will target the scientists,” Thapar said. Asking ‘what is to be done’, she said that the intellectual community in India should request a response from the President of India. She demanded that a national committee should be set up to enquire the Baroda incident and the committee should comprise members who don’t belong to Gujarat in any manner. Expressing her dismay at the callousness shown by the Central Government, she said that we should be demanding the intervention of the central government in this case.
Prof. Jayati Ghosh and Deepta Achar expressed similar sentiments. Prof. Shivji Panikkar, the man who is the eye of the storm narrated the happenings in Baroda. “I have been working in the faculty for the last thirty years and the suspension order is a great loss for me,” Shivji Panikkar said. “I am responsible for my students. Now their results are not out as the Art History department is sealed,” he added. Expressing his fear that the university authorities would destroy his research materials and other scholarly belongings, Shivji said that it would really dampen the spirit of the illustrious art history department of the university.
Shivji Panikkar said that the field of negotiation is still open, though the university authorities have not responded to the call. Shifting gear from defensive position to offensive, the newly formed Association of Artists, Academics and Citizens for University Autonomy (AAACUA) said that they would intensify the strike in the coming days.
Takeover/Handover by Asian Art Archives
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Handover, 1a space, in collaboration with Asia Art Archive (AAA), is pleased to present Hong Kong art 10 years after 1997, from 30th June to 29th July, a research and exhibition project of collaborative works by 23 of Hong Kong’s most active artists in the last decade.
Talkover/Handover takes as its starting point a research project on Hong Kong art 1997 to the present. 23 Hong Kong artists, some active during 1997 and others active today, were paired up and asked to interview one another on issues surrounding the Handover. Artworks created as a culmination of these dialogues will be presented by 1A space in an exhibition showcasing a range of media, including video, photography, and installation.
The exhibition, Talkover/Handover, will be accompanied by supporting research materials and documentation compiled by AAA’s Researcher for Hong Kong, Wen Yau. Other members of the art community are invited to share their thoughts on Hong Kong art and culture after 1997 in a roundtable discussion on 14th July.
Participating artists include: Chan Yuk-keung Kurt, Ellen Pau, Leung Chi-wo, anothermountainman who have represented Hong Kong in the 49th and 50th Venice Biennale KWOG Mang-ho/Frog King, Leing Mee-Ping, TSANG Tak-ping Kith, MAN Ching-ying Phoeve, LEUNG Po-shan Anthony, SO Hing-keung, KUM Chi-keung, CHING Chin-wai Luke, LAM Wai Kit, LEUNG Chin-fung Jeff and LEE Ho-wing Michelle.
Ashish Kumar Das - Click to zoom
Handle with Care: Show by Ashish Kumar Das
Mumbai based artist Ashish Kumar Das will present his latest works in a solo show titled Handle with Care at Jehangir Gallery, Mumbai. The show opens on 19th June 2007 and will be on view till 25th June 2007.
Nearly two decades ago, while working as a student of the Dep’t. of Graphics, Faculty of Visual Arts, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, Ashis naturally responded to the most revered artistic voices of Late Somnath Hore, Ganesh Pyne and their predecessors like Zainul Abedin , Chittoprasad etc. The ‘here and now’ experiences of the artists and their reflections on a state of influx during the 1940s and immediately after independence caused primarily due to ‘the push of the village and pull of the city’, created an instant impact on the artist’s mind. Ashis’s own arrival from the suburb of Kolkata to the city naturally made him find meaning in the works of the artists dealing with the idea of the urban space, dilemma of a small-town migrant to the city, the state of existence caught between the position of an ‘observer’ and a ‘performer’ etc. These concerns make a recurring appearance in his latest works as well.
Archana Hande - Click to zoom
Relics Of Grey: Archana Hande
Relics of Grey, an installation with photographs, objects, paintings and video by Archana Hande will be presented at the Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai from 5th July 2007- 4th August 2007.
Archana Hande’s artwork and creative practice has always extended into diverse modes, venues, concerns and forms. She has with ease slipped into the intersecting roles of activist, facilitator, interventionist, and maker all wrapped into one. Her interests have led her to draw upon a variety of resources, her projects having often taken-on an involved collaborative spirit. In her current exhibition at Chemould Prescott Road, Hande will present her year-and-a-half long project that culminated in the production of 3 large sculptural installations – White Town, Black Town &Grey Town.
Peers Residency 2007 at Khoj, Delhi
By Jayashree Venkatadurai
Take anything you can find in the world, and look at it, not as a pebble or the hot parathas of Delhi or a the grand malls of Gurgaon, but just as something that is. It is what the Peers residency of 2007 doing at Khoj, Delhi. The group of five artists Aditi A. Kulkarni, Aishwarya Suntania, Pratap Modi, Shakaar Siddique are all translating their ontological experiences as expressions of art. Aditi graduated from Abinav in Pune and Aishwarya is from Rai University. Uma Roy is a post graduate in Sculpture hailing from Shantiniketan. Pratap Modi is a post-graduate in Print Making Baroda. The projects are varied in nature. From woodcut to video installations they are quiet experimental and carry lots of creative energy. The notable thing is that not only people from the traditional academic background but also self practicing artists are given opportunities to explore their latent talents at Khoj. Shakaar Siddique is a sound practitioner and an experimental musician who is part of the program this time who explores the possiblities of linking music with visuals using sound technology.
We have an-art-critic in residence who is none but me and yah!, it is pleasurable to be here. Apart from being a freelance art critic and an art history student from School of Art and Aesthetics Baroda I am an artist myself practicing for the past thirteen years. As I was inspired by the creative atmosphere and facilites provided by Khoj I intend to do couple of projects myself. As part of the residency, members are taken to the studios of artists and galleries in Delhi’ Further, we also have a community outreach program in which we plan to screen few of Charlie Chaplin’s short films to the immigrant community that lives around Khoj..
The open day is scheduled on the 14th of June for the public to view the works created by the members during their residency . I would strongly recommend that you be there and it would prove worthwhile.
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