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Art, through the times, has responded to crises, whether it is war, famine, disease or natural disasters, helping us process our experiences and make sense of the world that feels forever altered. Picasso’s Guernica (1937) that memorialises the victims of the Spanish War, Goya’s The Disasters of War series following the Peninsular War (1807-1814), Egon Schiele’s The Family during the Spanish Flu (1918), George Grosz’s The Funeral (1918) during World War I, Keith Haring’s Ignorance=Fear during the AIDS epidemic and Somnath Hore’s Wound series depicting the Bengal Famine are some examples of how artists made sense of various catastrophes throughout history. Some of those even spurred transformative movements in art, like Dadaism in the wake of World War I. Art helps us understand, respond and find consolation in the face of disaster. So today, with the Covid-19 pandemic still raging, the growing threat of climate change and issues of sustainability throwing the world into social, political and economic crises, what will the role of art be?
Moderator:
Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Chancellor, Ashoka University
Speakers:
André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, Ambassador of Brazil to India
Kunal Basu, Author
Meiro Koizumi, Artist
Suman Ghosh, Filmmaker
The link between art and architecture has been a topic for debate throughout history. In 2014, Patrik Schumacher, the director of Zaha Hadid Architects, said: “Architects are in charge of the FORM of the built environment, not its content….” Today, the ‘is architecture art?’ debate has been superseded by the “container and content debate”. Throughout history, art galleries and museums have been in sync with the content and the surrounding context, but with the architectural structures of some museums and galleries taking centre stage, is the container becoming bigger than content? And is the focus on the container detrimental to its content? How does one achieve a balance between the two?
Moderator:
Rakhi Sarkar, Director, CIMA
Speakers:
Abin Chaudhuri, Architect and Founder and Principal of Abin Design Studio
Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, Managing Trustee and Honorary Director, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai
Martand Khosla, Architect and Founder of Romi Khosla Design Studio
Chhatrapati Dutta, Principal, Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata
Museums today are no longer just collections of arts and artefacts. They are no longer just about the past. The scope of museums has expanded from collecting, preserving and sharing collections to embracing their part in shaping and developing identities, reshaping cultural narratives and as engines for societal change. A museum is not just where you can see art but also a place that encourages people, artists and audience, to reflect on it and raise questions. They, like modern universities, have become spaces where ideas are explored and subverted. Yet, a new definition of a museum proposed by the International Council of Museums calling them “democratising, inclusive and polyphonic spaces for critical dialogue about the pasts and the futures” sparked international debate. What then is the role of museums today and tomorrow?
Moderator:
Alka Pande, Consultant, Art Advisor and Curator, Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
Speakers:
Gail Lord, President & Co-founder, Lord Cultural Resources
Romita Ray, Associate Professor, Art and Music Histories, Syracuse University
Professor Amareswar Galla PhD, UNESCO Chair on Inclusive Museums and Sustainable Heritage
Development, Anant National University, Ahmedabad, and Emeritus Faculty, Australian National University, Canberra
Navina Najat Haidar, Curator-in-Charge of the Department of Islamic Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Susanne Pfeffer, Director, Museum MMK für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt
Artistic and creative freedom is essential to democracy, and all over the world this freedom is under threat from rightwing ideologies and conservative governments. Art galleries and museums are being forced to remove paintings or postpone shows, books are being banned, films being censored, singers persecuted, authors arrested. Does such creative censorship affect the quality of artistic output? How does one combat the forces of ideological warfare? What are the challenges one faces?
Moderator:
Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Chancellor, Ashoka University
Speakers:
Indrapramit Roy, Associate Professor, Faculty of Fine Arts, The Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara
Amit Chaudhuri, Author, Musician and Professor of Creative Writing and Director, The Centre for the Creative and the Critical, Ashoka University
T.M. Krishna, Indian Carnatic Vocalist, Writer, Activist, Author and Ramon Magsaysay awardee
Kalyan Ray, Author and Former Professor of English Literature, US
Art and science are human attempts to understand and describe the world around us. Though their traditions and intended audiences are different, their goals and motivations are, in many cases, the same. Over the course of history, art and science have intersected, whether it is the Fibonacci sequence, the works of Leonardo da Vinci, or Sigmund Freud and his influence on the Surrealist movement. And with every advance in technology, art has responded. The early 20th century Futurism movement centred in Italy emphasised the dynamism, speed, energy and power of the machine and the vitality, change and restlessness of modern life. Today, Transhumanism, which embraces technologies like cognitive science, cryonics, artificial intelligence and biotechnology, is gaining momentum. Transhumanist artists are growing in popularity and number. Whether it’s metal-welding sculptors, futuristic video game developers or techno-musicians, there is something new being created every day, with even newer forms of media.
Moderator:
Astrid Wege, Director, Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, Kolkata
Speakers:
Sabine Himmelsbach, Director, HEK (House of Electronic Arts), Basel
Globally, artists have been creating artwork responding to existing artwork, audience, venue space or situation. Art intervention, which by its nature carries an implication of subversion, is now considered a legitimate form of art, and often steps outside the art world and into the public domain in an attempt to influence or change existing conditions. This session will focus on interesting creative intervention case studies from museums, universities and art institutions from India and the world across the fields of art, music, dance, cinema and theatre.
Moderator:
Rakhi Sarkar, Director, CIMA
Speakers:
L. Somi Roy, Curator and Founder-Managing Trustee, Imasi: The Maharaj Kumari Binodini Devi Foundation, Imphal, Manipur
Rina Banerjee, Artist & Sculptor, New York
The borders between different mediums of art are fading fast and different artforms are sharing space and time with increasing frequency. Music plays an integral role in many art exhibitions, there are dance segments in theatre, and dance set to poetry. Set and costume are integral to film and theatre, and video and the written word are part of many art installations. This session takes a holistic overview of the arts and debates whether it can remain in capsules.
Moderator:
Ananda Lal, Theatre Critic, Author and Director of Writers Workshop, India’s oldest extant publisher dedicated to creative writing in English
Speakers:
Anik Datta, Filmmaker, Screenwriter and Lyricist
Suman Mukhopadhyay, Filmmaker and Theatre Director
Ileana Citaristi, Odissi & Chhau Dancer, Guru & Choreographer
Niladri Chatterjee, Professor, Department of English, University of Kalyani
Jonathan Kennedy, Director, Arts, British Council, India
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February 5 to 27, 2022
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