When we conceived Regional Arts, performance and Eents, 2012, it became clear that while we wanted a practice based festival, there was a need to sit down and take stock of the situation through discussion and dialogue. That’s why changing Paradigms – this two day discussion session was conceived. Loosely translating…paradigm means a window, a frame through which one looks at the world. In the context of contemporary art in the northeast, this paradigm is going through a major shift. R.A.P.E 2012 is also very much a part of the various changes that are taking place in terms of language, media, commonsense, craft and dialogue. Guwahati today reflects a confidence which makes it want to grow, prosper and thrive. At the same time there is a very strong local connection to the land, and its cultural history. What is the best use of form, material and language through which these desires can be met?
Public, Vernacular, and Politics are the key words for us in this two days dialogue session. Paper presentations, panel discussions, artists’ presentations and presentation of work by curators is the model that makes the structure of this discussion session. The first day afternoon session is devoted to exploring questions about the vernacular. The focus will also be on art writing in regional language. Do we have a crisis? What role does art writing play? What is the relationship between art making and art writing. These are the questions one will be exploring in the presence of eminent city based journalists, art critics, academicians and artists.
Two panels on day-2 will be focused on politics and public. These panes will explore certain basic questions like: what is public art? Why public art? What is the relationship between art and the public? What are the linkages between artists, writers and the public? And what role does art need to play in the social domain? One will also need to examine and dwell upon what is political art? What is politics in art? What is the relationship between politics, art and society? Why Political art?
The last session will be dedicated to locating the art from Assam into the definitions of modernism and post modernism, and seeing how the comforts and discomforts flow out of such an act.
We had initially wanted to do a three day seminar, but then realized that the ‘art seminar model’, and we did not want to do the seminar to just generate an event. The purpose in conceiving and structuring has been to generate a dialogue and possibly a seed thoughts and promises that will take us further in the journey to generate a larger spectatorship for contemporary cultural expressions.
Samudra Kajal Saikia and Rahul Bhattacharya (on behalf of Kankhowa and BlackRice)
No comments:
Post a Comment