All smiles as Oz artist portrays patients at hospital in biennale city

Kochi, Dec 31: This cheerful artist from Down Under is now a familiar face to patients at a leading hospital in this city amid India’s only biennale. Ever since Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) launched the Arts and Medicine project eleven months ago, Australian Daniel Connell has fascinated the patients by drawing their portraits with exceptional dexterity and ease, bringing smiles on their faces.

Young Connell, who was at the General Hospital in downtown Ernakulam to participate in the 45th edition of the Arts and Medicine programme here on Wednesday as part of the ongoing Kochi-Muziris Biennale, surprised the patients by inquiring about their whereabouts in their mother tongue Malayalam.  But then, Connel had earlier as well stayed in Kochi during the country’s first biennale that was held during 2012-13 for 96 days.

Currently pursuing PhD at School of Art, Architecture and Design under University of South Australia, Connell has travelled extensively across India exploring the potential of portraiture to generate human connectedness across cultures.  

“Portraiture is a unique art form that helps one to be sensitive and reflective about their own personality. By looking at their own portraits, the patients will, for a while, think about themselves and the realities of life,” the Melbourne-based artist said.

“We never force the patients to come out and attend the programmes since that can be just impossible for some of them due to poor health conditions. However, what is happening here is truly encouraging. The patients at the hospital are very excited about the project and are ready to engage with the programme,” he added.

Connell also opined that the project needs to be expanded to more hospitals, adding that hospitals should not be a place of despair, but a place of hope and happiness. Artists should visit places like hospitals, interact with people and help the public realize the healing power of art, he added.

KBF research coordinator Bonny Thomas said 2014 has been a “fulfilling” year for ‘Arts and Medicine’ which began in February as a weekly project that would hold a music show every Wednesday. “I thank the hospital authorities, doctors and staff for all their support,” he said. “As we enter the New Year, the KBF will come out with more such programmes in association with (Kochi’s) Mehboob Memorial Orchestra for the benefit of the patients.”

इकोफ्रेंडली संग्रहालय बना भारत कला भवन

सौजन्य :

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वाराणसी। संग्रहालय पुरातात्विक धरोहरों को संरक्षित करने के लिए होती हैं। आमतौर पर यह सोचा भी नहीं जा सकता है कि पीली या तेज रोशनी बिखरने वाले बल्ब या हैलोजन से भी इन थातियों को नुकसान पहुंच सकता है। इस बारीक पहलू पर देश के प्रतिष्ठित संग्रहालय काशी हिंदू विश्वविद्यालय स्थित भारत कला भवन के विशेषज्ञों का ध्यान गया। विमर्श में तथ्य सामने आया कि पुरातात्विक धरोहरों पर तेज रोशनी पडऩे से उनकी नैसर्गिक आभा पर भी असर पड़ता है।

बेहद धीमी और लंबी इस प्रक्रिया को आसानी से पकड़ा नहीं जा सकता है। लिहाजा छोटी-छोटी कवायदों के बड़े फैसले लिए गए। अब कला भवन इको फ्रेंडली संग्रहालय बन चुका है। यहां आपको परेशान करने वाली भारी भरकम हैलोजन लाइटें नहीं मिलेंगी। कम वोल्टेज खपत की अच्छी रोशनी देने वाले एलईडी बल्ब का फोकस दर्शकों को सुकून देता है।

बिना एसी के वातानुकूलन

भारत कला भवन की एक खासियत यह भी है कि यहां किसी भी वीथिका में एयर कंडीशन नहीं है। सभी एसी निकाल दिए गए हैं। सभी वीथिकाएं इस कदर व्यवस्थित हैं कि यहां हमेशा हवा का आवागमन होता है। पर्यटकों व इतिहास के जिज्ञासुओं को कोई दिक्कत नहीं होती। 

कलाओं का संरक्षण

संग्रहालय के निदेशक प्रो. एके सिंह बताते हैं कि हैलोजन लाइटों से वस्तुओं पर खराब असर होता है। इनके बल्बों से क्लोरो फ्लोरो कार्बन, नाइट्रोजन आदि का उत्सर्जन होता है। यह तत्व पेंटिंग, ऐतिहासिक पत्थर, कपड़े आदि को नुकसान पहुंचाते हैं। 

70 हजार कम हुआ बिल

संग्रहालय के सुपरवाइजर डा. आरएन सिंह के अनुसार संग्रहालय से पीली रोशनी वाले बल्ब व एसी हटवाने से भारत कला भवन का खर्च कम हो गया। उन्होंने बताया कि इस निर्णय से यहां का 70 हजार रुपये प्रतिमाह बिजली का बिल कम हो गया। इन कवायदों से यह पहला इकोफ्रेंडली संग्रहालय हो गया है।

http://www.jagran.com/news/national-india-art-academy-is-ecofriendly-11925985.html

Biennale to showcase 7 films produced by novel fund-raising techniques

Debutant Malayalam directors’ works at Jan 2-8 segment of KMB Artists’ Cinema

Kochi, Dec 29: Come New Year, and the ongoing Kochi-Muiris Biennale (KMB) is set to lend Indian cinema a unique chapter. A 100-day film festival running parallel to KMB’14 will premier in Kerala seven movies that have been produced through unconventional crowd-funding and artistic support methods.

What’s more, six of the works in the series are by debutant Malayalam directors. The films, slated to be shown during January 2 and 8 at the main Aspinwall House venue as part of the Artists’ Cinema segment, are curated by noted critic and documentary filmmaker C S Venkiteswaran.

Kanyaka Talkies(Virgin Talkies) -Poster

Also all of them — ‘CR no 89’ by Sudevan, ‘Oralpokkam’ by Sanalkumar Sasidharan, ‘Dayom Panthrandum’ by Harshad P K, ‘Unto Dusk’ by Sajin Babu T A, ‘Chayilyam’ by Manoj Kana, ‘Kanyaka Talkies’ by KR Manoj and  ‘Zahir’ by Sidharth Siva — are made in digital. Their show will be held at the newly-built Umbrella Pavilion of the sea-facing Aspinwall complex, which displays more than two-thirds of the 100 main KMB’14 works by 94 artists from 30 countries including India.

Made in the last two years, these films have been screened at national and international film festivals. They have won national and state awards for best Malayalam and best debut films, but have not yet had a state-wide release. Thiruvananthapuram-based Venkiteswaran, 55, has clubbed them together under the theme ‘Capital and Cinema: Breaking the Circles’, noting “this is real new-generation filmmaking”.

“The filmmakers are trying to push the frontiers and create new aesthetics of filmmaking. They have produced these films outside and against mainstream commercial cinema norms,” said the national award-winning critic, who is a native of Chalakkudy in Thrissur district. Stating that KMB’14 is an “ideal platform” for their showing, he said it creates a dialogue between the local and global, where the audience can get a taste of contemporary cinema. “Here, films are not just a commercial product, but it is art.”

Among the seven, ‘Kanyaka Talkies’ was the opening film of the Indian Panorama at the 44th International Film Festival of India at Goa. At KMB’14, it will have an added feature: a video installation that featured in film will be shown during its screening.  “In that sense,” said Kanyaka Talkies director K R Manoj, “it is a complete screening and only a venue such as the biennale could offer me this opportunity.”

Dayom Panthrandum

KMB ’14 Programme Manager Bandhu Prasad pointed out that these set of films, shown as part of biennale’s 100-day festival, is “breaking” the commercial cinema set-up. “The filmmakers, all of whom will be present at the screening, have used different production and distribution methods,” he noted. “We are proud to mark the premiers of this talented bunch.”

M D NICHE - Media Consultants

India’s only maritime theatre stages first Hindu story

Kochi Biennale helps add Ayyappa story to Chavittunatakam

New Delhi / Kochi, Dec 27: India’s only surviving maritime theatre Chavittutatakam that traditionally employs Biblical themes saw the pioneering presentation of a Hindu-mythology story, courtesy the ongoing Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB).

The five-century-old Kerala stomp drama which has evolved in a Latin Catholic context along the coastal state’s west-central belt added to its repertoire ‘Sabarimala Sree Dharma Shastavu’, lending fresh aesthetics and costumes to the form that has evident influences of the European ballet.

As many as 40 artistes of Kerala Chavittunataka Academy in Gothuruthu of Ernakulam district danced with vigour while portraying plots around the life of Lord Ayyappa as the child of pivotal Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu. Directly by the dance-drama’s esteemed guru Joseph Salim, the three-hour show on Friday night revelled in energetic movements and had the lyrics in Malayalam instead of the customary Tamil mixed with the state’s language.

The watershed show in Gothuruthu near North Paravur was organised as part of a performing arts festival being organised alongside the country’s only biennale which is currently holding its second edition in this city, mainly featuring 100 artworks by 94 artistes from India and abroad.

‘Chuvati 2014’, as the five-day event is titled, lines up five Chavittunatakam plays till the end of the festival on December 30. It was inaugurated by veteran Mohiniyattam danseuse Kalamandalam Sathyabhama and Chhau exponent Gopal Prasad Dubey at Kadalvathuruthu Holy Cross in Chinnathambi Annavi Square.

Curated by Mumbai-based Malayali ‘Keli’ K Ramachandran, Chuvati is being organised by the Kochi Biennale Foundation (KBF) in association with Sports and Arts Club in Gothuruthu — a coastal village synonymous with Chavittunatakam, believed to have originated in the 16th century after the arrival of Portuguese on the Malabar Coast.

Chavittunatakam, which traces its pioneer to medieval-era missionary Chinnathambi Annavi, is typically performed in open grounds or within the premises of the church.

KBF President Bose Krishnamachari and KMB’14 artistic director Jitish Kallat greeted Dubey and Sathyabhama respectively with a shawl and sceptre. While KBF Secretary Riyas Komu gave the introductory speech in his capacity as KMB’14 Director of Programmes, legislator V D Satheesah and Holy Cross Church Vicar Fr Joby Kallarakkal also spoke.

Scenes from 'Sabarimala Sree Dharma Shastavu', the first-ever Hindu play staged in traditional Christian maritime Chavittunatakam of Kerala, at Gothuruthu village in Ernakulam district on Dec 26 night as part of the ongoing Kochi-Muziris Biennale.

 ‘Chuvati’ staged ‘Plorippus’ (Cochin Chavittunataka Kalari, Fort Kochi) as its second play in the series on Saturday evening. The upcoming stories at Chuvati are ‘Visuddha Sebastionos’ (Kurumbathuruthu Yuvakerala Kalasamithi), ‘Jnanakumaran’ (Thruthipuram Chaithanya Theatres) and ‘Judith’ (Thuruthipuram Navarathna Kalasamskarika Vedi).

M D NICHE - Media Consultants

Biennale work shows visual of earth’s rotation at real-time speed

Swiss Waldvogel’s supersonic-speed flight conjures up 4-minute video

Kochi, Dec 26: Four years ago, Christian Waldvogel boarded a plane and flew westward at supersonic speed to shoot a video that succeeded in showing that the earth “turned for a while without me”. Today, back on the planet, that unique four-minute aerial visual by the Swiss artist is wooing visitors at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) in peninsular India.

Christian Waldvogel

Zurich resident Waldvogel has a zany sense of humour that goes in line with the spirit of his exhibition at the second edition of KMB which began on December12. “To not turn with the earth requires terrific effort, but it hints at a simple idea: humanity strives best to make no progress,” winks the 43-year-old, stationed by one of his two works on biennale display at the main Aspinwall House venue in suburban Fort Kochi.

It was on March 17, 2010 that Waldvogel succeeded in his persistent efforts to get into a Swiss Air Force (SAF) plane and move at exactly 1,158 kilometres per hour — the rotational velocity of the earth in his native country that spreads across both sides of the scenic Alps in west-central Europe. He thus got to film the earth’s rotation while standing still with respect to the sun.

Christian Waldvogel's installation

“It was a project that involved roughly 90 people; one-third of them from my side,” reveals the artist, while particularly thanking Patrouille Suisse which is SAF’s acrobatics team, for its cooperation and tenacity. “See, 1,158 kmph is faster than the speed of sound,” he notes, hailing Dani Hoesli, the Patrouille Suisse commander who piloted the military jet.

Waldvogel’s ‘The Earth Turns Without Me’ is a four-part installation at India’s only biennale, thus tuning into the core curatorial theme ‘Whorled Explorations’ where KMB’14 artistic director Jitish Kallat has assembled works that allude to cosmology often referencing this ancient city.

When Kallat met Waldvogel at Zurich in the run-up to KMB’14, the Swiss artist was intrigued by “the way Indians tilt their head” while talking. “Jitish, believe me, was the first Indian I ever spoke to in depth. He kept moving his head while responding to my ideas—so funny,” he recalls. “Soon I could make out that he is a profoundly sympathetic person.”

As for Kallat, he finds Waldvogel’s works “contemplative and sometimes even humorous”.  They look at humanity from a distance and are “often grounded in intricate scientific calculations”, adds the curator of 108-day KMB’14, which shows 100 main artworks by 94 artists from 30 countries.

Swiss artist Christian Waldvogel's installation titled 'The Earth Turns Without Me" at the main Aspinwall House venue of the ongoing Kochi-Muziris Biennale 

Back to the project, to achieve his aim of remaining stationary vis-a-vis the sun, the artist converted the SAF plane’s rear cockpit into a pinhole camera that he would use to shoot the solar system’s central star. Why four minutes? “Each degree of longitude is equivalent to that much of time,” he cites the reason behind the span of the edited version.

Waldvogel is an architect by professional qualification; so since when did he get interested this intensely in universe at large? “Hm, for at least a decade now,” he shrugs. “Then, five years ago, I got a parcel from my father. It contained a large map of the moon and images of the earth from space. The despatch said it was hung in my room when I was small.”

The project was triggered by two light-box images—Earthstill and Starstill, which Waldvogel shot and are also being exhibited at KMB’14. The first reveals stars as streaks because they are blurred by the earth’s motion, while the latter is a clear image of the stars using an astronomer’s camera that cancels the planet’s motion. Then, there is also the sun’s image displayed as a concentrated point.

The artist, who was born in Austin (USA), has a second work at KMB’14. Titled ‘Recently, the non-flat-earth paradigm’ is based on his “rediscovery” that for a person in Kochi, India’s northernmost point lies 125 km underneath the horizon—a fall that is equal to 15 times the height of the country’s tallest mountain range: the Himalayas.

M D NICHE - Media Consultants

Afghan artist denied entry for violence against women symposium

By Paul Gessell

A prominent Afghan artist celebrated in several countries for her dramatic photos illustrating the silencing of women is being denied the opportunity to speak in Ottawa by the Canadian government.

Hanifa-Alizada

Hanifa Alizada, a photo-artist and art teacher at Kabul University, has been refused a visa to enter Canada to deliver a speech about life for Afghan women and to exhibit her work at a symposium Jan. 22-25 called The Shrinking World of Photography.

The symposium is being organized by the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa (SPAO), in partnership with the Nobel Women’s Initiative and MATCH International Women’s Fund, and is designed to explore the way photographers from around the world handle such issues as violence against women.

Some of Alizada’s photographs, a body of work called Discrimination, were to be part of the planned symposium exhibitions at SPAO and SAW Gallery.

In recent years, Alizada and her art have travelled widely to the United States, Europe and Asia. She is to visit Denmark in early January for an exhibition and artist’s talk, and India in March.

Alizada also participated in a globe-trotting exhibition sponsored by the World Bank this year on the subject of violence against women. Some of those photos show women in traditional Muslim clothes with hands covering their mouths and eyes. Others show body parts tightly bound in ropes.

Symposium organizers are shocked at Alizada’s inability to get a visa.

“My reaction is surprise and extreme disappointment because Hanifa had travelled relatively freely in the past and participated in international exhibitions,” says Tony Martins, director of development for SPAO. “Hanifa’s desire to come to Canada to exhibit her work was a key factor in the development of the entire symposium.”

Alizada and Gholam Reza Sepehri, her fiancé and artistic collaborator, both applied for visas this fall through the Canadian High Commission in Islamabad, Pakistan. The Canadian embassy in Afghanistan does not issue visas to Afghan nationals and sends all applicants to Islamabad.

The high commission denied the applications in what appear to be form letters that spell out four reasons for the rejection of the applications by Alizada and Sepehri.

“In reaching a decision, an officer considers several factors; these may include the applicant’s travel and identity documents, reasons for travel to Canada, contacts in Canada, financial means for the trip, ties to country of residence (including immigration status, employment and family ties) and whether the applicant would be likely to leave Canada at the end of his/her authorized stay,” says the letter, a copy of which was sent by Alizada to the Citizen.

The letter is dated Nov. 11 and is signed with an illegible signature of a Citizenship and Immigration officer at the high commission. No legible name for the officer appears on the letter.

Alizada says she was never interviewed by the high commission and is perplexed as to why her application was rejected. She says she has no interest in living in Canada, where she has no relatives. Her family and her job are in Afghanistan.

The purpose of the trip to Canada is “artist talks, art residencies and art exhibitions,” Alizada wrote in an email to the Citizen. “How can one expect me to have a different purpose?”

She then notes that she has travelled to several countries in recent years with no problems.

“I did travel to U.S.A., Europe and south Asian countries. I never overstayed and never got refused by any embassy. What can be the problem with my travel history?”

The high commission in Pakistan referred queries about Alizada to Citizenship and Immigration headquarters in Ottawa. There, the department said privacy laws prevent it from discussing individual cases.

Maureen Korp is an Ottawa-based curator and academic who has taught art at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa. In 2008, during a two-year stint at Beaconhouse National University in Lahore, Pakistan, Korp taught Alizada. Korp spoke of Alizada in a lecture she presented Oct. 31 at a conference organized in New York by that city’s School of Visual Arts.

“Today, she is the first-ever artist to have her work sent on tour by the World Bank,” Korp said then. The exhibition, curated by Marina Galvani, is entitled One in Three —violence against women, worldwide. Earlier this summer, the exhibition opened in Washington, accompanied by two theatre plays and two panel discussions.

According to the curator, “Hanifa’s works were the poetic and inspirational core of the exhibition.” Hanifa Alizada’s fearful photograph entitled A Monument is the cover of the catalogue. It depicts, the artist writes, “a woman’s suffering when her life is summarized in how a man wants her to live it.”

Courtesy:-

http://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/local-arts/afghan-artist-denied-entry-for-violence-against-women-symposium

सुधाकर शर्मा के पीछे कौन?

साभार
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राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर कला समाज को ऐसा लगने लगा था कि नरेन्दª मोदी के प्रधानमंत्री बनने के बाद कला और संस्कृति का चेहरा बदलेगा और उस पर लगे धब्बों को मिटाया जा सकेगा लेकिन हैरत की बात है कि इन्हीं मोदी के 2 नामचीन मंत्री श्री पदनायक एवं डाॅ. महेष षर्मा खुल कर राश्ट्रीय स्तर पर कला और संस्कृति के चेहरे पर कालिख पौतने में लगे हुए है। यह दोनों ही मंत्री केन्दªीय ललित कला अकादमी के तत्कालीन बरखास्त एवं निलंबित सचिव सुधाकर षर्मा को बहाल करने की प्रक्रिया को अंतिम निर्देष दे चुके हैं।

माना जा रहा है कि इसके पीछे भाजपा की राश्ट्रीय स्तर की गंदी राजनीति खेली जा रही है। सुधाकर षर्मा को वापस लाने के लिए डाॅ. महेष षर्मा ने जोकि संस्कृति मंत्री है अपने आका केन्दªीय गृहमंत्री राजनाथ सिंह के इषारे पर लम्बा खेल खेला है। जहां व एक तरफ सुधाकर षर्मा को ललित कला अकादमी में बैठाना चाहते हैं वहीं दूसरी ओर अपने ही प्रधानमंत्री नरेन्दª मोदी को चुनौती देते हुए भ्रश्टाचार की अनंतगाथा और कथा लिखने की तैयारी कर रहें है।

हालाकिं महेष षर्मा कहते है कि मैनें तो इस मामले को बहुत गंभीरता से ले लिया है, जैसा कि पहले मंत्री श्री पदनायक ने आदेष जारी किया था, मैंने उसी को आगे बढ़ाया है। गौरतलब है कि इस प्रक्रिया को आगे बढ़ाने की ऐवज में डा. महेष षर्मा को सुधाकर षर्मा द्वारा किस्तों में उपकिृत किया जा रहा है। इस उपकिृत किये जाने की प्रक्रिया में धन के अलावा और क्या-क्या षामिल है, यह गंभीर जांच का विशय है।

जब मोदी हर पहलू पर सफाई अभियान कर रहें है तो अपने ही मंत्रियों की काली करतूतों पर पर्दा क्यों डाला जा रहा है। अकादमी के सूत्र बताते है कि इस बात की जानकारी भाजपा के राश्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष और मोदी के आँख और कान समझे जाने वाले अमित षाह को भी दी गई है तो फिर मोदी इस मसले पर मौन क्यों है और कला और संस्कृति से इस तरह की बेरूखी का मतलब क्या है। जैसा सब कुछ चल रहा है, क्या वैसा ही चलने दिया जाए। सुधाकर षर्मा पर भ्रश्टाचार से लेकर पेन्टिंग चोरी, फर्जी हवाई यात्राएं और अपने लोगो को लाभ पहुँचाना षामिल हैं।

श्री पदनायक ने अपने आदेष में साफ तौर पर दिनांक 04.06.2014 को कहा है कि डाॅ. सुधाकर षर्मा का और एक और अपील जो कि 19.08.2014 को जारी हुआ कि सुधाकर षर्मा को सचिव की पोस्ट से हटाया जाए एवं उनकी मुलाकात रद्द की जाए जो कि 05.05.2014 को जारी हुआ था। फाईलों के अभिलेखों के अनुसार डाॅ. सुधाकर षर्मा सचिव की पोस्ट के लिए चयन समिति द्वारा नियुक्त किया गया था। एक आॅडर आया जोकि 05.05.2014 को ललित कला अकादमी के अध्यक्ष द्वारा भेजा गया जिसमें लिखा गया था कि सुधाकर षर्मा के चयन प्रक्रिया में दोश था।

इसमें ये नहीं दर्षाया गया कि किसकी षिकायत पर ऐ आॅडर भेजा और चयन प्रक्रिया के किस परीक्षा फाईल में दोश था। इस लेख से सुधाकर षर्मा की मुलाकात रद्द कर दी गयी बिना किसी प्रक्रिया के और सुधाकर षर्मा को कोई मौका भी नहीं दिया गया अपनी बात रखने का। 05.05.2014 को अध्यक्ष के आॅडर में जो कि सुधाकर षर्मा के मुलाकात को रद्द करने के लिए थे, इन्हें हटाया या मिटाया गया था।

संस्कृति मंत्री डाॅ. महेष षर्मा के आदेष पर भारत सरकार के अनुसचिव एन.पी. षुकला ने आदेष पालन करते हुए पत्रावली 03.15.2014 ऐकेदमीज दिनांक 10.12.2014 के अंर्तगत साफ तौर पर उल्लेख किया है कि डाॅ. सुधाकर षर्मा का सचिव के रूप में रद्द किया गया जिसका आॅडर नं0 एलके/3003/3531/एडमिन/594 है जो कि 05.05.2014 को जारी हुआ था। जबकि सुधाकर षर्मा ने एक अपील दिनांक 04.06.2014 को सैन्ट्रल सरकार को की और डाॅ. सुधाकर षर्मा ने एक चुनौती फाईल कर ललित कला अकादमी के आॅडर के खिलाफ जोकि दिलांक 05.05.2014 को जारी हुआ था एवं दिनांक 07.07.2014 को फाईल आॅडर की गई।

सुधाकर षर्मा ने दिनांक 04.06.2014 को एक अपील फाईल की और उसमें सारे दस्तावेज थे कि उनका किस तरह चयन समिति द्वारा चयन किय गया दिनांक 17.05.2005 को। अतः डाॅ. सुधाकर षर्मा को फिर से ललित कला अकादमी में सचिव बनाने की प्रक्रिया षुरू की जा रही है। सम्पूर्ण राश्ट्रीय कला समाज में भारत सरकार के संस्कृति मंत्री डाॅ. महेष षर्मा के इस कृत्य को बहुत गंभीरता से लिया है और उनकी पुनः बहाली का पुरजोर विरोध किया है साथ ही पूरे कला समाज की यह मांग है कि इन कला संस्थानों को ऐसे मंत्री राजनीति और अपने हित साधने का अखाड़ा ना बनाए।

आखिर डाॅ. महेष षर्मा कौन है और वह कैसे इस मुद्दे को लेकर इतने लोकप्रिय हो गए। इसके पीछे राश्ट्रीय स्तर पर भाजपा के अंदरखाने से ही एक बड़ी राजनीति खेली जा रही है। गौरतलब है कि डाॅ. महेष षर्मा केन्दªीय गृह मंत्री राजनाथ सिंह के आदमी माने जाते है। 2009 में जब राजनाथ सिंह ने गाजियाबाद से लोकसभा का चुनाव लड़ा था तो उसकी पूरी वित्तीय व्यवस्था डाॅ. महेष षर्मा ने की थी। डाॅ. महेष षर्मा स्वयं खुर्जा लोकसभा सीट से चुनाव लड़े थे और हार गए थे। 2012 के विधानसभा चुनाव में उत्तर प्रदेष के नौएडा सीट से विधानसभा का चुनाव लड़े और कुछ वोटों से ही जीत कर विधानसभा पहुँचे।

2014 की लोकसभा में उन्हें फिर से टिकट दिया गया और ऐसा राजनाथ सिंह के इषारे पर ही हुआ क्योंकि राजनाथ सिंह उस समय भाजपा के राश्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष थे। नरेन्दª मोदी और राजनाथ सिंह में खुले रूप से जंग चल रही है, यह बात किसी से छुपी नहीं है। कहीं महेष षर्मा यह पूरा खेल राजनाथ सिंह के इषारे पर तो नहीं खेल रहें है। डाॅ. सुधाकर षर्मा और अकादमी के पूर्व अध्यक्ष अषोक बाजपेयी किसी समय ललित कला अकादमी में खुलकर और मिलकर भ्रश्टाचार की अनंतगाथा लिख रहे थे।

जब सुधाकर ने अषोक बाजपेयी के लोगों पर हमला करना षुरू किया तो अषोक बाजपेयी सुधाकर षर्मा के सबसे बड़े विरोधी बन गए। बात 2011 की है कि ललित कला अकादमी में 14 वर्श पुराना इतिहास दौहराया जा रहा था। सन 1997 में केन्दªीय कला अकादमी के उस दौरान के उपाध्यक्ष डाॅ. आनंद देव को हटाने के लिए चैतरफा दवाब बनाया गया था और आनंद देव को जाना पड़ा था। इस दौरान ठीक यही प्रक्रिया डाॅ. सुधाकर षर्मा के लिए अपनाई गई। इस पुरे घटनाक्रम में महत्वपूर्ण तथ्य यह था की अषोक बाजपेयी खुल कर सामने आ गए थे।

व सुधाकर षर्मा की बर्खास्तगी से कम राजी नहीं थे। इसके लिए वह जहां कुछ बड़ो नामों को खोलने से कतरा रहे थे वहीं दूसरी ओर संविधान की दुहाई भी देते नहीं थर रहें थे। कहा जा सकता है कि अषोक बाजपेयी सुधाकर षर्मा को साथ ही कुछ बड़े और नामचीन लोगो के चेहरे से भी पर्दा उठाने को आतुर दिख रहे थे। ललित कला अकादमी एक बार फिर सुर्खियों में थी। इस बार वह अपने किसी कला आयोजन की वजह से चर्चा का केंदª बिंदु नहीं थे बल्कि इस बार चर्चा का केन्दª बिंदु थे अषोक बाजपेयी थे जिन्होंने सीधे तौर पर अकादमी के सचिव सुधाकर षर्मा की निुक्ति को असंवेधानिक और बलत करार देते हुए चुनौती दी थी। गौरतलब है कि ललित कला अकादमी के सचिव की नियुक्ति और बर्खास्तगी के अधिकार ललित कला अकादमी के अध्यक्ष अषोक बाजपेयी ने गेंद सामन्यपरिशद् के पाले में दाल कर स्वयं को विवादों से दूर रखने की कोषिष की थी।

बाजपेयी चाहते है कि सामनय परिशद् की आगामी 8 दिसम्बर को हाने वाली बैठक में यह मामला जोरदार तरीके से उठाया गया और उन्हें इस पर अपनी मोहर लगाने का एक माकूल मौका मिल गया। दरअसल लगभग एक वर्श से सुधाकर षर्मा और अषोक बाजपेयी में खुली जंग चल रही थी। माना यह जा रहा था कि सुधाकर षर्मा तो मात्र एक छोटी मछली थे ललित कला अकादमी की भ्रश्ट अनंत कथा में दरसल षास्त्री भवन में बेठे कुछ बड़े नाम थे जिनके तार सीधे तौर पर दस जनपथ से जुड़े हुए थे और यही वह लोग थे जो सुधाकर षर्मा का सुरक्षा कवच बन कर खड़े हुए थे।

माना जा रहा था कि ललित कला अकादमी के कई मामलों में सोनिया गांधी के राजनीतिक सलहाकार अहमद पटेल ने सीधे तौर पर हस्तक्षेप किया था और सुधाकर उन्हीं के इषारे पर अकादमी की भ्रश्ट कथा का विस्तार करने में हए थे। पहला मामला सुधाकर षर्मा की नियुक्ति को लेकर थे जिसका पेच बहुत ही उलक्षा हुआ था। यदि इस पर अषोक बाजपेयी ने गंभीर रूख इख्तियार कर लिया था। इसमें सुधाकर के साथ-साथ मानव संसाधन विकास मंत्रालय भी कठघरे में खड़ा हो सकता था।

गौरतलब है कि 12.10.2007 को अकादमी के उपाध्या सी.एल. पंचकुती अकादमी के सचिव सुधाकर षर्मा की नियुक्ति को स्थायी करने का आदेष किये और 18.10.2007 को सुधाकर षर्मा ने पंचकुती को कार्यकारी अध्यक्ष बनाने के लिए एक पत्र मंत्रालय को लिख जबकि दो पूर्व चैयरमैन और वर्तमान चैमें अषोक बाजपेयी को कई नोट नहीं लिखातें सवाल यह उठता था कि इन्हें स्थायी प्रमोषन किस आधार पर दिया गया था। इस मुद्दे पर अषोक बाजपेयी साफ तौर पर कहते है कि इसकी जांच चल रही थी। वह इस बात को स्वीकार करते है कि अकादमी के सचिव की नियुक्ति अधिकार केवल अध्यक्ष के पास थे।

इसे न तो मंत्रालय कर सकता था और न ही कार्यकारी अध्यक्ष फिर पंचकुती ने जिस दिन इनके स्थायी करण के आदेश जारी किये उस दिन तक वह केवल उपाध्यक्ष थे। साथ ही वह भी लगता है कि सुधाकर उन्हें कार्यकारी अध्यक्ष बनाने के लिए पत्र केवल इसलिए लिखा की वह अपना बचाव कर सकें। माना जा रहा था कि इसमें पंचकुती के अलावा षास्त्री भवन में बैठे कुछ बड़े अधिकारियों की भूमिका भी अत्यंत संधिग्ध थी जिसकी जांच बहुत जरूरी थी।

इसमें एक नाम साफ दिखाई दे रहा था वह था के.आर. सुब्त्र। डाॅ. सुधाकर षर्मा ने के.आर. सुबन्ना वर्तमान तथा भूतपूर्व सामान्य परिशद् के कई सधोकारिणी को प्रभावित करने के लिए अकादमी पुरस्कार और आर्थिक लाभ से लाभान्वित किया गया था। ऐसा केवल इस बजह से किया गया कि सुधाकर षर्मा इन लोगों के माध्यम से अपने पक्ष में नरनी करा सके। स्वाल उठता है कि यह मामला इतने दिनों तक क्यों दब्बाया गया। सारी बातें अषोक बाजपेयी की जानकारी में थी। जानकार बताते है कि अषोक बाजपेयी और सुधाकर षर्मा में मतभेद पिछले एक वर्श में ही उभरे थे।

सुधाकर ने कई मामलों में अषोक को चुनौती दी। उधर सुधाकर षर्मा कहते थे कि यदि मेरी नियुक्ति गलत थी तो चैयरमैन इतने दिन तक चुप क्यों रहे। अब जबकि उनका कार्यकाल 10 दिसम्बर 2011 को समाप्त हो रहा था तो वह सामान्य परिशद् का सहारा लेकर गड़े मुर्दे उखाड़ रहे थे। अब सुधाकर षर्मा को 8 दिसम्बर का इन्तजार है यदि यह मामला सामान्य परिशद की बैठक में उठा तो अषोक बाजपेयी जरा भी देर नही करना चाहते थे। वह जानते है कि सुधाकर की बर्खास्तगी में ही उसका अकादमी और कलाकारों का भला था। कलाकारों के एक वर्ग का कहना है कि अषोक को अकादमी और कलाकारों की भलाई की चिंता कतई नहीं थी। बल्कि उनके सहारे वह अपना दामन साफ रखना चाहते थे।

यह तो तय है कि अकादमी में सुधाकर षर्मा को आने के बाद भ्रश्टाचार बढ़ा है और उसके लिए एक हद तक अषोक बाजपेयी भी जिम्मेदार थे। अषोक बाजपेयी से जब बात की गयी तो उनका कहना था कि पंचकुती ने कार्यकारिणी समिति और भारत सरकार के मंत्रालय सेअनुमति ली जोकि संविधान का खुला उलंधन था। वह कहते है कि यह मामला अध्यक्ष के समक्ष नही रखा गया जब यह बात मेरी जानकारी में आई तो इसे एक कमेटी बनाकर उसे सौंपा गया था। कमेटी जांच कर रही थी कि परिशद् ने 8 दिसम्बर को बैठक करने की योजना बनायीं थी। उस बैठक में आएगा। मुझे लगेगा कि मुझे अपने पद का इस्तेमाल करते हुए इस पर कोई निर्णय करना चाहिए तो मैं कलाकारों की मांग और सामान्य परिशद् की कार्यवाही का निष्चित तौर पर स्वागत करूँगा।

अकादमी के उपाध्यक्ष के आर सुबन्ना समान्य परिशद् के सदष्य अनिरूद्ध पटेल तथा रविन्दª साल्वे कई लोगों पर भ्रश्टाचार के आरोप थे इन्होंने कोर्ट आॅफ कन्डक्ट का सीधा उल्लंघन किया था। इन लोगों के बारे में साफ तौर पर यह उल्लेख है कि यह किसी तरह का आर्थिक लाभ नहीं लेंगे लेकिन सुधाकर ने इन्हें अपने पक्ष में करने के लिए पुरस्कार और आर्थिक लाभ दिलवायें और इन्हें बचाने की कोषिष में लगे हये थे। सुधाकर षर्मा डाॅ. महेष षर्मा के माध्यम से अपनी बहाली कराकर फिर से अकादमी में वहीं पुराना खेल खेलना चाहते हैं लेकिन इस बार समस्या यह है कि ललित कला अकादमी के वर्तमान अध्यक्ष के.के. चक्रवर्ती उनके जाल में फसते नहीं दिख रहें है।

चक्रवर्ती इस मामले को ऊपर तक ले जाना चाहते है। यदि चक्रवर्ती की माने तो सुधाकर षर्मा की बहाली ही असंवेधानिक है जिसके लिए वह सामान परिशद् के कुछ सदस्यों के सहयोग से सुधाकर षर्मा की बहाली को रोकने का पुरजोड़ प्रयास कर रहें है जो चक्रवर्ती के कम और कलाकारों के हित में ज्यादा होगा। बेहतर होगा कि प्रधानमंत्री नरेन्दª मोदी, मानव संसाधन मंत्री इस मामले पर गंभीर संज्ञान ले और षास्त्री भवन में बैठे अधिकारियों से लेकर संस्कृति मंत्री पर गंभीर कार्यवाही एक उचित कदम होगा।

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लन्दन के पार्लियामेंट स्क्वेयर में लगाने वाली महात्मा गांधी की प्रतिमा के लिए कलाकारों ने दिया योगदान

प्रस्तावित गांधी की मूर्ति  

नई दिल्ली 24 दिसंबर : लन्दन के पार्लियामेंट स्क्वेयर में महात्मा गांधी की काँसे की मूर्ति लगाने का काम अपने अगले पड़ाव पर है।  Gandhi Statue Memorial Trust की देख-रेख में 9 फिट की प्रतिमा को बनाने का काम प्रसिद्ध ब्रिटिश मूर्तिकार फिलिप जैक्सन को सौंपा गया है। 

अपनी कृति के साथ सूरज कुमार काशी 

प्रतिमा के निर्माण हेतु फंड जुटाने के उद्देश्य से हाल ही में ब्रिटिश हाई कमिसनर के घर पर तीन दिनों की एक विशेष चित्रकला प्रदर्शनी का आयोजन किया गया।  इस चैरिटेबल कला प्रदर्शनी में भारत के 28 कलाकारों की कलाकृति प्रदर्शित की गई।  इस ऐतिहासिक कार्य के लिए एम. एफ. हुसेन , जोगेन चौधरी , मनु पारेख , अर्पणा कौर , अतुल डोडिया , बी. मंजुनाथ कामथ ,सीमा कोहली , सूरज कुमार काशी जैसे महत्वपूर्ण कलाकारों ने अपनी कलाकृति दान की । इस प्रदर्शनी में सूरज कुमार काशी सबसे कम उम्र के कलाकार थे। प्रदर्शनी का आयोजन सुनैना आनंद की देख-रेख में Art Alive Gallery ने किया था। 13 दिसंबर के उद्घाटन समारोह के मुख्य अतिथि लार्ड मेघनाद देसाई तथा लेडी किश्वर देसाई थी।  

Kochi Biennale signature film a big hit in social media

Kochi, Dec 24: The ongoing Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) has got an official signature film which is winning massive appreciation from the social media for its simplicity, artistic quality and unique presentation style.

‘To appreciate a genuine poetry, song or a painting, we need not be a poet, musician or painter, but a child’, says the 86-second movie by renowned filmmaker Aashiq Abu.

A sonorous narration (in Malayalam, with English subtitles) by playback singer Shahbaz Aman adds to the beauty of the work which largely relies on animation techniques. Within two days from its release, no less than 5,200 people have watched on YouTube the signature film which has been produced jointly by Kochi-based Papaya media and Studio Dreamcatcher of Thiruvananthapuram.

Director Aashiq said one aim of the work was to deconstruct the notion that events like the KMB were exclusively for the elite. “Anyone with a curious mind can find art in anything around—as we could in our childhood,” he added.

Today, the world of cinema graced KMB’14 when renowned filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan visited the main venues of the 108-day contemporary art festival at suburban Fort Kochi and hailed the 100 exhibits put up by 94 artists from 30 countries.

The other notable visitors included senior diplomat Anil Wadhwa, his wife Deepa Wadhwa who is Indian ambassador to Japan, film personalities Prakash Bare, Vinay Forrt and Niyas Backer besides social activist ‘Civic’ Chandran.

By evening, renowned Sri Lankan poet Rudhramoorthy Cheran delivered a lecture at the ‘History Now’ series of KMB’14.

Some 12 km away from the main Aspinwall House venue, a teenaged artiste called Arnold Dalson enthralled an assorted crowd with a saxophone recital that aired out 14 popular songs from films in Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil and English, converting a patients’ corner into a locale of festivity on the eve of Christmas.

The 90-minute show at the General Hospital in downtown Ernakulam today organised as part of a weekly Art & Medicine programme under the ongoing Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) in the city. Held at the same venue every Wednesday, this was the 44th edition of the series being organised by the Kochi Biennale Foundation in association with Mehboob Memorial Orchestra of suburban Fort Kochi.

KMB’14 will facilitate India’s only traditional maritime theatre turn a new chapter a day after Christmas when a village in Ernakulam district will stage a Hindu-mythology story for the first time in its five-century-old history of Chavittunatakam — a Christian art form from Kerala.

The KMB’14 Chavittunatakam festival will have all its five plays backed by lyrics in Malayalam instead of the customary Tamil mixed with the state’s language.

To be held in Gothuruthu near Paravur 22 km north of this city, the December 26-30 ‘Chuvati’ festival will stage ‘Sabarimala Sree Dharma Shastavu’ on the opening evening, portraying the life of Lord Ayyappa who the Puranas refer as the child of pivotal Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu.

The fete being organised in association with Gothuruthu Sports and Arts Club will be inaugurated by veteran Mohiniyattam danseuse Kalamandalam Sathyabhama and Chhau exponent Gopal Prasad Dubey, according to Kochi Biennale Foundation secretary Riyas Komu, who is the director of programmes of KMB’14.

‘Shift Collective” – a unique exhibition of photographs and paintings at Lalit kala Akademi

Artists Suman Sengupta and Amit Dey interpret life through daring experimentation  

New Delhi, Dec 24: The objects in photographs and paintings may look familiar and a tad recognisable, but a look inside them can explode into your face as they explore life and the happenings around it in a stunningly refreshing and daring manner.

Shashi Tharoor at Shift Collective Exhibition

“Shift Collective”, a unique exhibition of paintings and photographs of two Delhi-based young artists -- Suman Sengupta and Amit Dey -- is an awesome melange of images, emotions and expressions of a journey that is both inward and outward. It is true to life and comments upon the world around us.  

Shift is different from moving forward or moving backward. It means moving along the lateral. And among all physical mobility - pushing, pulling, picking or dropping -- shifting is the most challenging.

In the 22 works in this exhibition, one can see a gradation in the development of the ideas of the artists in this scheme and how each concept has been meticulously developed. The artists come from the mainstream visual media. The major shift in the manner in which the artists have challenged their mainstream work is the real creative genius of this exhibition.

Mounted at the Lalit Kala Akademi, the week-long exhibition was jointly inaugurated by eminent painter Sanjay Bhattacharya, whose paintings adorn the walls of the National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi, and leading photographer and advertising professional Akash Das, on Sunday (December 21).  ‘Shift Collective’ is a rare coming together of the popular and the exclusive where works challenge their own subjects and metaphors. It is familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

Power. Amit Dey. Digital Print on Paper

“The images that I have showcased at the exhibition are very personal. This is pure photography, not digital art. The images have been created in-camera,” says Amit, who has achieved commercial success and critical acclaim in equal measure. His commercial work includes campaigns for Honda, Coca-Cola, Monte Carlo and Nescafe.

Amit’s photographs are a technical delight as he has used colourful light sources and exploited long exposures to create vignettes of light in his frames. Even while he lets loose, he pushes his equipment quite far so as to allow it to perform freely. In a quiet metaphor, he has lived the real meaning of photography in his works - writing light with light and creatingthe mesmerizing shimmering effect that light and shadows create on a vast space filled with lines and shapes. Two of his works on display – Power and Origin – bear ample testimony to it.

“I am a commercial photographer but I have shed my inhibitions and played with light in a child-like manner. What has emerged has surprised me too,” he says.

Suman, currently the Executive Creative Director at Hammer Communication, has used familiar branding images in his paintings but has changed their perspective and context in his works. He is a master in his craft; he renders contemporary images successfully and is also able to bring about the imperfect line work of the tribal artist with equal measure of clarity.

Let's play, Suman Sengupta

 “I think about what is happening around us, we need a shift in our thinking and our practice and as an artist I feel responsible that my art should reflect my opinion. My paintings are bold, honest and simple, driven essentially by my passion and love for the vocation,”explains the artist, who has been inspired by the works of Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Bikash Bhattacharya, all known to be passionate painters, who painted because of an urgent need to express without a care for consequence

Dr. Shashi Tharoor, the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram who was among the special attendees at the inauguration, was effusive in his praise of the works of the two artists. “The photograph titled Soul is my favourite as it brings out the meaning of the word beautifully. I also like Breaking the LOC as it reveals the imminent danger of violence edging into peace in our environs, very evocative”.

Commenting upon Suman’s work, Sanjay Bhattacharya said: “Although he is an advertising person, he has been able to break his own mould; he has achieved a creative departure from illustrations to paintings, which is difficult for advertising professionals to do”.

Akash Das was deeply impressed by Amit’s works. “I would rather call Amit’s photographs as paintings:  they have a magical graphic quality and create a world of wonders; they are very powerful.”

The artists have also created attractive postcards and bookmarks of their selected works which sold out quickly on the opening date. The artists have used everyday cartons to create interesting installations which carry the exhibition text as a design intervention.

“This is an internal journey but so daring that it should be thrown up in the open to be watched and interpreted. The technique, form and style of the two artists are different but they merge into an organic whole to create a beautiful tapestry of images and unique interpretations of life around,” says Ms Joyoti Roy, the curator who works with the Outreach Department at the National Museum and has worked together with the artists to bring out their thoughts revealed through the works.

The exhibition will remain on view till December 27.

Venice Biennale curator extols Kochi festival as well-chosen narrative

KMB can link Asian and African aesthetics: Okwui Enwezor

Kochi, Dec 22: The Kochi Muziris Biennale (KMB) is making India an important centre for contemporary art with its unique assembly of beautifully installed exhibits that are well-chosen in their narration and materiality, internationally renowned curator-critic Okwui Enwezor said today.

The KMB ’14 “feels incredibly familiar in a powerful way”, said the 51-year-old Nigerian, noting that 108-day festival here took him back to the days of the Johannesburg Biennale which he curated in 1996, two years after the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa.

KMB '14 director of programmes Riyas Komu, Venice 2015
artistic director Okwui Enwezor and KMB '14 artistic
director Jitish Kallat at the Let's Talk programme in Aspinwall's Umbrella Pavilion

“It is as significant as what the Johannesburg biennale represented for me, because of the incredible freedom,” Enwezor said at a Let’s Talk programme organised in the main Aspinwall House venue as part of KMB’14. “When I stand here today nearly two decades later and look out, it feels as if I am looking from here to Johannesburg. The KMB has the potential for a vital link between Asia and Africa.”

Ten days after it opened, KMB’14 continues to draw celebrities and, probably more vitally for the art crowd, key figures in the international contemporary art world, who interact with visitors through such programmes, and put a perspective on Kochi’s current position on the contemporary scene.

In his lecture attended by key biennale figures and also actor Padmapriya at the new Umbrella Pavilion, Enwezor, who is one of the most powerful figures in the art world, said the exhibition is a challenge that Kochi offers to the rest of India.

“The public here make the biennale incredible. All the same, this biennale, which features a conversation between the artists of India and artists from the world, provides the public with a new tool box of thinking and a new optic lens to the world,” said Enwezor, who divides much of his time between New York and Munich even as he has been curating and co-curating several groundbreaking exhibitions and eight biennales around the globe.

KMB’14 director of programmes Riyas Komu said the visit by Enwezor, who is the curator of the upcoming seven-month long Venice Biennale, was “one of the proudest moments for our biennale”. It shows that Kochi is “becoming a site of engagement”, he added.

To a question by Enwezor to KMB’14 artistic director Jitish Kallat on his change of role from that of an artist, the Mumbaikar curator joked: “I have befriended uncertainty.”

Padmapriya too spoke about the energy that the biennale gets from people’s participation. “It is not the number of artists who are showing that is important, but the number of visitors,” said the actor, who spend all day at the venues with husband Jasmine Shah. “It is good to see that people have responded positively to the biennale.”