Kathmandu Post
Date | Sunday, May 19, 2013
On Saturday»
SEP 07 -
Earth|Body|Mind
We have come into existence—body, mind, and soul—out of the earth. It is perhaps for the fact that we have been created by and are nourished by the earth that we refer to it as ‘mother’. We personify the earth; she is all-powerful. She is Gaia, Dharti Mata.
We all have surprisingly efficient internal networking systems that make sustenance on earth possible. As humans, as biological beings that have proven to be among the most successful of all of evolution’s creations, we possess minds capable of a great many things. And although our evolutionary cousins do share the cognitive faculty that enables consciousness, thinking, reasoning, perception and judgement, it is we, the homo sapiens, who have stumbled across what seems to be the infallible magic formula. And so, we find ourselves in a world that is very much a product of anthropogenic activities.
•••
Ten thousand years ago, the mass of land that is today Kathmandu could have been anything. If the dates traced for the Kurukshetra War depicted in the Mahabharata are anything to go by, Kathmandu—which is referred to in the epic—existed as an independent political and territorial entity in the 10th century BC. A number of legendary dynasties ruled over the Valley over the millenia, but it is only with the Licchavi King Mandeva (circa 464-505 AD) that any documented history of the Valley begins.
Yet Kathmandu, the city that was first beheld by foreign eyes only in 1955, was far from the work of art that it was to become. It was only under the Malla kings, who ruled from the 12th-18th centuries, and divided the Valley into the separate kingdoms of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur, that the arts really flourished in these three cities.
•••
2012, and Kathmandu is not a pretty picture to behold. The architectural finesse of the Malla era has eroded. Boxes of concrete and glass spring to life even before dozers have had the time to lift the rubble left behind by what used to be part of buildings that have been given recent, and oftentimes unappealing, facelifts.
Kathmandu, an amalgam of the new and the old, is gearing up to witness an event that is set to transform it into a stage for the visual and performance arts by the end of November. The second Kathmandu International Arts Festival (KIAF 2012), taking place in venues across the Capital from November 25-December 21, is going to be one of the biggest art events in South Asia.
The festival—the first edition of which took place in 2009—is a triennial event organised by the non-profit Siddhartha Arts Foundation, with the Prince Claus Fund as its biggest patron this year. Its organisers are committed to promoting the contemporary arts in Nepal, and hope to establish Kathmandu as an arts hub. And this year’s edition, with its resounding environmental concerns, advances KIAF’s intention of using art as a tool for social change.
•••
2012, and the US is witnessing its worst drought in half a century; Oxfam and the UN are preparing for a possible second global food crisis in five years; and leading water scientists are warning that there will not be enough water in the next 40 years to produce food for a human population that is expected to reach nine billion by then.
The Amazon, housing 60 percent of the world’s forests and producing 20
percent of its oxygen, remains threatened despite deforestation in the region having dropped 80 percent since 2004. And the Belo Monte dam in Brazil—the construction of which has been halted for the time being—threatens to put the livelihoods and territories of the area’s indigenous communities at risk.
The Arctic has been warming roughly twice as quickly as the rest of the northern hemisphere, and the Himalayas, which have melted significantly over
the decades, will continue to melt—at accelerated rates.
And so it is very pertinent that KIAF 2012 has chosen to take a look at how art can find a way of expressing concern over climate change and its consequences. The works of art that will be part of the festival, with the theme ‘Earth, Body, Mind’, will explore the responsibilities we, as humans, must take up for the environmental costs of our actions.
The festival, which hopes to engage various groups—students, writers, politicians, and environmental agencies—will commence with a three-day symposium. Kathmandu will be witness to numerous manifestations of the visual, performance and interpretive arts; its denizens spectators to, and a part of, a colossal contemporary arts phenomenon.The Patan Museum, Nepal Art Council, the National Academy of Fine Arts, the British Council, the Siddhartha Art Gallery, Summit Hotel, Nepal Investment Bank, and site specific locations around Kathmandu Valley will host exhibitions, galas, performances, workshops and even a PechaKucha Night, among other events.
KIAF 2012 hopes to reach over 50,000 people through artworks and commentary created and written by 75 international and 22 national artists, curators and journalists.
•••
Works by Brazilian photographer Maureen Bisilliat should certainly comprise some of the most relevant at the festival, given the current controversies surrounding the construction of the Belo Monte dam in Brazil.
Bisilliat, whose images faultlessly blend the environment and its people together, has spent a considerable amount of time photographing and filming the 16 tribes who live along the Upper Xingu River in Amazonia. Since first coming into contact with the Xinguanos in August 1973, Bisilliat has not only documented their lives and culture, but has also championed their rights.
In the 1990 edition of Xingu she writes:
“Almost 20 years have passed since my first encounter with the Xingu... Although in the Xingu Region little has, by comparison with other regions, changed, long absence makes it difficult to gauge the subtle alterations that have modified the Xinguanos’ attitude towards the outside world: a certain wariness and an awareness of the conflicts inflicted upon the indigenous populations of Brazil, of the losing battles and the silent wars of conquest….
“Those ‘alterations’ have not been subtle. Xingu land is under imminent threat. The government has been developing many parts of Amazonia relentlessly. The Xingu inhabit an area in the state of Pará that is the proposed site for a massive hydroelectric dam, the world’s third largest, Belo Monte.”
•••
Cambodian artist Leang Seckon has always infused environmental themes in his artworks. Global warming, climate change, water and environmental protection issues have, in fact, been major themes in Seckon’s works.
Brangelina Avatar, a 180 cm x 150 cm painting, which will be on display at the festival, presents the entwined bodies of Hollywood celebrities Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie painted as the ‘god of the rice field’. The fact that the pair’s eldest son Maddox was adopted by Jolie from an orphanage in Cambodia is certainly reflected in the work, and the reference to ecology, with the mountainous body and its flowing river, is evident.
The artist designed and led the community art project, the Naga—a 225 m long recycled plastic installation on the Siem Reap River in 2008—for World Water Day, creating the largest sculpture and installation in Cambodia. His other works have featured the use of household rubbish in them.
“Cambodia as a country is catching up with what is happening in the modern international scene. We never forget our culture, just like we never forget how to grow rice,” says the artist. “But our natural environment has already been damaged, and the whole world notices changes in natural systems.”
•••
Nepali artists Lok Chitrakar and Meena Kayastha present entirely different modes and forms of expression in art. While the former is a traditional Paubha painter known for his visual renditions of philosophical texts, the latter is known for using junk collected from local junk yards to “present (her) thought processes.”
“Art is the shadow of what a person is thinking,” says Kayastha about her works. “Junk is a feeling for me. Junk once had a life, had importance, and meant something to someone.”
The very material with which she creates her artwork hence resonates deeply with the festival’s theme. Much as Seckon has done with The Rubbish Project—an attempt at local environmental advocacy in Cambodia through art.
Chitrakar’s works, Kamal and Basundhara, on the other hand, will reflect how traditional Nepali paintings are embedded in nature and philosophy and are symbolic of life.
“Traditional Nepali paintings are not simply handicrafts created repeatedly. Their content, although only religious in appearance, is meaningful, mysterious and directly linked to life,” he says.
•••
In a city where contemporary art is still seen as rather novel, KIAF 2012 hopes to “expand its introduction to a wider audience through galleries, art venues and public spaces,” says festival director Sangeeta Thapa.As manifestations of our reactions to all that we are exposed to, art—both visual and otherwise—has a rather intriguing way of telling the truth behind things. One that is often more poignant and more effective than the direct presentation of facts. And so, with eager anticipation, we await the beginning of KIAF 2012, a festival that will have artists from over 31 countries participating.
“We hope that the communicative power of our artists will reach and inspire the experts who are framing global climate change initiatives,” says Thapa, adding, “We hope that this project will provide a springboard for renewed commitment by the citizenry, in encouraging and strengthening their determination to act in the exercise of their powers to influence and endorse educational, parliamentary and grassroots reforms pertaining to climate change policies at the national level.”
Posted on: 2012-09-08 10:21
A changing planet
SEP 07 -
Earth|Body|MindWe have come into existence—body, mind, and soul—out of the earth. It is perhaps for the fact that we have been created by and are nourished by the earth that we refer to it as ‘mother’. We personify the earth; she is all-powerful. She is Gaia, Dharti Mata.
We all have surprisingly efficient internal networking systems that make sustenance on earth possible. As humans, as biological beings that have proven to be among the most successful of all of evolution’s creations, we possess minds capable of a great many things. And although our evolutionary cousins do share the cognitive faculty that enables consciousness, thinking, reasoning, perception and judgement, it is we, the homo sapiens, who have stumbled across what seems to be the infallible magic formula. And so, we find ourselves in a world that is very much a product of anthropogenic activities.
•••
Ten thousand years ago, the mass of land that is today Kathmandu could have been anything. If the dates traced for the Kurukshetra War depicted in the Mahabharata are anything to go by, Kathmandu—which is referred to in the epic—existed as an independent political and territorial entity in the 10th century BC. A number of legendary dynasties ruled over the Valley over the millenia, but it is only with the Licchavi King Mandeva (circa 464-505 AD) that any documented history of the Valley begins.
Yet Kathmandu, the city that was first beheld by foreign eyes only in 1955, was far from the work of art that it was to become. It was only under the Malla kings, who ruled from the 12th-18th centuries, and divided the Valley into the separate kingdoms of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur, that the arts really flourished in these three cities.
•••
2012, and Kathmandu is not a pretty picture to behold. The architectural finesse of the Malla era has eroded. Boxes of concrete and glass spring to life even before dozers have had the time to lift the rubble left behind by what used to be part of buildings that have been given recent, and oftentimes unappealing, facelifts.
Kathmandu, an amalgam of the new and the old, is gearing up to witness an event that is set to transform it into a stage for the visual and performance arts by the end of November. The second Kathmandu International Arts Festival (KIAF 2012), taking place in venues across the Capital from November 25-December 21, is going to be one of the biggest art events in South Asia.
The festival—the first edition of which took place in 2009—is a triennial event organised by the non-profit Siddhartha Arts Foundation, with the Prince Claus Fund as its biggest patron this year. Its organisers are committed to promoting the contemporary arts in Nepal, and hope to establish Kathmandu as an arts hub. And this year’s edition, with its resounding environmental concerns, advances KIAF’s intention of using art as a tool for social change.
•••
2012, and the US is witnessing its worst drought in half a century; Oxfam and the UN are preparing for a possible second global food crisis in five years; and leading water scientists are warning that there will not be enough water in the next 40 years to produce food for a human population that is expected to reach nine billion by then.
The Amazon, housing 60 percent of the world’s forests and producing 20
percent of its oxygen, remains threatened despite deforestation in the region having dropped 80 percent since 2004. And the Belo Monte dam in Brazil—the construction of which has been halted for the time being—threatens to put the livelihoods and territories of the area’s indigenous communities at risk.
The Arctic has been warming roughly twice as quickly as the rest of the northern hemisphere, and the Himalayas, which have melted significantly over
the decades, will continue to melt—at accelerated rates.
And so it is very pertinent that KIAF 2012 has chosen to take a look at how art can find a way of expressing concern over climate change and its consequences. The works of art that will be part of the festival, with the theme ‘Earth, Body, Mind’, will explore the responsibilities we, as humans, must take up for the environmental costs of our actions.
The festival, which hopes to engage various groups—students, writers, politicians, and environmental agencies—will commence with a three-day symposium. Kathmandu will be witness to numerous manifestations of the visual, performance and interpretive arts; its denizens spectators to, and a part of, a colossal contemporary arts phenomenon.The Patan Museum, Nepal Art Council, the National Academy of Fine Arts, the British Council, the Siddhartha Art Gallery, Summit Hotel, Nepal Investment Bank, and site specific locations around Kathmandu Valley will host exhibitions, galas, performances, workshops and even a PechaKucha Night, among other events.
KIAF 2012 hopes to reach over 50,000 people through artworks and commentary created and written by 75 international and 22 national artists, curators and journalists.
•••
Works by Brazilian photographer Maureen Bisilliat should certainly comprise some of the most relevant at the festival, given the current controversies surrounding the construction of the Belo Monte dam in Brazil.
Bisilliat, whose images faultlessly blend the environment and its people together, has spent a considerable amount of time photographing and filming the 16 tribes who live along the Upper Xingu River in Amazonia. Since first coming into contact with the Xinguanos in August 1973, Bisilliat has not only documented their lives and culture, but has also championed their rights.
In the 1990 edition of Xingu she writes:
“Almost 20 years have passed since my first encounter with the Xingu... Although in the Xingu Region little has, by comparison with other regions, changed, long absence makes it difficult to gauge the subtle alterations that have modified the Xinguanos’ attitude towards the outside world: a certain wariness and an awareness of the conflicts inflicted upon the indigenous populations of Brazil, of the losing battles and the silent wars of conquest….
“Those ‘alterations’ have not been subtle. Xingu land is under imminent threat. The government has been developing many parts of Amazonia relentlessly. The Xingu inhabit an area in the state of Pará that is the proposed site for a massive hydroelectric dam, the world’s third largest, Belo Monte.”
•••
Cambodian artist Leang Seckon has always infused environmental themes in his artworks. Global warming, climate change, water and environmental protection issues have, in fact, been major themes in Seckon’s works.
Brangelina Avatar, a 180 cm x 150 cm painting, which will be on display at the festival, presents the entwined bodies of Hollywood celebrities Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie painted as the ‘god of the rice field’. The fact that the pair’s eldest son Maddox was adopted by Jolie from an orphanage in Cambodia is certainly reflected in the work, and the reference to ecology, with the mountainous body and its flowing river, is evident.
The artist designed and led the community art project, the Naga—a 225 m long recycled plastic installation on the Siem Reap River in 2008—for World Water Day, creating the largest sculpture and installation in Cambodia. His other works have featured the use of household rubbish in them.
“Cambodia as a country is catching up with what is happening in the modern international scene. We never forget our culture, just like we never forget how to grow rice,” says the artist. “But our natural environment has already been damaged, and the whole world notices changes in natural systems.”
•••
Nepali artists Lok Chitrakar and Meena Kayastha present entirely different modes and forms of expression in art. While the former is a traditional Paubha painter known for his visual renditions of philosophical texts, the latter is known for using junk collected from local junk yards to “present (her) thought processes.”
“Art is the shadow of what a person is thinking,” says Kayastha about her works. “Junk is a feeling for me. Junk once had a life, had importance, and meant something to someone.”
The very material with which she creates her artwork hence resonates deeply with the festival’s theme. Much as Seckon has done with The Rubbish Project—an attempt at local environmental advocacy in Cambodia through art.
Chitrakar’s works, Kamal and Basundhara, on the other hand, will reflect how traditional Nepali paintings are embedded in nature and philosophy and are symbolic of life.
“Traditional Nepali paintings are not simply handicrafts created repeatedly. Their content, although only religious in appearance, is meaningful, mysterious and directly linked to life,” he says.
•••
In a city where contemporary art is still seen as rather novel, KIAF 2012 hopes to “expand its introduction to a wider audience through galleries, art venues and public spaces,” says festival director Sangeeta Thapa.As manifestations of our reactions to all that we are exposed to, art—both visual and otherwise—has a rather intriguing way of telling the truth behind things. One that is often more poignant and more effective than the direct presentation of facts. And so, with eager anticipation, we await the beginning of KIAF 2012, a festival that will have artists from over 31 countries participating.
“We hope that the communicative power of our artists will reach and inspire the experts who are framing global climate change initiatives,” says Thapa, adding, “We hope that this project will provide a springboard for renewed commitment by the citizenry, in encouraging and strengthening their determination to act in the exercise of their powers to influence and endorse educational, parliamentary and grassroots reforms pertaining to climate change policies at the national level.”
Posted on: 2012-09-08 10:21
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