Art News: ‘ABHISARAN’ Convergence of Artists at Heritage Site

A dialogue in contemporary and performing arts across borders for a new age India at Vijayanagara, Karnataka

A Convergence of 5 Countries, 10 Artists at a World Heritage Site

This November, ten talented artists from across the Indian subcontinent have converged at Vijayanagar Karnataka for ‘Abhisaran’, a 3-week long residency programme hosted by the JSW Foundation to create art that recognises the reality of today and the beauty of a time gone by.

Abhisaran literally translates to ‘convergence’, a residency programme which acts as a focal point where artists, from similar political and cultural history of the Indian sub-continent, interact and create art works inspired by the historicity of Hampi and Vijayanagar. Amit Jain, Curator of the project adds, “Abhisaran is a dialogue in contemporary and performing arts across borders for a new age India.” The Heritage Site of Hampi, the industrial town of Vijayanagar and the arts, crafts and performance practices of Hampi are serving as an inspiration ground for these artists.

Drawing from Richard Sennett’s idea of a ‘craftsman’ being a skilled labour who engages with the questions of ‘how’ (Animal Laborans) and ‘why’ (Homo Faber) in the making of a craft (or art), this workshop hopes to empower the artists with raw material that is age old yet functional questioning both the purpose of their production and its effect on various communities. It provides an opportunity where artists can use their imagination and experience to create art works with medium of their choosing.

The artists are using site-specific material like metal scrap, local pottery, local crafts and material to create works with a variety of mediums that include sculptural installations, dance, video and sound.

The artists taking part in Abhisaran are Baptist Coelho (India), Chinthaka Thenuwara (Sri Lanka), Mahbubur Rahman (Bangladesh), Mrugen Rathod (India), Muzummil Ruheel (Pakistan), Pala Pothupitiya (Sri Lanka), Preksha Tater (India), Seema Nusrat (Pakistan), Sanjeev Mahajan (Nepal) and Sheelasha Rajbhandhari (Nepal).

The residency will end on November 30, 2014.

(Excerpts from press release)

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