The cold disappears into intense thick air; bundled up, erased, evacuated- misery, hope, fear. The cold has left us, the sights of dreary days; it has left us with morning of hopeful sunshine rays, cream cheese and coffee mugs, breweries and knitted thugs. The nip seems to keep coming back for more, leaving signs of dreamy winds around green leaves, polished grains of wet drops, now on wet paths of concrete grey. In the midst of sunshine and darker days, the city of Delhi is immersing itself into creative corners, book launches, plays, walks, film screenings and art exhibits.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s story of murder, mutiny, and money, ‘Treasure Island’ is brought to life in a stage adaptation broadcast live from the National Theatre, London at The India Habitat Centre on the 8th of March.
March also marks a book launch by author, Meera Mitra at the India Habitat Centre; ‘Breaking through-India’s Stories of Beating the Odds on Poverty’ looks through the present roadblocks that hinder the entry of the poor into economic life and obstruct their capacity to grasp the basic rights of health, education and political participation.
The month witnesses creative festivals and social dialogues, political upheavals and dramatic conversations. The 17th National Festival Of Creative Arts commences at the India Habitat Centre, bringing in theatre and dance to the fore. Talks and conversations on Indian Urbanism and on Nehru Planning and India’s socialistic economy brace the month with intellectual thinking and inventive conclusions.
Painting-Bordeaux in association with NIV Art Centre brings together seventeen artists from Europe and Asia through The East West Art festival. Celebrating diversity in art and culture the festival is an ambitious project sharing experiment through the eyes of next generation of artists.
Performance art, video, street art, installations, visual art and workshops are brought together within various centres and spaces in and around Delhi. The Festival begins with a group show- ‘Social Animals’ at Alliance Francaise followed by ‘Mind the Gap’ at Japan Foundation, ‘Dramascope’ at Korean Cultural Centre, ‘East-West Festival group show’ and ‘Before Our Own Eyes’ at NIV Art Centre and also brings together an Art Movie Night at Alliance Francaise.
Spaces and blocks of stone, laid out, bare like bone, are being walked along, talked about, in art spaces, the sun peeks for a while then it goes away, storm, froth, and all it takes for a day to wind up, it rains, it pours; evaporates.
Art is being born, spreading like fire through chaotic streets, painted beams and road sign gleams. Political discussions, social outbursts, regular painted spaces; united, polluted, excavated. Our minds work like art on this cloudy, colourless day, now into city streets, gleaming galleries and illustrated pages of white.
Events:
-Screening of the play-‘Treasure Island’ at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on the 8th of March
-Book Launch at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on the 12th of March: Meera Mitra’s Breaking through-India’s Stories of Beating the Odds on Poverty
-The 17th National Festival of Creative Arts at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi: Commences on the 11th of March
-The East West Art Festival, New Delhi: 19th March to 5th April, at Alliance Francaise, Japan Foundation, Korean Cultural Centre and NIV Art Centre.