Press release from Business Wire India
Source: 48°C
Wednesday, December 17, 2008 03:55 PM IST (10:25 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Arts & culture, Consumer interest, Entertainment; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Education & training, Media & entertainment
Release no: 18759
--------------------------------------------------
48°C - 'India's First Contemporary Public Art Festival' Draws Enthusiastic Crowds Across Delhi
New Delhi, Delhi, India, Wednesday, December 17, 2008 -- (Business Wire India) -- The 48°C festival, a pioneering, first-of-its-kind endeavour using the medium of art as a platform to raise public awareness about the global ecological and environmental crisis, has received an overwhelming response. The festival was inaugurated by the Hon'ble Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Mr Tejendra Khanna, on December 12.
48°C aims to address, showcase, discuss and highlight issues of urban environment and ecology in Delhi through the medium of art. The 10-day festival comprising art and interactive events extends from the 12th to the 21st of December. The installations are spread across eight heritage public spaces in the city along the metro route.
48°C is not just about art installations, it also includes various eco-talks, eco-tours, cycle rallies, street plays and film screenings. The festival is planned on a large scale encompassing a number of activities just to ensure that people across Delhi get to rediscover their city.
The Hon'ble Lieutenant Governor Mr Tejendra Khanna appreciated the concept of using art as a medium to educate the citizens of Delhi about the environment and noted that ecological hazards can be averted with a little effort and awareness.
Commenting on the festival, Dr. Stefan Dreyer - Director, South Asia, Max Mueller Bhavan, said, "We are delighted to be partnering with GTZ in this venture and are extremely grateful to the Government of Delhi for their support. The festival gives the citizens of Delhi a platform to come together and discuss issues of ecological imbalance and global warming. Delhi is heading towards becoming a global city at a very fast pace. This progress requires a corresponding understanding of its environmental challenges by the whole society. Our attempt is to make people realise the importance of maintaining the balance in the ecosystem."
Dr. Juergen Bischoff, Director, GTZ-ASEM said, "GTZ has always been committed to spreading awareness among people in terms of practicing responsible management of the environment and natural resources. With 48°C, we attempt to make the common man think about the fact that his actions are directly or indirectly affecting the ecosystem, and for this reason we felt it necessary to invite artists from all across the globe to participate in this festival."
"We don't aim to solve problems. We believe art can address certain issues and can engage people everywhere to realise the effect that global warming is having on our ecosystem. With this festival, we not only want to raise consciousness about the environmental imbalances in Delhi, we also want to celebrate the rich history of this city that has been a capital for over a thousand years," said Pooja Sood, Artistic Director and Curator of 48°C.
48°C is showcasing large scale, contemporary, video and interactive installations by renowned international and Indian artists. These installations highlight issues like the importance of water, significance of the river, the current food crisis, urban pollution, etc. The festival aims to use art as a medium to reach out to the public and make them aware of the slight but continuous changes in the environment.
Among the Indian artists, the festival includes Subodh Gupta, Vivan Sundaram, Sheba Chhachhi, Atul Bhalla, Ravi Agarwal and many more. Sundaram has created an installation with "plastic water bottles". Ravi Agarwal, on the other hand, has raised the issue of disappearance of the "Asian Vultures". Atul Bhalla's installation revolves around the River Yamuna. All the installations are an attempt to make citizens realise that as we progress, we contribute a little more to ruining the balance of the ecosystem.
Artists of international repute like Mary Miss, Ichi Ikeda and Andrej Zdravic are among the foreign artists participating in this festival. Known for her environment-based work, US-based artist Mary Miss has over the last three decades focused on redefining the boundaries between sculpture, architecture, landscape design and installation art. Mary Miss is considered a pioneering figure in Earthworks or Land Art - she uses the landscape as a means to create art.
48°C is spread across eight heritage public spaces in Delhi. The spaces are planned along the Delhi Metro Rail route, which include Roshanara Bagh, Kashmere Gate, Chandini Chowk, Ramlila Grounds, CP Inner Circle, Barakhamba, Jantar Mantar and Mandi House.
Locations selected for these installations are mostly heritage sites. These sites have especially been chosen because the citizens of Delhi need to remember that this city is historically very rich. The sites include "Jantar Mantar", a 15th century stepwell (baoli) which ran dry just five years ago and the Delhi Public Library in Chandni Chowk. Most of the installations by the artists participating in this event are being put up for the first time and are all awe inspiring.
Supported by Urban Resource Group of Delhi, Radio Mirchi, Time Out and NDTV Metro Nation, the festival highlights global warming and ecological imbalances that are now a reality not just in Delhi, but the world over.
About 48°C
48°C Public.Art.Ecology, a combined initiative of Goethe-Institut/ Max Mueller Bhavan and GTZ, is an experiment set within the capital metropolitan city of Delhi. The ambition of this project is to interrogate the teetering ecology of the city through the prism of contemporary art. Through a number of art interventions in various public spaces around Delhi, the festival attempts to draw a diverse public into the world of this critical imaginary. For more information, please visit www.48c.org
About Goethe-Institut/ Max Mueller Bhavan
The Goethe-Institut is the cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany which is also known as Max Mueller Bhavan all over India, in honour of the renowned Indologist who was co-founder of modern Indian studies and a scholar of comparative religion. The institute organises and promotes a wide spectrum of events in Delhi and other north Indian cities with the aim of presenting German culture, particularly its contemporary aspects, in India. Its programmes and projects are developed in close cooperation with Indian partner institutions, public and private cultural bodies, the German federal states and municipalities, and the corporate sector.
About GTZ
As an international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations, the federally-owned Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH supports the German Government in achieving its development-policy objectives. It provides viable, forward looking solutions for political, economic, ecological and social development in a globalised world. Working under difficult conditions, GTZ promotes complex reforms and change processes. Its corporate objective is to improve people's living conditions on a sustainable basis.
CONTACT DETAILS
Nita Soans, 48°C Communications Team, +91 9999991697, media.ecoart@gmail.com
Amrita Thukral, Comma Consulting, +91 9891171040, athukral@comma.in
Angela Chandy, Comma Consulting, +91 9910607726, achandy@comma.in
KEYWORDS
ARTS, CONSUMER, ENTERTAINMENT, MARKETING, EDUCATION, MEDIA
If you wish to change your Business Wire India selection please click on this link http://www.businesswireindia.com/media/news.asp and use your personal username and password to login.
Submit your press release at http://www.businesswireindia.com
No comments:
Post a Comment