Thursday, March 15, 2012

Art Chennai extravaganza

The second edition of Art Chennai this time around was bigger and better. The event was held with much enthusiasm and fanfare.

T keenly awaited citywide art extravaganza was just held amidst the city's wide open spaces. Unlike the inaugural edition, confined to the city's galleries and hotels, this year the celebration of art was spread across beaches, IT parks, restaurants, MRTS stations and malls in Chennai.

Sanjay Tulsyan, convener of the event was quoted as saying in The Hindu news report: “We thought, why not take art to more people this year? The idea is to introduce art into different atmospheres so that more people connect with it, and art doesn't seem as intimidating anymore. We want to make people and corporations realise the importance of public art spaces. Our cities and infrastructures are growing; why isn't public art?” he asked.

There was an eco-friendly project stretching along one kilometer of the famous Marina beach. Five different artists from across India created pieces from environmentally friendly materials, interactive art, which changed with the wind & the tide.

Art, including — painting, sculpture, installation, photography etc was on display at many popular city locations like Burgundy, Amethyst, Spaces and so on. There was a huge installation and other pieces, which came to the city after traveling to fairs and festivals all across the globe..

The second edition also attempted to become more inclusive. A photography contest, for instance, was held in association with Travelling Lens and the Goethe Institut. Art students were roped in through the student connect program. Their selected works were on view at galleries.
The art seminar was converted into a full-fledged conference at Taj Coromandel on March 16- 17, with national and international curators, artists and collectors participating.

An exhibit by visiting galleries, entitled ‘The ‘Boutique Art Fair', was on view at Taj Coromandel, plus ‘Art Residency', another highlight of the festival, featuring 25 artists.

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