Taking a leaf out of the famous “Times Square” in New York city, the state-run Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have joined hands to introduce the concept of open gallery at the historic Kala Ghoda in south Mumbai to create buzz and inspire more artists to participate and showcase their talent.
Come November 19, the Kala Ghoda open art gallery will open from 10 am to 7 pm every Sunday. The open art gallery will facilitate visitors can explore the diverse offerings of Maharashtra. The upcoming performers will get an opportunity to display their art in the gallery.
The 250-metre long stretch on Kaikashru Dubash Marg at Kala Ghoda will accommodate 15 to 21 stalls.
Through this initiative, MTDC along with BMC intend to make use of these open spaces as a platform for public participation which will also include music and dance performances depicting folk, traditional and classical art forms. Other arts forms like Warli Paintings, Heritage & art walk, Robotic world, will depict the culture of robotics in this modern era along with activities like puppet making and puppet shows which portrays the social issues among others.
“The aim of this initiative – Kala Ghoda Open Art Gallery is to encourage our state's art and culture through shows and acts. The performers will get a stage to showcase their art forms and talents. We are optimistic towards making the Kala Ghoda open art gallery as trendy as Mumbai’s ‘Times Square’, State Principal Secretary, Tourism & Culture Nitin Gadre said here on Wednesday.
“The goal of the initiative will enable artists to rent a 15×15-foot boxes at a nominal fee which will be open to people across the state to boost tourism,” Gadre said.
The Kala Ghoda area has become famous because of the eponymous Kala Ghoda Arts Festival which is now in its eighteenth year. This largest multi-cultural festival in the country, if not in Asia, has revitalised the precinct not only culturally but commercially.
In January this year, the “Black horse” (Kala Ghoda) had returned to the prime Kala Ghoda locality at downtown Fort. Having lost its historic identity some years ago, Kala Ghoda redeemed itself, with the restoration of the statue of “Black horse” in the locality. This happened after the Kala Ghoda Association (KGA), which conducts the festival, helped the BMC in creating the symbol for the area, reminiscent of its name.
The heritage art precinct of Kala Ghoda had derived name from the equestrian statue of King Edward VII seated on a black horse (Kala Ghoda). This statue, like all other such signs of colonialism was consigned to the Jijamata Udyan and Zoo at Byculla some years ago. Yet the memory of this iconic statue persists in the generic name, Kala Ghoda by which the art district is known.
The Kala Ghoda square has several important heritage buildings around it and that makes it the happening place. This include the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Jehangir Art Gallery, Max Mueller Bhavan, Bombay University, Prince of Wales Museum, National Gallery of Modern Art, Institute of Science, Bombay Natural History Society, Elphinstone College, and David Sassoon library and the Watson Hotel, now known as Esplanade Mansion, where the lumière Brothers' Cinematographe invention in 1896 was showcased to Indians.