The third edition of Pune Biennale attempts to re-imagine spaces for creative expression, thereby making art more accessible. By Saritha Saraswathy Balan
Urban art is set for a revolution with the Pune Municipal Corporation deciding to convert abandoned places into open-air art galleries and artistes happily willing to redefine the city’s identity with contemporary idioms and expressions. As part of the “my city/my art” project under the Pune biennale, the unused subways and walkways will provide local artists a platform to display their creations. “The innovative project, which will kick off on the city’s underpass at Jangli Maharaj (JM) Road, will take place over seven other locations, including parks, bridges and schools. It’s an attempt to motivate people to use underpasses and foot overbridges, increase footfalls, boost pedestrian zones, provide artists a platform and give the city a makeover that doesn’t require policy bigwigs to take a call,” says Kiran Shinde, founder-director of the third edition of the exposition.
He believes that an art extravaganza like this should uphold the idea of habit and co-habit. “Artists will reflect on topics such as migration, cohabitation, adaptation and assimilation,” he adds. The third edition of the biennale, that will stretch over three weeks from January 5 to January 29, will focus on the theme of identity and self. “In a city like Pune, with its rapidly burgeoning populace and which has witnessed massive migration, the question of identity is big. People must be wondering where they belong. This edition of the biennale attempts to deal with the question of identity and self. Collective identity is about the community we live in. The idea is to make people, who are marginalised, connect through their heartfelt emotions. In India, art galleries are concentrated only in the cities. Our attempt is to re-imagine spaces for creative expression, thereby making art more accessible and interactive,” he elaborates.
The biennale will address the theme through public displays, installations, workshops, dialogues and seminars. The Empress Garden, or the working lungs of Pune, will host a series of artworks and installations and participants will be invited to create artworks in response to the theme. Around 300 artists of national and international repute will showcase cutting-edge contemporary artworks in projects specifically designed for engaging with the local community.
The highlight of this edition has been an art workshop for differently-abled children. The workshop, held in December, was a part of the biennale’s initiative of inclusive art, where 50 special children from 11 identified schools were given training in artforms like drawing, doodling and puppet making. “We have got artists who have been working on projects for differently abled children to conduct the workshop. Artists like Veena Chandra, Ketki Pimplekhare, Kanchan Shelke, Manisha Ved Pathak, Dipali Darvatkar led the workshop,” Kiran says.
Giving space for younger talent, five students each from various art schools across the country will be allowed to participate in the biennale. “We want to engage them in a dialogue and help them develop an unusual critique of contemporary art. The medium will naturally be the student’s own exploratory artworks,” he adds.
Yet another project of the third edition is “moving art/space.” Kiran says this required some out-of-the-box thinking. “We thought about bringing some unique architectural spaces which would be transient, thereby expanding the field of art, spatially and temporally. These spaces are either artworks themselves or such that contain artworks. These will be strewn about the Deccan area of the city,” says the founder-director. “The biennale seeks to explore the paradox of a city aspiring to a global standard of life, while struggling to retain its traditional heritage,” he adds.
Pune boasts of several parks and for all visitors, old and new, the biennale offers an opportunity to experience the bustling public gardens with a tinge of art. “In this curated exhibition, we seek artworks that will respond to the uniqueness of the landscape of parks. Participants are free to select any form of expression as long as it can be sustained in an outdoor environment for the entire duration of the biennale. This project will offer a space, mental and physical for introspection as well as art appreciation to citizens, visitors and artists and participants alike. Therefore, for a brief window of time, we attempt to transform this treasure-house by adding another layer of cultural space, to appreciate park as an art space,” says Kiran.