Milestone edition of art initiative

The 75th edition of Art Park, an initiative that aims to bridge the gap between visual artists and the public, will be held at Bangalore International Centre on Sunday. 

Started by artist S G Vasudev in 2014, the milestone edition will see a series of events throughout the day. After a welcome address by Vasudev and artist Bhagya Ajaikumar, the event will be inaugurated by a panel of noted contributors to visual and performance art in Bengaluru. Some of these names include Arundhati Nag, Balan Nambiar and Pa Sa Kumar. 

In the afternoon, a panel comprising Arundhati, Jayakumar G, Nalini Malaviya and Suresh Jayaram will discuss the topic ‘Art Park — Reflecting on the Past Decade and the Road Map Ahead’.

Other highlights include a poetry performance by Mamta Sagar, a musical performance by M D Pallavi, and an art performance by Dimple Shah.

“Dimple’s performance will be held at the entrance of BIC. She will be using water as part of her performance,” Vasudev shares.

Art Park typically sees a group of artists creating live art before the audience. The participating artists are selected by Art Park’s committee members. In this edition, the artists featured include Aishwaryan K, Anil Ijeri, Arasu T V, Babu Jattakar and Basavaraju K S among others. 

Talking about the inception of the monthly event, Vasudev says, “I felt people did not have the habit of visiting galleries. They seemed apprehensive about interacting with artists. So I spoke to a few other artists and decided to come up with a way to make art less intimidating.”

For the past 10 years, the event has been held at Sculpture Garden (Shilpavana) at Ravindra Kalakshetra on J C Road. Now, the government has decided the space should not be used by anyone, Vasudev reveals.

“They told us about it two months ago. We have until June to look for a new location,” he tells Metrolife. 

On April 28, 11 am, at Bangalore International Centre, Domlur. To RSVP, visit bangaloreinternationalcentre.in