JOIN USAway from the hustle-bustle, over growing population and pollution in Delhi, there is a city called as Auroville, also known as the ‘City of Dawn’.
A universal town where men and women from all over the world live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The fundamental purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity. Celebrating the experience and experiments relating to human habitat, Delhi is witnessing ‘Auroville: City of Transformation’, a festival which kickstarted from September 14 and will go on till 21 at the India International Centre.
The week-long festival is featuring unique arts, cultural events and an international seminar exploring Auroville’s role in society. The Auroville Festival has come to the Capital to familiarise its citizens with Auroville or ‘A Universal City in the Making in South India’. Set up over four decades ago in association with 124 countries, Auroville was extended support by the Union Government and endorsed by UNESCO.
Sharing her experience about Auroville, Dr. Mallika Sarabhai, member of the governing board of Auroville, a renowned social activist and classical dancer, says, “According to me, beauty is truth. This is what Auroville is all about. It has different aesthetics and spirituality related to it. They all vibrate my whole being. These are not just a piece of art, but art about searching.”
The contemporary Aurovillian artist works from a unique platform. His palette of possibilities is enriched by the experimental nature of his habitat and the rich and ageless tradition of the country that generously hosts the ‘city that belongs to nobody, it belongs to humanity as a whole’. The richness of the artistic possibility is as vast as the imagination allows.
Taking part in the Festival are well known Indian and international artists including Adil Writer, Aurelio, Cecilia Cortés, Chantal Gowa, Henk van Putten, Pierre Legrand, Priya Sundaravalli and Sebastian Cortés producing a series of photographs, paintings, sculptures and pottery.
In February 1968, Auroville was set up in Puducherry in Tamil Nadu by Mirra Alfassa, also known as The Mother. Home to the largest concentration of renewable energy technologies in the country, Auroville has also produced one of the biggest solar boats in the world. A large part of the community is powered by solar and wind energy. It has experimented with various aspects of architecture including cost-effective buildings, climate responsive designs and integration with natural surroundings.
Happy to be part of the Festival, Adil Writer, one of the artists living in Auroville, says, “My association with this place goes back many years ago. I have learnt so much from this place. My artworks are all the reflection of Auroville. My creations are not just meant for the walls. One can actually touch them and understand what my art is all about.”
The title of the Festival: Transformation transcends the process of the artists engaged between imagination, existence and mortality, aesthetics and spirituality. The creations are a torch reflecting what the City is all about and what change can it bring for the rest of the world.