Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The World Is One Family)

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The World Is One Family) is an exhibition curated by Pinakin Patel on contemporary art’s relationship to the environment.

All artists draw inspiration from their environment, either by correlating different life forms with their sustaining elements or by other means and bodily responses. Beyond earth, water, fire and air, there is ether or spirit. The same spirit that resides in the inert, murmurs within plants, dreams in animals and, is also present in man. This insight gives the artist the ultimate human freedom—the power to choose, respond, and change. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam brings art juxtaposed from across the world, illustrating the underlying unity in our diversity. The exhibition provides a simple affirmation and reverence for life that could provide an antidote for the current degenerative chaos in man and also in nature.

Alongside the exhibition, Kolkata Centre for Creativity will host the inaugural edition of its Annual Conference, with contributions from leading thinkers, artists, writers, musicians, practitioners, curators and architects from India and around the world.

Conference
January 26–27, 2019

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The World Is One Family)

Kolkata Centre for Creativity Annual Conference

The first edition of the Kolkata Centre for Creativity Annual Conference, programmed by Shwetal A. Patel, examines the notion of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and a vision of holistic development and respect for all forms of life. The international conference explores this thought and its influence on creativity, and society more broadly, through symposia, discussions and presentations.

Participants include:
Anupam Sah: Conservator (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya)
Bandana Tewari: Writer & Sustainability Activist (Craft Diplomacy)
Bikram Ghose: Musician
Bose Krishnamachari: Artist (Kochi Biennale Foundation)
Dr. Deepika Sorabjee: Head Arts & Culture (Tata Trusts)
Hena Kapadia: Director (TARQ)
James Green: Director (David Zwirner)
Dr. Kalyan Chakravarty: Art Historian & Cultural Administrator
Mark Rappolt: Writer, curator and Editor-in-Chief (ArtReview & ArtReview Asia)
Mukhtiyar Ali: Musician
Parul Zaveri: Architect (Panika)
Prateek Raja: Director (Experimenter)
Dr. Rory Hyde: Curator of Contemporary Architecture and Urbanism (Victoria and Albert Museum)
Sheela Gowda: Artist
Shuvaprasanna Bhattacharya: Artist
Sneha Ragavan: Researcher (Asia Art Archive)
Dr. Sook Kyung-Lee: Senior Curator, International Art (Tate Modern)
Sudarshan Shetty: Artist
Dr. V. Venu: CEO, Rebuild Kerala (Government of Kerala)

About KCC
Kolkata Centre for Creativity (KCC) is a new multi-disciplinary interactive art and creativity centre located in Kolkata, West Bengal. The 70,000 sq. ft Centre champions the art and cultural landscape of contemporary India and is designed by architect Pinakin Patel, who is also its Creative Director.

KCC anchors on Emami Art, a 10,000 sq ft art gallery, spearheaded by Emami Group Director Richa Agarwal who is also the Executive Director of the Centre. Alongside Emami Art, which hosts a regular programme of art exhibitions by artists of national and international repute, KCC also houses distinct exhibition spaces that showcase art, craft, antiquity and product design from contemporary culture as well as traditional Indian handicrafts. KCC also includes a classical amphitheatre for performances and creative contemplation; a children’s creativity corner; modular spaces for events; and an art conservation studio. Additionally, KCC houses a book and materials library, dance studio for workshops, a skills development and a maker section to create prototypes using the latest digital technologies, an art shop offering specially commissioned products and a vegetarian cafe. 

Showcasing several expressions of art and design to highlight their common creative core—Kolkata Centre for Creativity encourages visitors to explore, interact and design ideas on various art forms within its spaces. KCC is thus envisaged as a space of collocations, not only in the visual arts, but also in craft, design, music, textiles, architecture, photography, poetry & literature, film, independent publishing, books, graphic design, conservation, urbanism, ecology, technology and the culinary arts in a symbiotic and fluid structure.

Emami Art and Kolkata Centre for Creativity offers free entry and is open between 11am to 6pm from Tuesday to Sunday.

For more information about the exhibition and the conference, please visit

www.kolkatacentreforcreativity.com

www.emamiart.com

For further information, please contact contact [​at​] emamiart.com

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