Art

It’s easy to overlook the bark of a tree – especially here in Auroville, where trees are everywhere and we pass them daily, often without stopping to truly see.

Set within Pitanga’s tranquil backdrop, this exhibition invites visitors to explore the interplay between natural material and artistic expression.

These days, more and more of the space in Auroville Today seems to be taken up with obituaries. It made me begin to reflect upon death and our attitudes to it.

David Blamey is an established London-based artist who works in the western tradition of post-minimal and conceptual art. His multidisciplinary practice includes a film, sound, exhibitions and the independent publishing imprint Open Editions.

The Roger Anger Exhibition represents an homage dedicated to the artist's centenary, showing an extensive collection of drawings, collages, and sculptures.

Lisa Suchanek’s second exhibition at the Centre d’Art, titled Soft Self: Inner Multiplicity and Gentleness, unfolds as a captivating blend of art and introspective research.

Having arrived in Auroville as a child with her parents in 1968, Marta provides a unique perspective as a member of the first generation of children within our community.

Long-term Aurovilians Gillian, Roy, Angad and Adil met in Adil’s house in late September. Angad and Adil are working potters, Roy a former potter and Gillian, Roy’s partner, ran a crafts workshop and has been active in promoting village clean up and cycle path initiatives.

Centre d’Art, Monday, three o’clock in the afternoon. About fifteen people are working on the photograph of the Auroville banyan tree which is spread out over seven metres in front of the large picture window.

Through this process, people who had known the Banyan for 30 years or more experienced it in a new way. As an artist, it’s interesting for me to see this happening in Auroville with people who have such an intimate relationship with the tree.

The seventh Art for Land exhibition was inaugurated in the Unity Pavilion on 7th August by the Secretary, Dr Jayanti Ravi. This edition moved from its usual February slot to August due to the corona wave and to coincide with the 150th Sri Aurobindo birth year celebrations.

On February 19th, a remarkable performance took place at the Sri Aurobindo Auditorium of Bharat Nivas. Inspired by the poem ‘Is this the end?’

Pradeep Kumar’s exhibition Origins was held recently at the Centre d’Art in Citadines. Pradeep Kumar might work with a mostly monochrome palette, but the first thing that strikes the viewer of his multidisciplinary artworks is their intense originality.

Despite the restrictions of quarantine, an innerly creative world was quietly emerging during the lockdown. For some Aurovilians, the halting of everyday busyness allowed their muse to take flight and for creativity to take form.

The 2020 fifth Art for Land exhibition and fundraisers has started with an extraordinary varied programme and offerings. Thirty-one (and counting) events are part of this bounty with a plethora of art pieces for sale.

Traveling during the early seventies through the Indian subcontinent brought me to Agra. One afternoon, I found myself sitting on the borders of the Yamuna River while watching a sand barge being loaded right behind the Taj Mahal.

Sri Aurobindo spoke of free speech as being “an essential requisite for promoting and guarding the true well-being of the people”. The issue of free speech and expression in Auroville has simmered away beneath the surface for many years.

Auroville, a melting pot of arts, culture, science and society, has been involved in many educational outreach initiatives since the 1980’s.

On March 1st, 2015, the Auroville Festival in Chennai was launched at the ITC Grand Chola by the Governor of Tamil Nadu, His Excellency Dr. K.

We move through the buzzing mass of people at the Visitors’ Centre toward the quieter corners. We have heard that the Art Cart emerges every Tuesday and Friday afternoon, and have seen pictures of it in The Hindu.

Art Break Day is a community art event which occurs in locations around the world on the first Friday in September, including 29 sites this year in Mexico, the Netherlands and the US.