Centre d’Art

In October, the Centre d’Art hosted an exhibition by artist in residence Nandita Sharma. Titled “The thinking hand”, she explained that her work moves between words and images.

Between 5-24 September, Centre d’Art hosted an exhibition by the local artist, P Saravanam, titled “Together”. In a world which seems to be getting speedier and more complicated day by day, Saravanam’s art returns us to the simple joys of everyday life and encounters in the villages of India.

John Mandeen passed away just over a year ago. John was a photographer who worked for many years with the Ashram Press, but he also extensively documented life in Auroville from the early 1980s, including important stages in the construction of the Matrimandir.

The Dominique Darr Grant was launched this year to enable young photographers to exhib at Centre d’Art. The first such exhibition, with the theme “The Sun, the Moon and the Truth, three things cannot be long hidden”, opened on 15 August and featured the work of five young Aurovilians—Anantini, Simran, Aadi, Balaji, Arati and Bhavyo.

It Matters is a space for artists and the community to connect, collaborate, and create. Rooted in Auroville’s spirit of exchange, it fosters dialogue and new ideas beyond the local art scene.

Krishna Devanandan has a background as a dancer, cultural event organiser and teacher of Tai Chi. She helped organise the Auroville Film Festivals and managed the Auroville Art Service from its inception in 2012 until 2023, when the Auroville Foundation appointed new executives.

Aurodeva is an artist and art therapist born and raised in Auroville whose work displays a rich blend of creativity, introspection, and connection to his roots.

What do you get when you mix a seasoned photographer, theatrical flair, and nearly four decades of festive mischief? HAPPY NEW YEAR by Marco Saroldi – part photo exhibit, part autobiography, and entirely the cheekiest holiday tradition around.

From November 15th to December 4th, the Centre d’Art brought together two contemplative exhibitions: Pujasree Burman’s "Sacred Echoes" and Vasandan Virappan’s "The Symbol of Meditation."

Stepping into Deepti Munot’s Fragile Layers exhibition of collages at Centre d’Art, I was instantly transported to the sea-side rock pools of my childhood.

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 women’s choir Auroville Harmonies performed a “Singing the World” concert at CRIPA on 2nd and 3rd March, conducted by Antoine. Ceramic artist Supriya Menon Meneghetti presented an exhibition titled “From Darkness to Light” at Centre d’Art, Citadines 8-23 March.

Between 29th January and 10th February, in the Centre d’Art there was an exhibition of drawings by Ongkie Tan, titled ‘Inky Onky’. Ongkie Tan’s art is sharp, detailed, with a whirr of strokes, mostly in his trademark inky black and occasional subtle colours.

Dominique Jacques posed questions and changed the rules in her recent exhibition ‘Endless Game’. We’re used to visiting a gallery to see an art work with a little caption and then we are left to appraise it.

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

Once, in later years, I went to see Roger in Auromodѐle, but it was different from the other times I visited him. I cannot recall why I went there, to discuss what.

Valeria has been teaching ikebana, the traditional Japanese Art of Flower Arrangement, in Auroville for over twenty years. Why did she, an Italian, study it for many years in Japan and then decide to teach it here?

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.

Roger Anger, the artist is the first ever exhibition of the work of an artist who, by the age of 40, had won several prestigious architectural prizes, but who never exhibited his paintings or sculptures during his lifetime.

Jacqueline Lacoste, Roger Anger’s long term companion and collaborator, came to Auroville in 1970. In a sunlit moment at the Centre d’Art exhibition Roger Anger, l’artiste, she shares insights into Roger's identity, where the lines separating artist and architect dissolve, and reflects on the transformative influence of his spiritual encounter with The Mother.

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.

‘Sharing this series is my way of taking a pause and evaluating my own journey, allowing myself to touch upon the core of my experience. In this collection of my latest work, several forms have emerged that reflect the serene atmosphere that surrounds my studio.

In mid October, Aurovilian Frederic Martin Duchamp presented ‘Presence and Flow’, an exhibition of photographs from different parts of the world at the Centre d’Art in Citadines.

Nadia is a photographer, geographer, and has been the president of AVI-France for the last ten years. She first came to Auroville in 1973. In mid September, she presented some of her photos of Auroville from the 1980s at an exhibition at the Centre d’Art in Citadines.

“In the midst of the mountains, unable to hold onto their stillness, I was swept away. Only Silence remained. Tracing silhouettes of mountains became the mantra of my hands.”

The images on this page are from experimental photography classes from Future School and from Analogue Photography Workshops at Centre d’Art, Citadines.

In early February, Ashwin Ezhumalai presented his photos of the Himalayas at an exhibition in Citadines Centre d’Art. Taken over six years during different treks with other Aurovilians in rarely visited valleys and passes in Himachal Pradesh, they capture the different aspects of this stark yet magical high altitude landscape: deep valleys, rock-strewn glaciers, grassy uplands, sacred lakes, immense starscapes, and stunning snow-capped mountains playing hide-and-seek with clouds.

Robert L’Heureux’s last glass works exhibition from January 7 marks the swansong of his career as a glass worker. Eleven large pieces, some well over a yard in diameter, were shown in Centre d’Art for two weeks.

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.

Auroville’s Centre d’Art in Citadines hosted two photography exhibitions concurrently in October, with photographs by Auroville’s Eric Chacra and Chennai-based photographer Arun.

One year ago, people searching YouTube for videos about Auroville would have noticed that many of the items that first showed up were produced by people who had visited Auroville for only a few days.

The second edition of the Art Camp took place in Auroville from 20 to 27 March. For a week, twenty artists from the community and all over India had the opportunity to work together in the quiet atmosphere of the Tibetan Pavilion.

What do we write about the giant works of a ‘giant’ of ceramics – one who exhibits seldom and writes about his work even more seldom? Ray Meeker’s recent exhibition at the Centre d’Art at Citadines gives us the rare opportunity to reflect on the artwork of a pioneer artist and a man who has constructed innovative buildings in Auroville.

It is 2030, and over the past months, ten strange objects that seem to have emerged straight from the past have been found in Auroville. Miraculously reclaimed from the depths of old, forgotten cupboards and reappearing in the most unlikely of places, they are submitted to deep scientific scrutiny with surprising results.

The Centre d’Art, Citadines, put on an exhibition by Jyoti of a series of works entitled ‘Anima’ in which he explored the material and immaterial dimensions of a simple water pot, culminating in images of lotuses.

Ten years of creating art from premium waste.

“People who come here are very touched, they feel a quality of silence.” The artist, Chantal, is talking about “On the Way to Supermanhood”, an exhibition held at Citadines in February based upon Satprem’s book of the same name.

From 4 to 14 February there was a photo exhibition at Citadines “And the adventure begins ...”in homage to Dominique Darr. Dominique was selecting the photos for her exhibition in December when she passed away on the 25th.

The month of February is culture month par excellence. Auroville Today selected three performances and one exhibition for a brief review - acknowledging that many other events deserved to be reviewed as well.

Dominique Darr left her body on December 25th in her apartment in Citadine at the age of 84. The cause of death, most probably, was diabetic coma.

The Mother once described Sri Aurobindo as having “a face from eternity”. That same quality of deep spiritual timelessness pervades many of the photographs in Aurovilian Olivier Barot’s photo exhibition that premiered on 4th August in the new Kalinka Gallery in Pondicherry.