Visitors Centre

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.

The Auroville Visitors Centre is Auroville’s reception and information disseminating centre for the often thousands of tourists and visitors coming to Auroville daily.

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.

A two hour twenty minutes documentary ‘Sri Aurobindo and The Earth’s Future’ will be released on YouTube on August 15, 2023 at 4:30 am Indian time, the hour Sri Aurobindo was born in 1872.

On May 27th, Bharat Nivas inaugurated Ekattva Maarg [meaning Discovery Path], a Unity Path to discover Auroville. The pathway comprises the loop that starts at the Visitors Centre and passes through Bharat Nivas, Unity Pavilion, Savitri Bhavan, the Matrimandir Viewing point and ends at the Visitors Centre.

Between 2nd February – 22nd March a festival focussed on stewardship for water and biodiversity is taking place as a call to action in the bioregion.

Hundreds of visitors and Aurovilians visited the 3-day Auroville International Potters Market held at the Visitors’ Centre from January 24-26.

Over the decades, Auroville has been a fertile hatching ground for many experiments and visionary projects, and this incubatory spirit sometimes goes hand-in-hand with the spark of romance.

Marc’s Coffee responds to the challenges of a pandemic.

When the lockdown started across India in late March, economic activity ground to a halt in Auroville, and individuals, commercial units, and community services had to take a rigorous look at their expenses to see how they would survive.

Tsunamika, the colourful cloth doll representing post-tsunami renewal, returns in a new avatar. She has now grown into the voice of the oceans, urging us to protect our seas and, ultimately, ourselves.

As the Auroville community concludes its 50th anniversary year, the Auroville Earth Institute is looking ahead towards its own 30th anniversary milestone in August.

The article on Managing Tourism that appeared in Auroville Today # 354 of January 2019 contains an erroneous income figure from the Visitors’ Centre Parking.

For six days in early January there was a collaborative planning workshop or charrette involving over 60 Aurovilians and visiting experts. The stated aim of Auroville - A Way Forward was to “bring the purpose of Auroville into our life, built environment and organization’.

The community has no policy regarding how to handle tourism. Recently, visiting students studied the situation and made some recommendations.

Professor Ajay Agarwal was the supervisor of this year’s group of graduate students from Queen’s University, Canada. He initiated the original programme six years ago and since then has accompanied five groups of graduate students to do research on different topics in Auroville.

Tourism in Auroville has increased considerably over the years. What is its impact upon the community? Does it help or harm us? Should it be controlled and, if so, how?

The occasion was celebrated with song, dance and poetry from around Europe

For many years, Auroviians and guests have suffered from Auroville’s dusty roads. This will now change. The Neyveli Lignite Corporation has made a donation to the value of Rs 1.1 crore from its Corporate Social Responsibility funds for making the access road in front of the Visitors’ Centre.

Auroville’s Galaxy Plan is marked by so-called ‘Lines of Force’, long building structures. The Line of Goodwill is a project to build the longest Line of Force of the Galaxy Plan, which extends from the outer ring road near the Visitors Centre parking to the edge of the planned Matrimandir Lake.

People greatly appreciate Kireet for continuing the work that had been started by pioneering greenbelters. Greenbelters continue to improve water conservation in the lands that they steward and with the funds they have.

Chandresh, one of the founders of the Electric Vehicle Service group, talks about Auroville’s mobility issues, the failed and successful attempts to move Auroville towards smart mobility, and the future prospects.

On April 01, 2009, John, Elumalai, Pierre and Srimoyi took charge as executives of the Matrimandir. On July 31st, after more than 8 years of dedicated service, their term of office is coming to an end.

Through an organization called ‘Art Therapy without Borders’ and with other numerous partners in this adventure, Krupa uses art therapy as a remedial experience.

A key highlight of the Litter Free Auroville celebrations has long been the Trashion Show, and this year was no different. A beyond full-capacity crowd at the Visitor’s Centre witnessed an incredible display of beautiful and creative fashion designs made out of trash.

Higher education and learning opportunities have been on the minds of many groups such as the Centre for International Research on Human Unity (CIRHU), Auroville Campus Initiative (ACI), Auroville Consulting, and Youth Link, all of which have focused on linking learners with a myriad of existing resources within the community.

Recently, a group of Aurovilians concerned about the direction of our economy discussed alternatives. Anandi is part of the management team of Pour Tous Distribution Centre, Jocelyn is on the Santé team, Nicole is a member of the BCC and management of the Visitors Center, Isha coordinates the Auroville Board of Services, and Manohar is the webmaster of the Auroville website.

Gora, an awakened Indian mystic, was a potter. When his disciples grew in numbers and included kings and nobles, they told him to stop his pottery work as it was not appropriate for a master.

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.

Nicole, who has been part of the management team for the past 15 years talks about the function and challenges of running the Auroville Visitors’ Center.

Aurovilian of the first hour, Toshi (Santosh) Malik, wife of late Prem Malik, left her body on June 20th after a year’s illness in New Delhi.