70 artists to create works representing years of India's Independence

Spend your Holi weekend in the lap of nature, watching 70 artists create masterpieces representing the years of India's Independence

Painting by KN Ramachandran on display at APPA Art Fest 2016

This year marks 70 years since India's Independence from the British Empire. And what better way to celebrate this milestone than with art?

Teddy Maurya

This weekend at the APPA Art Fest, you can watch 70 artists create artwork dedicated and inspired by each of these post-Independence years. "The artists will explore the timeline from 1947 to 2017, with each one of them representing a particular year," says Karthikeyan Ramachandran, graphic designer and founder of the art fest.

"Poetry, singing, digital art, even possibly robotics are art forms that will be on display. The aim of the festival is to be a place where people can come, collaborate, brainstorm and create something new and exciting," he adds.

Safeguarding Traditions

The setting of the five-day festival is a two-acre property in the picturesque hill station of Kamshet. Expect to find seven exhibitions, seven workshops, and a creative arena where the artists will create their masterpieces. The workshops are on behavioural change, poetry and Hip Hop, mime, woodcutting, sound making and video feedback. The meals will be a mix of simple, homely Maharashtrian fare with a hint of South Indian dishes, innovatively named Salvador Thali, Jackson Pallack and North Thali.

Mayur Narvekar, Bandish Projekt

This edition will see a mix of Indian and British artists and artistes, including Ambaji, Vivek Rajgopalan, True Amy, Global Face & Logic (People's Army), Arun Kulkarni, and Bobby Friction. "We want to include one country at a time. This time, with the 70-year-connect, the UK was the obvious choice. We asked participating artists to pick one year, and their piece of work will be themed around the chosen year," he adds. So, artist Kunal Naik will connect the Pokhran blasts of 1974 to a Buddha (the assigned code name for the nuclear bomb test was smiling Buddha), juxtaposing a subject of peace with one of mass destruction.

A 60 feet painting of renowned late artist KN Ramachandran at APPA Art Fest 2016

Art director Teddy Maurya chose 1966, the year Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. By inverting the digits, he has connected this 'anti-gravity' mission with 1666 — the year in which Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity. His performance will be about everything that happened between these two events.

Karthikeyan Ramachandran

The APPA Art Fest began last year as a tribute to Ramachandran's father, the late artist KN Ramachandran. "My dad and I used to talk about having a national art fest. We would co-create a lot. One piece we worked on together featured a painting of his, of a woman dressed in a silk saree and carrying a puja thali.

I had just seen the Transformers movie so thought of adding a bodyguard behind her and calling it 'Safeguarding Traditions," he says, adding that this collaborative piece will be on display at the fest.

The festival is free for art and architecture students. Provisions have been made for food and accommodation.

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