The last part of the project took place in Tiruvannamalai, India from 25th August to 3rd September 2016. Children who participated in the workshops had the opportunity to co-create the exhibition using the fabrics Botanical_India, Poland. The effects and course of the project and the exhibition were broadcast live in social media.
In India, due to the climate, cultural life concentrates in the last months of the year. Therefore, another three key projects organised by Culture.pl will be held in this country in November:
On 2nd November 2016, the Auditorium of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kolkata will host the premiere of the performance There Is No Fear directed by Łukasz Chotkowski. The show, which is a fusion of Polish and Indian sensitivities, brings up the topic of the difficult fate of Hindu wives after their husbands' death. The documention for the project was made during the interviews and workshops with widows conducted by playwright Magda Fertacz and theatre director Łukasz Chotkowski in the ashram run by the non-governmental organization Maitri (one of the project partners). The first presentation of the text took place in 2015 at the Sopot Non Fiction festival, and the performative reading of the play was held at the Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw, where performance will be staged in December 2016. The show is co-produced by the Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw, Culture.pl and Kasba Arghya Theatre of Kolkata.
On 25th November 2016, the exhibition of Polish contemporary art Absurd - Nonsense - Oxymoron will be opened in Bangalore. The exhibition will present the work of 12 artists: Hubert Czerepok, Wojciech Dada and Rafał Jakubowicz, Maurycy Gomulicki, Artur (Arti) Grabowski, Leszek Knaflewski, Kamil Kuskowski, Krzysztof KED Olszewski, Aleksandra Ska, Katarzyna Szeszycka, Zbigniew Taszycki and Mariusz Waras. The exhibition, curated by professor Bartłomiej Otocki, was prepared by the 13 Muz Club Cultural Centre from Szczecin and will be presented until 23rd December 2016 at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parisath Art Centre. The curator profesor Bartłomiej Otocki says:
The project (...) aims at presenting the works of Polish visual artists in India and Indian artists in Poland. Both events, independently curated, will give the audience an opportunity to learn about the achievements of outstanding visual artists, photographers and filmmakers. A variety of works will be presented: video-art, performance, short feature films and photographs. Moreover, workshops conducted by the invited guests are also planned.
Curator of the future 'revisit' of Indian artists in Szczecin will be Umesh Maddanahalli, who is also involved in the upcoming presentation of Polish art in Bangalore.
Between 24th November and 18th December 2016, the Saagara ensemble will embark on another concert tour, this time visiting seven cities in India. The project is the result of cooperation between Polish multi-instrumentalist Wacław Zimpel and five virtuosos of southern India: Giridhar Udupa, Mysore N. Karthik, Bharghava Halambi and K. Raja. Saagara combines the ancient Indian Carnatic music, with its sophisticated rhythmic and melodic system, and European traditions - composed music, derived from classical music, and improvised music, which draws inspiration from the jazz tradition. The band's repertoire include both Carnatic pieces and the musicians' original compositions. They are based on the taals, traditional Indian rhythm patterns, combined with western melodics, mingled with the raga system and Indian scales. Culture.pl has been supporting the Saagara ensemble for two years. In 2015 the band released a CD album and held a successful tour in Poland and Ukraine.
Programme of the 2016 tour:
24th November 2016 - Bengaluru Karunashraya Cancer Center
25th November 2016 - Bengaluru Karnataka Chitrakala Parisath
29th November 2016 - Mangalore Town Hall
10th December 2016 - Bengaluru Blue Note
18th December 2016 - Mysore Rama Anjaneya Temple
(Dates of concerts to be confirmed: Delhi Stein Auditorium, Mumbai NCPA)
Culture.pl in East Asia
In East Asia this autmn will be, above all, the season of Polish theatre and music, which has been steadily growing in popularity over the few past seasons, attracting crowds of viewers, representatives of artistic circles and journalists. But the activities of Culture.pl are by no means limited to these two areas. From 2nd September to 6th November 2016, the Korean city of Gwangju hosts one of the most important artistic events in the region - Gwangju Biennale, where the work of two Polish artists: Iza Tarasiewicz and Agnieszka Polska will be presented for the first time. The exhibition is the result of the study visit of this year's Biennale artistic director Maria Lind in Poland in 2016. From 9th to 20th September 2016 the famous 3331 Arts Chiyoda are centre in Tokyo will present Polish graphic design exhibition Eye on Poland. The exhibition, created by Magdalena and Artur Frankowski of the Fontarte studio, presents the most interesting posters, books, exhibition catalogues, CD and vinyl record covers and other prints of the past few years. For over a year, Eye on Poland has been presented in several cities in Japan, Korea and India, and due to the great interest of the audiences, subsequent editions of the project in these countries are planned in the nearest months. The project is carried out in cooperation with Polish Institutes in Tokyo and New Delhi and the Korea Foundation.