First Art Festival of IITGN

As much as ART@IITGN believes in expression and exploration, competition has never been part of the agenda.The intention is to take arts to each and every possible soul in the campus and let them find their voice over time “Art should comfort the disturbedanddisturbthecomfortable'' these are the words of Artist Banksy which is a truth stood by the ever changing society. ART@IITGN has provided some landmark activities for the community to have a taste of variousartformsandthefirsteverweek long Art Festival at IIT Gandhinagar was organized in the month of August 2022 The festival was lined up with variouseventslikePhadperformance, Samvaad with Artists, documentary screening, Phad painting workshop with mural painting, Kachhi-Ghodi & Kathputali performances, theater workshop, puppet making workshop and Chendamelam performance

Eminent artist Shri Kalyan Joshi did a workshop on Phad painting and also created a mural in Academic block 7 along with the participants. Human dexterity and cognition states the importance of using hands in increasingly sophisticated ways to feel, explore, grasp, and manipulate objects. Understanding a core scientific concept, activities like wood block printing on textile and puppet making workshops were part of the festival. Students and the community members made their own designs with the help of the artists and have taken their samples as souvenirs. The participants were very happy and had their first experience of seeing traditionalartperformances

IITGN Comic Conclave

Comic Conclave hosted by IITGN duringthemonthofJanuary2023wasa prototypical and pivotal event in the ART@IITGNjourney

Comic Conclave gave a fresh perspective about the possibilities of introducing a different approach to scientific communication because Comics are always perceived to be used as a medium for moral high ground or children story telling ART@IITGN alongside Argha Manna, the artist in residence in the HSS department, brought together top comicartistsofIndiatodisseminatethe usage of comics as a language for social and scientific communication. The Conclave consisted of several panel discussions, presentations by comicartistsandanexhibitionofworks ofcomicartistsandtheirstudents The exhibition also featured prints of original sketch works of the legendary film director Satyajit Ray at the exhibition titled “Low Art”.The grand Comic Conclave concluded with a celebration at the art spaces with a vibrantmusicaleveningperformedand driven by the artists from the campus and outside. Merchandise from ART@IITGN like postcards and mugs were rolled out for sales along with the books created by the authors of Comic Conclave.TheConclavewasattended byparticipantsfromacrossIndia

Graffiti Overnight is a grandeur art concept of free-flowing & unrestricted expressions envisioned by ART@IITGN. The IITGN Community was encouraged to come up with their own concepts & ideas and further facilitated by the creativeresourceteamfromthe campus. The premiere of Graffiti overnight featuring the community and students was an overnight event for 2 nights during the month of November 2022 was a celebration with painting, music and dancing. The event also accommodated walk-in participants and we found that on the spot participation was higher in the overnight art exploration. The concepts for the Graffiti Overnight varied from interpretation of human emotions to Vincent Van Gogh inspired flowers. These walls were painted by a bunch of people who had never painted before and the entire process was facilitated and curated by ART@IITGN.

Art & Uncomfortable Ideas

Art and Uncomfortable Ideas was the exhibition curated to understand the comfort and the discomfort of the viewers The exhibition displayed prints of artworks from Graffiti Overnight and photographs by Palani Kumar. Students conveyed their emotionsconnectedwiththeGraffitiArt which they had created and felt heard seeing the exhibition ‘Art & Uncomfortable Ideas’ They were very happy to see their work preserved digitallyandalsourgedtohaveanopen dialogueaboutthedecisiontoclearthe graffiti without the artists and curators' concern Printed Postcard set were created of the painted wall art of the graffiti overnight participants and kept asapartofthemerchandise.

IITGN Theatre & Performing Art Festival

Amonth-longTheatre&PerformingArt Festival (TaPAF) was organized by ART@IITGN during February 2023 with the focus on theater and performances Various artists and groups performed their mesmerizing work which includes street play, street opera, Kathak, one person act, drama and more. The IITGN community was soaked with the various aspects of theater art and few students were part of it Prof Jaison Manjaly concluded TaPAF with a talk titled “Artificial IntelligenceandFutureofArt”

Bhaumya - threshold, the tribal art exhibition

ART@IITGN had its first collaboration with IGNCA (Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts) regional center Vadodaraforexhibitingthepaintingsof Padma awardee women tribal artists. 50 original Bhil and Gond paintings, one of the oldest tribal visual art forms ofMadhyaPradesh,wereboughtoutof the Madhya Pradesh tribal museum from Bhopal for the first time. When contemporary visual art was understood and appreciated, this exhibitiongaveafreshairfortheIITGN communityabouttheorganicsketches of the unconventional. The tribal art form was introduced and well received by everyone and alongside the exhibition,postcardpaintingwasdone by visitors taking inspiration from the displayedpaintings.