Quiz Art should be free of pol interference:Aut

2 Where would you be if you were standing on the Spanish Steps?

3 Who was the Ancient Greek God of the Sun?

4 What country drinks the most coffee per capita?

5 What European country experienced the highest rate of population decline from 2015 - 2020?

6 In which century did Portuguese merchants land in Goa?

7 Which state is also known as the “fruit bowl” of India?

8 Which is India’s largest biosphere reserve?

9 Which state has the title of ‘Scotland of the East’ in India?

10 What was the newspaper started by Annie Besant called?

Answers on page 4

Around the city

Sufiyaan - Konya Turkish Sufi music - February 5 sunday at Prestige Srihari Khoday Centre Silver Oak Plantation, Anjanadri Layout, Konanakunte

Samyog - Art Science GalleryFebruary 4 and 5 at Yuvapatha

4th Block, Jayanagar, Salaam Souk - The Road to Samarkand - February 10 - 12 at Shankaraa foundation, Doddakalsandra Main Road, Bengaluru

By Siddhi Chauhan

Art, a channel earlier used as a way of expression, is now muzzled by politics

Leonardo da Vinci called art

“The queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world” But the present scenario is contrary

In 2015, more than 40 Indian writers returned their literary awards in protest against the murder of Dr Malleshappa Kalburgi He had offended a powerful group, which led to his murder In a similar incident in 2015, Govind Pansare, a CPI functionary, author and lawyer, was shot dead in Pune

Mohua Chinnappa, author and podcaster of The Mohua Show said: “Political interruption is never healthy for any piece of art Art should be devoid of politics and religion Artists must be given freedom; we are yet to see that in India ”

Asked about the challenges that contemporary writers face, she said: “Misinterpretation of a piece of art is not something new I always believe that the minute there is a conversation around art, something worthwhile is ruined and any sort of conversation or counter-argument will only hurt the art world in the future ”

Moyeen VN, a Bengaluru-based author, informed The Observer: " Interruptions can be both good and bad… Artists should be supported, because without freedom of speech, originality will be lost in the art creted and the readers will end up reading a similar kind of work over and over "

Asked about how misconceptions about a work affect the reader's behaviour Moyeen said: “Readers should not believe in misconceptions as it will be like believing in someone telling you not to enter inside your house because a bomb has been planted there… Even if someone says that a book is controversial, a person should at least have a look at the book in order to find out what is wrong with it Only then will you be able to understand the difference between right and wrong otherwise you will consider every misconception to be true. Without testing the water, you can never tell if it is cold, right?"

In order to check the effect of misconception on a reader's mind, The Observer asked some of the readers about their opinion about controversial books

Akash A K , an avid reader, shared: “I have read many such books This is why I believe that a book or a piece of art should be given an open audience because even if the idea is controversial or unpopular, it needs an understanding in order to counter it Also, I think the interpretation should be left to the reader even if there's a threat of being misunderstood or misinterpreted, and only after reading, should a book be judged ”

Indrani R, another book reader, shared: “I read a controversial book by Rabindranath Tagore, The Home and the World…. After reading it, I realised that any creation in any form of art should not be allowed to be judged by a nodal authority because there is a possibility of it being misjudged due to biases ”

In 2015, the Supreme Court scrapped Section 66A of the Information Technology Act 324 cases were filed under sedition law between 2014 - 2019 Read the full story on www.theweeklyobserver in