The Biennale Lights Up Bengal
The first chapter of the Bengal Biennale has been unveiled at Tagore's beloved Shantiniketan in West Bengal. Spread across multiple venues in Shantiniketan, including gallery spaces and installations set up in the open in the neighbourhood, the Biennale has transformed this historic home of art and culture into a space that nudges one to slow down and immerse oneself in works by both veteran artists and upcoming ones. The Bengal Biennale, a venture that has been a topic of much discussion recently, is the first of its kind in the state. Artists and art lovers from all walks of life have come together to democratise and celebrate the power of art at the venue. From singer and composer Shubha Mudgal's curtain raiser performance to Mithu Sen's work on the Ol Chiki script, the stories and dreams woven in Kantha by local women artisans (conceived by the artists of GABAA ), a retrospective of the Bengali actress Arundhuti Debi , Nikhil Chopra's live performance that uses the body as self-expressive canvas which he processes into a charcoal painting, the celebration of the culture of the Baul's—a community whose teachings are synonymous with Bengal by Eva Zanettin and Raghav Pasricha, Devdutt Pattanaik's sketches on myths of the world, and Mahesh K.S!'s dancing fans, and more, the Bengal Biennale offers a diverse range of stories for all.
