Look to the past to gain guidance into the future. That’s what Kanta Kochhar, an Indian American dance artiste and scholar, hopes Malayalis will achieve via this upcoming two-day event which focusses on Kerala’s traditional art forms namely Kalaripayattu, Daveli, and Kuttiyattam. But, how exactly does revitalising and honouring a myriad of past heritages, surrounding folk and classical performance forms, help the next generation?
The Fulbright-Nehru Senior Scholar—who is co-facilitating the symposium alongside K K Gopalakrishnan, the former director of the Kuttiyattam Kendra—explains that the programme will engage audiences via talks, performances, exhibits, and film screenings with a special focus on the aforementioned vernacular art forms.
Future perfect
“Titled Culture Heritage and Our Future Cities, this showcase is a culmination of six months of research. The idea is to start a dialogue encompassing our past heritage and find ways to draw parallels from it to our present identity. Besides hosting brainstorming sessions, presenting talks, and showing in-house documentaries on the subject, we will also showcase a thought-provoking art installation,” says Kochhar. This sculpture-oriented, video-based immersive installation attempts to show visitors how the gap between past and future can be bridged using new-media technologies like motion capture and sensors.
A long-term objective of the endeavour is to create a research/performance network where practising artistes can work hand-in-hand with scholars. Kochhar also hopes to address the lack of accessible spaces/venues where such art forms can thrive across South India and to promote cross-cultural understanding with the larger international community.
`250. On April 21-22.
At Kerala Museum.
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