Monday 19 January 2026

• 19:00 | Birds Of Puducherry 1.0 (India, 2025, Dir. Gopinath Mounissamy, 7min, NR G) Showcasing the beauty of birds around Puducherry to convey a message against littering in nature.
• 19:07 | Patrol (Nicaragua, 2023, Dir. Camilo de Castro w/ Brad Allgood, 80min, NR R) Indigenous rangers join forces with conservationists to expose the dark world of “conflict beef” decimating rainforests.
• 20:09 | Sound Of A Land (India, 2025, Dir. Yoni Vell, 14min, NR R) A personal documentary about the inner state of being a hunted Jew, shaped by history and memory. Produced by Auroville Film Institute.
• 20:23 | Conversations/Baatein (India, 2024, Dir. Ravikiran Rangaswamy, 5min, NR G) A reflection on the power of love and language between two young children.
• 20:27 | In Ultimo (Italy, 2023, Dir. Mario Balsamo, 66min, NR R) The story of a palliative care physician whose devotion to gardening parallels his work with the terminally ill.
• 21:34 | Last Drop (India, 2024, Dir. Jeremy Carroll, 8min, NR G) In a drought-stricken land, a man embarks on a journey to find the last remaining water source.

Tuesday 20 January 2026

• 19:00 | Notes For The Self (India, 2025, Dir. Jahnavi Pradeep, 11min, NR G) A portrait of the filmmaker’s mother and herself. Produced by Auroville Film Institute.
• 19:10 | Invisible Windows/Adrishya Jalakangal (India, 2023, Dir. Bijukumar Damodaran, 130min, NR R) Released from an asylum, a night watchman at a morgue begins experiencing strange things.

Wednesday 21 January, 2026

• 19:00 | Where is Humanity?/எங்கே மனிதநேயம்? (India, 2024, Dir. Magheshwar Kumaran, 6min, NR G) A vlogger visiting Auroville finds his curiosity captured by a quiet woman.
• 19:05 | ECM 2024 (India, 2024, Dir. Nefertiti Chakrabarti, 4min, NR G) Highlights the Endangered Craft Mela, an educational program celebrating the dignity of craftsmanship.
• 19:09 | Nature is Almighty/இயற்கை பெரியவன் (India, 2024, Dir. Nandha Kumar, 11min, NR R) A young man, consumed by rage, commits an uncontrollable act of fury.
• 19:20 | Food Pills (India, 2024, Dir. Jeremy Carroll, 9min, NR R) A look at how those who depleted our resources now control our food and lives. Selected for the Street Movies Festival.
• 19:30 | Free Words: A Poet From Ghaza (Egypt-Netherlands-Falasteen-Turkey, 2024, Dir. Abdullah Harun Ilhan, 23min, NR R) Follows Pulitzer-winner Mosab Abu Toha, whose art becomes a voice of resistance.
• 19:54 | Connection (Bailanysh)/Байланыш (Kyrgyzstan, 2024, Dir. Jandos Djoldoshov, 30min, NR R) A grandson’s arrival for a funeral in a mountain village creates unexpected tension.
• 20:24 | The Companions/La Compañía (Spain, 2024, Dir. José María Flores, 12min, NR R) A couple on their way to dinner encounters a crowd gathered around a mysterious event.
• 20:36 | Garbage/Mycop (India, 2024, Dir. Anna-Maria Bakhtiarova, 13min, NR R) The harsh realities of consumer society in Auroville and Pondicherry seen through the eyes of workers.
• 20:48 | A Land Beyond The Mountains (India, 2025, Dir. Smiti, 8min, NR G) A reflection on happiness while traveling through Bhutan.
• 20:56 | New Best Friends (India, 2025, Dir. Birgitta Volz, 3min, NR G) An unconventional perspective on recovery following a leg operation.
• 20:59 | The Matrimandir & I, Episode 1: Four People From Four Corners Of The World. One Connection. (India, 2025, Dir. Serena Aurora, 8min, NR G) Four Aurovilians speak about their personal experiences with the Matrimandir.
• 21:07 | Auroville: The City Of The Future (Russia-India, 2023, Dir. Anna-Maria Bakhtiarova, 13min, NR G) A film about restoring ecological balance in south India, nominated at the Yalta Film Festival.
• 21:20 | Water in the Mountains/Pahadon Mei Paani (India, 2025, Dir. Karthik K, 12min, NR G) The story of installing a solar pump at 13,000 feet in the Spiti Valley.

Thursday 22 January, 2026

• 19:00 | Cricket Dreams (India-Netherlands, 2025, Dir. Jamillah van der Hulst, 77min, NR G) Nine former street children from Delhi compete in the Street Child Cricket World Cup in Chennai.
• 20:17 | One Side Of The Road (India, 2024, Dir. Jalil Nordman, 88min, NR G) A road in Tamil Nadu serves as a frontier between emancipation and subordination for local villagers.

Friday 23 January, 2026

• 19:00 | Puffling (UK-Iceland, 2023, Dir. Jessica Bishopp, 20min, NR G) Two teenagers rescue young puffins on a remote island, exploring youth action in environmental issues.
• 19:20 | Dear Daughter (2023, 13min, NR R) A young woman tells her story of being trafficked and sold into marriage.
• 19:33 | How Would One Know If One Forgets Something (India, 2025, Dir. Karthik Sreenivasan w/ Sai Krishna, Stanzin Angdu, 9min, NR G) Traces memory and the passage of time in the landscape of Ladakh. Produced by Auroville Film Institute.
• 19:42 | Kooli Koduthu Sooniyam (India, 2023, Dir. Yatra Srinivassan, 9min, NR PG-15) A tale of a family torn apart by addiction and their subsequent resilience.
• 19:51 | You Lift on a Stroke, There Is A Dog Shelter (India, 2025, Dir. Donny Lee Duke, 17min, NR G) A video-poem about the Auroville Dog Shelter and its place within the community’s aims.
• 20:08 | Hausnummer Null (Germany, 2025, Dir. Lilith Kugler, 95min, NR R) Explores a young man’s struggle to find his place in society after never fitting in.

Saturday 24 January, 2026

• 19:00 | Purga (Lithuania, 2024, Dir. Gintarė Valevičiūtė Brazauskienė w/ Antanas Skučas, 13min, NR R) Based on true memories of deported people struggling to survive in the Arctic Circle in 1942.
• 19:13 | Agent of Happiness (Bhutan, 2024, Dir. Arun Bhattarai w/ Dorottya Zurbo, 94min, NR R) Amber travels the mountains measuring happiness for the Bhutanese government while searching for his own.
• 20:47 | In The Light Of Time (India, 2025, Dir. Jahnavi Pradeep w/ Amogh Chauhan, 12min, NR G) Centred on prehistoric rock art, exploring how the past informs our need to create for the future. Produced by Auroville Film Institute.
• 20:59 | The Voice Of Others/La Voix Des Autres (France, 2023, Dir. Fatima Kaci, 30min, NR R) A Tunisian interpreter in France faces her own history while translating the stories of exiled people.

Sunday 25 January, 2026

• 19:00 | A Few of the Winning Films

Monday 19 January 2026

• 19:00 | Birds Of Puducherry 1.0 (India, 2025, Dir. Gopinath Mounissamy, 7min, NR G) Showcasing the beauty of birds around Puducherry to convey a message against littering in nature.
• 19:07 | Patrol (Nicaragua, 2023, Dir. Camilo de Castro w/ Brad Allgood, 80min, NR R) Indigenous rangers join forces with conservationists to expose the dark world of “conflict beef” decimating rainforests.
• 20:09 | Sound Of A Land (India, 2025, Dir. Yoni Vell, 14min, NR R) A personal documentary about the inner state of being a hunted Jew, shaped by history and memory. Produced by Auroville Film Institute.
• 20:23 | Conversations/Baatein (India, 2024, Dir. Ravikiran Rangaswamy, 5min, NR G) A reflection on the power of love and language between two young children.
• 20:27 | In Ultimo (Italy, 2023, Dir. Mario Balsamo, 66min, NR R) The story of a palliative care physician whose devotion to gardening parallels his work with the terminally ill.
• 21:34 | Last Drop (India, 2024, Dir. Jeremy Carroll, 8min, NR G) In a drought-stricken land, a man embarks on a journey to find the last remaining water source.

Tuesday 20 January 2026

• 19:00 | Notes For The Self (India, 2025, Dir. Jahnavi Pradeep, 11min, NR G) A portrait of the filmmaker’s mother and herself. Produced by Auroville Film Institute.
• 19:10 | Invisible Windows/Adrishya Jalakangal (India, 2023, Dir. Bijukumar Damodaran, 130min, NR R) Released from an asylum, a night watchman at a morgue begins experiencing strange things.

Wednesday 21 January, 2026

• 19:00 | Where is Humanity?/எங்கே மனிதநேயம்? (India, 2024, Dir. Magheshwar Kumaran, 6min, NR G) A vlogger visiting Auroville finds his curiosity captured by a quiet woman.
• 19:05 | ECM 2024 (India, 2024, Dir. Nefertiti Chakrabarti, 4min, NR G) Highlights the Endangered Craft Mela, an educational program celebrating the dignity of craftsmanship.
• 19:09 | Nature is Almighty/இயற்கை பெரியவன் (India, 2024, Dir. Nandha Kumar, 11min, NR R) A young man, consumed by rage, commits an uncontrollable act of fury.
• 19:20 | Food Pills (India, 2024, Dir. Jeremy Carroll, 9min, NR R) A look at how those who depleted our resources now control our food and lives. Selected for the Street Movies Festival.
• 19:30 | Free Words: A Poet From Ghaza (Egypt-Netherlands-Falasteen-Turkey, 2024, Dir. Abdullah Harun Ilhan, 23min, NR R) Follows Pulitzer-winner Mosab Abu Toha, whose art becomes a voice of resistance.
• 19:54 | Connection (Bailanysh)/Байланыш (Kyrgyzstan, 2024, Dir. Jandos Djoldoshov, 30min, NR R) A grandson’s arrival for a funeral in a mountain village creates unexpected tension.
• 20:24 | The Companions/La Compañía (Spain, 2024, Dir. José María Flores, 12min, NR R) A couple on their way to dinner encounters a crowd gathered around a mysterious event.
• 20:36 | Garbage/Mycop (India, 2024, Dir. Anna-Maria Bakhtiarova, 13min, NR R) The harsh realities of consumer society in Auroville and Pondicherry seen through the eyes of workers.
• 20:48 | A Land Beyond The Mountains (India, 2025, Dir. Smiti, 8min, NR G) A reflection on happiness while traveling through Bhutan.
• 20:56 | New Best Friends (India, 2025, Dir. Birgitta Volz, 3min, NR G) An unconventional perspective on recovery following a leg operation.
• 20:59 | The Matrimandir & I, Episode 1: Four People From Four Corners Of The World. One Connection. (India, 2025, Dir. Serena Aurora, 8min, NR G) Four Aurovilians speak about their personal experiences with the Matrimandir.
• 21:07 | Auroville: The City Of The Future (Russia-India, 2023, Dir. Anna-Maria Bakhtiarova, 13min, NR G) A film about restoring ecological balance in south India, nominated at the Yalta Film Festival.
• 21:20 | Water in the Mountains/Pahadon Mei Paani (India, 2025, Dir. Karthik K, 12min, NR G) The story of installing a solar pump at 13,000 feet in the Spiti Valley.

Thursday 22 January, 2026

• 19:00 | Cricket Dreams (India-Netherlands, 2025, Dir. Jamillah van der Hulst, 77min, NR G) Nine former street children from Delhi compete in the Street Child Cricket World Cup in Chennai.
• 20:17 | One Side Of The Road (India, 2024, Dir. Jalil Nordman, 88min, NR G) A road in Tamil Nadu serves as a frontier between emancipation and subordination for local villagers.

Friday 23 January, 2026

• 19:00 | Puffling (UK-Iceland, 2023, Dir. Jessica Bishopp, 20min, NR G) Two teenagers rescue young puffins on a remote island, exploring youth action in environmental issues.
• 19:20 | Dear Daughter (2023, 13min, NR R) A young woman tells her story of being trafficked and sold into marriage.
• 19:33 | How Would One Know If One Forgets Something (India, 2025, Dir. Karthik Sreenivasan w/ Sai Krishna, Stanzin Angdu, 9min, NR G) Traces memory and the passage of time in the landscape of Ladakh. Produced by Auroville Film Institute.
• 19:42 | Kooli Koduthu Sooniyam (India, 2023, Dir. Yatra Srinivassan, 9min, NR PG-15) A tale of a family torn apart by addiction and their subsequent resilience.
• 19:51 | You Lift on a Stroke, There Is A Dog Shelter (India, 2025, Dir. Donny Lee Duke, 17min, NR G) A video-poem about the Auroville Dog Shelter and its place within the community’s aims.
• 20:08 | Hausnummer Null (Germany, 2025, Dir. Lilith Kugler, 95min, NR R) Explores a young man’s struggle to find his place in society after never fitting in.

Saturday 24 January, 2026

• 19:00 | Purga (Lithuania, 2024, Dir. Gintarė Valevičiūtė Brazauskienė w/ Antanas Skučas, 13min, NR R) Based on true memories of deported people struggling to survive in the Arctic Circle in 1942.
• 19:13 | Agent of Happiness (Bhutan, 2024, Dir. Arun Bhattarai w/ Dorottya Zurbo, 94min, NR R) Amber travels the mountains measuring happiness for the Bhutanese government while searching for his own.
• 20:47 | In The Light Of Time (India, 2025, Dir. Jahnavi Pradeep w/ Amogh Chauhan, 12min, NR G) Centred on prehistoric rock art, exploring how the past informs our need to create for the future. Produced by Auroville Film Institute.
• 20:59 | The Voice Of Others/La Voix Des Autres (France, 2023, Dir. Fatima Kaci, 30min, NR R) A Tunisian interpreter in France faces her own history while translating the stories of exiled people.

Sunday 25 January, 2026

• 19:00 | A Few of the Winning Films

Experienced teacher

Simonetta Alessandri

Over 30 years of teaching experience

open to beginners

7,8,9 January

8:45 am to 11 / 1 pm to 4 pm

info & registration

aurovilleartworld@gmail.com

Discovering Inner Awareness through Contact Improvisation & Feldenkrais

Presented by Simonetta — A Dance Artist and Somatic Educator

In the heart of Auroville, we invite teachers, educators, bodyworkers, and those passionate about movement and self-discovery to a workshop that explores the synergy between Contact Improvisation and the Feldenkrais Method within the framework of Integral Yoga. This workshop, facilitated by Simonetta, a seasoned dance artist with over 30 years of experience, offers a journey into movement as a pathway to consciousness, self-awareness, and a more profound connection with others.

What You’ll Explore:

* Contact Improvisation: Through shared weight, balance, and spontaneous movement, participants will experience the art of “physical conversation” and explore relational dynamics. Exercises such as giving and receiving weight offer insights into how we “carry” others professionally and personally, mirroring the dynamics within teaching teams and student interactions.

* The Feldenkrais Method: This approach invites you to discover habitual movement patterns, gain freedom from unconscious tensions, and embrace a more fluid, adaptable body. Participants will be guided to identify and release patterns of tension, leading to a greater alignment of body and mind.

Why This Workshop?

This experience combines movement and observation to foster a holistic connection between mind, body, emotions, and spirit. Integral Yoga teaches that each aspect of our being plays a role in evolving our consciousness. By bringing these dimensions into harmony, we aim to align with our inner guidance, creating a space of authenticity and acceptance.

In this workshop, participants will explore awareness through movement, ATM Feldenkrais, and beginner exercises from Contact Improvisation. They will discover how movement can channel their inner landscape, unveil patterns, foster self-awareness, and re-pattern sequences of movements—liberating movements. This approach resonates with Integral Yoga, where every inner potential is nurtured, and our journey toward consciousness creates a harmonious environment that supports collective growth.

Connecting to Integral Yoga and Integral Education

This workshop encourages us to cultivate presence within ourselves and with our family, community, colleagues, and students. As we gain self-knowledge and bodily awareness, we contribute to a nurturing environment where we feel connected to our inner guidance. Integral Education fosters autonomy and authenticity. It emphasizes that as teachers become more conscious of their physical and emotional patterns, they can inspire trust and mutual respect in their students, creating a space of growth and unity in diversity. We encourage Teachers in Auroville to join us.

Simonetta is an Italian dance artist and a somatic educator based in London. She applies the Feldenkrais Method in dance and movement training and performance making. She teaches at Trinity Laban, Goldsmiths University, and London Contemporary Dance School.

Her work is based on more than 30 years of dancing, teaching, and choreography. Her choreography has been for dance companies, student pieces, large-scale opera, improvised performances, site-specific, and movement direction for theatre.

She taught for over 20 years in Italy and kept Contact Improvisation alive in Roma for 10 years with her classes and jams. She was one of the few dance practitioners in Italy who began working with Contact Improvisation in the 90’s. She has been a guest teacher in Germany, Colombia, the UK, Norway, Israel, France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, and Taiwan.

She obtained her Post Graduate Diploma at London Contemporary Dance School;

she is a qualified teacher of the Feldenkrais Method and holds the Teacher Certificate from the Royal Academy of Dance. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is one of the founders of CI@Goldsmiths, an association of dance artists dedicated to promoting and disseminating Contact Improvisation in London and the UK.

Highly acclaimed for her “extremely deep musicality, remarkable fluidity, nuancing and sense of style” (Walter Arlen, Los Angeles Times), Gloria Campaner is considered one of the most interesting pianists of her generation. Born in Venice, she began her piano lessons at the age of four and continued her studies with Bruno Mezzena, Konstantin Bogino and Prof. Fanny Solter (Konzertexam at Hochschule für Musik – Karlsruhe).
Gloria has been the first-prize winner in more than twenty national and international piano competitions and in 2014 she has been awarded the Borletti-Buitoni Fellowship in London.
Her debut CD featuring solo piano works by Schumann and Rachmaninov was released by EMI in 2013; in 2017 she recorded Rachmaninov 2nd Piano Concerto with Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai Orchestra and M° Valcuha (Warner). Followed by other two albums released by Warner Classics , one in 2018 dedicated to Schumann Piano Concerto live at Teatro la Fenice in Venice and a studio recording of Chopin 24 Preludes , out in 2021.
Her most recent recording out in autumn 2022 is instead dedicated to Beethoven Emperor Piano Concerto and released by Sony , the album got also nominated for the International Classic Music Awards 2023
Gloria is a devoted chamber musician and has played with many distinguished names, such as Ivry Gitlis, Ana Chumachenco, Sergei Krylov, Quartetto di Cremona, Tamsin Waley-Cohen, Johannes Moser. Angela Hewitt among others. Gloria performed with world-renowned jazz pianists Franco D’Andrea, Stefano Bollani and Leszek Możdżer, and worked with Dutch choreographer Joost Vrouenraets in world-premiere for the new Renzo Piano Auditorium in L’Aquila and Teatro Olimpico in Rome, Italy. The show has been filmed by prize-winner director Luca Scarzella, with whom Gloria has a long lasting collaboration.
She is also committed to artistic collaborations in the fields of classical/electronic fusion, and with contemporary composer such as Wolfgang Rhim, Jörg Widmann, Rodion Schedrin and Giya Kantcheli. World-premières include new works dedicated to her by Márton Illés, Marcello Abbado, Vittorio Montalti and Giovanni Sollima.
Recent engagements include solo recitals in Italy, Germany, USA, South America, China and Japan, and collaborations with Quartetto di Cremona, Johannes Moser, Tamsin Waley-Cohen in chamber music; she had her debut with English Chamber Orchestra in London and Johannesburg Philharmonic she debuted in Rome for Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia chamber the Filarmonica della Fenice ; in 2018/19 she toured Japan, Usa, Middle East and participitated at West Cork Festival and Marlboro Festival; she toured with Leszek Mozdzer and with the amazing duo Igudesman & Joo.
In 2018 she has been appointed artistic director of the Associazione Musicale Bellini in Messina and ‘Guest Piano Professor’ at Mandela University in Port Elizabeth (South Africa)
Gloria is deeply involved in charity, social and human rights projects as well as in music-awareness education around the world. She also founded her own educational project named C# – See Sharp: a creativity workshop for young musicians and performing artists helping them to overcome situations of stage fright , anxiety, and public performance’s psychophysical stress.

• When: 2nd, 3rd & 4th September 2022

The idea of ‘Out of the box’, started in 2019, before the pandemic for Argilla’20. With the postponed to Argilla’22, this theme has a much clearer connection than ever before.

Our lives and our minds, inside and outside, is coming out of our closed spaces.

The fourteen ceramists from India, through an inner reflection and raising above the discouragement and the uncertainty of every day life, have brought forward a piece of them in a colorful handmade box, made by Auroville Papers, India

Auroville-based Japanese artist Jyoti Naoki Eri has just launched a new label called Nādāsana with the compilation ‘Inter-Galactic Sonar Communication Probe Vol. 1’. 

The 13-track release is tied with the fictional concept of creating a record that will serve as a form of sonic communication on a space probe to the Andromeda Galaxy in the year 2102. Consequently, the direction has generated ambient compositions that range from representing earthly traditions to imagining the sci-fi noises of discovering light years of the universe. 

Alongside featuring India or India-based acts like Kolkata’s Varun Desai aka Yidam, New Delhi’s Vaibhav Batra aka Psychopanda, Jyoti’s own moniker Atomic Phantom, and Jatinder Singh Durhailay, who plays the Dilruba and Taus, the compilation includes artists from Belgium, Australia, Norway, UK (notably Matt Black aka Double Cushion, the co-founder of Ninja Tunes and one-half of Coldcut), Israel, Sweden and Italy. 

Listen to ‘Inter-Galactic Sonar Communication Probe Vol. 1’ below and follow Nādāsana for more information.

France, Ecuador, Guatemala, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Tanzania, United Kingdom, 2019
Documentary, English, 52min

“Living With Volcanoes” explores the world of volcanoes and the people who have created a special relationship with them. All around the world, crowds pray and worship sacred volcanoes, populated by divinities and spirits. A story of love and devotion between men and nature.

Vivre avec les volcans explore le monde des volcans et leur interaction avec les populations. Aux quatre coins du monde des foules prient et vénèrent les géants de feu sacrés.

Screenings / Awards:

A few of the places where this movie was screened and awarded:
International Nature Film Festival Gödöllő, European Premiere Hungary
WCFF – Wildlife Conservation Film Festival New-York City
International Documentary Festival (EIDF) Seoul August 17, 2020 Korea
European Cinematography Awards Warsaw Best Nature Film Poland
Directors: David Perrier, Eden Shavit

Writers: Arnaud Guerin, Thibaut Camurat

Producer: Thibaut Camurat

Cast: Geoffrey Bateman, Pierre-Alain de Garrigues

• When: 8pm, 28 April, 2022
• Where: Cinema Paradiso

Songs of the Water Spirits

2020, India, Documentary, English and Ladakhi, 1hr 40min

The challenge of a society set in the breathtaking mountains of the Himalayas against environmental degradation. Can the quest for a “glocal” way of living projected towards an “ancient future” inspire the Western economies of our planet? 

Director Statement:

“Ladakh is an extraordinary place. There are legends that even unite the paths of Buddha and Christ. And people like me, who live in the globalized West, have always dreamed and seen the Himalayas and Tibet as a stronghold against the excesses of modernity. But the truth is the opposite, the problems of life in our modern society end up re-emerging among the most remote Himalayan mountains. Here, climate change, decadence, urbanization, and traffic pollution are, in some cases, even more brutal. Is it really the end of that magical and mystical dreamed world, full of mysteries rich in meaning? My hope is that the courageous dynamism of some visionary minds working across the platforms of culture, research and technology can break the ongoing vicious cycle and open a new way.

While we are dealing with racial issues and a continued fight for racial equality, while we are dealing with Covid issues, we are also dealing with really big climate issues. That is going to be the issue that we are all going to be faced with in a big way, and making allies with the elements is going to be a big part of the solution. It’s not all of it, but if you love the elements they will love you. We need to build a relationship with the elements because they are speaking to us right now, and they are speaking in ways that we need to stand up and listen to. So I hope that you will open up your heart to the elements and see what happens.”
Screenings / Awards:

• Visioni dal Mondo International Film Festival Milan Premiere Jury Prize Italy
• Kendal Mountain Festival, European Premiere Official Selection United Kingdom
• Terraviva Film Festival Casalecchio di Winner Best Film Italy
• Climate Award Germany
• Torellò Mountain Film Festival Torellò Best Cinematography Award Spain

Director, Writer, Producer: Nicolò Bongiorno

Cast: Sonam Wangchuck, Nicolas Tournadre, Stanzin DorjayGya, Deskit Angmo

• When: 8pm, 14 April 2022
• Where: Cinema Paradiso, Auroville

Tuã Ingugu (Water Eyes)

2019, Brazil, Documentary, Portuguese, 11min

In the cosmogony of the Kalapalo (an ethnic group living in the Xingú Indigenous Park), water is as old as humans and is the source of life. That is where all their sustenance comes from; Their food, their drink and their joy. The idea of using water as a dumpster, of poisoning water, is a dystopia. In Tuã Ingugu (Water Eyes), Chief Faremá from Caramujo village on the banks of the Kuluene River, tells us about the birth of water and warns us of the consequences of disrespecting it.

Screenings / Awards: Festival Curta Cinema – Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Rome Film Festival Roma Italy, are a few of the places where this movie was screened, among other International Festivals around the world.

Director, Writer: Daniela Thomas
Producer: Daniel van Hoogstraten
Cast: Faremá Kalapalo, Kanho Matipu

Mbas Mi

2020-07-16 Senegal, Experimental, English, Wolof, 8min

In times of social distancing and mask mandates to protect one’s neighbor, expression becomes an invaluable act to preserve our humanity. In Mbas Mi, the director invites Goo Mamadou Ba to lend his voice to revive an essential text. In the twilight of Memory Island*, an incantatory voice rises. Carried by the surf, it changes according to memory. From the alleys dotted with man-lanterns to the tops of sentinel baobabs, the words of Albert Camus’s “La Peste” resonate.

Note: The painful memories of the Atlantic slave trade are crystallized in the Island of Gorée, a small island of 28 hectares lying 3.5 km off the coast from Dakar. Since the 15th century, this “memory island” has been prized by various European nations that have successively used it as a stopover or slave market. (source: Unesco)

Director: Joseph Gaï Ramaka
Producer: Yanis Gaye
Voice: Goo Mamadou Ba

Nazarband (Captive)

2020, India, Feature, Hindi, 1hr 25min

Vasanti comes out from prison into the megalopolis of Kolkata after serving a five-year prison term, only to realize that her husband hasn’t come to receive her. She waits in anxiety and despair. Chandu, who has also been released on the same day, offers to help in finding her husband. Chandu is a seasoned fraudster and has an ulterior motive as well. Although not very comfortable with this stranger, Vasanti takes his support to find her way to where she used to live, in the slums of Calcutta. But when they reach the place, she finds a dazzling mall and a few multi-storied buildings that have replaced the slums. Without any clue about the whereabouts of her husband or seven-year-old son, Vasanti is in deep anguish, but does not give up. Chandu sticks with this stubborn woman in a journey that goes through the labyrinth of the city in search of her family. Political goons, flesh traders, police and real estate mafia get entangled in the narrative, which reveals the past of these two, unknown to each other until that very morning. They delve into the deeper crevices of their emotions and insecurities, moving erratically, on a strange journey steeped in a plethora of emotions: anxiety, distrust, dependence, hatred, care, greed, frustration, and necessity. They run amok through the city of Kolkata, disappearing into the religious carnival, before finally reaching the coalfields of Bihar. After a fanatical and sometimes fatalistic turn of events, they reach the climactic moment that opens up multiple possibilities in Chandu and Vasanti’s lives.

Director: Suman Mukhopadhyay
Writers: Suman Mukhopadhyay, Asad Hussain, Anustup Basu
Producer: Pawan Kanodia
Cast: Indira Tiwari, Tanmay, Dhanania

• When: 6:00am PST, 9:00am EST, 2:00pm GMT, 7:30pm IST, 10:00pm SST,
  24 November, 2021
• Where: Online, Let us know you will be joining: register for Zoom Gathering

Gathering opens with Meditation facilitated by Aurelio (SVARAM), followed by:

• Dr. Alok Pandey, The Importance of Siddhi Day
• Dr. Jayanthy Ravi, Steps Towards Human Unity
• Ameeta Mehra,  Aspiration for Collaboration Project
   

Sri Aurobindo centers share common aspirations and hopes for the future. 

• Sri Aurobindo Ashram Delhi branch (Delhi, India), Tara Didi
• Auro University (Surat, India), Hasmukh Rama
• Sri Aurobindo Centre for Advanced Research (Pondicherry, India), Ananda Reddy
• Purnam Centre for Integrality (Auroville, India), Manoj Pavithran
• Sri Aurobindo Center of Los Angeles (California, America), Vikas Bamba
• Matagiri (New York, America), Julian Lines
• Integral Knowledge Study Center (Florida, America), Rand Hicks
• La Grace, Sri Aurobindo Integral Life Center (South Carolina, America), Radhe
• Sri Aurobindo Yoga Foundation of North America (New Jersey,  America), Vivek Sinha
• VAK All Russian Sri Aurobindo Conference (Saint Petersburg, Russia), Andrey Sevcenko 
• Centro Sri Aurobindo e Mere (Modena, Italy), Sabina
• Mirra Terra (Dalmatian region, Croatia), Irena Ateljevic
• Sri Aurobindo Society Singapore (Singapore), Jayanthy Ramachandran

Krishna poem by Sri Aurobindo, song by Shakti Balu and group

Closing meditation

Krishna
by Sri Aurobindo

At last I find a meaning of soul’s birth
Into this universe terrible and sweet,
I who have felt the hungry heart of earth
Aspiring beyond heaven to Krishna’s feet.

I have seen the beauty of immortal eyes,
And heard the passion of the Lover’s flute,
And known a deathless ecstasy’s surprise
And sorrow in my heart for ever mute.

Nearer and nearer now the music draws,
Life shudders with a strange felicity;
All Nature is a wide enamored pause
Hoping her lord to touch, to clasp, to be.

For this one moment lived the ages past;
The world now throbs fulfilled in me at last. 

I invite you to this great adventure.
The Mother

    There are people who love adventure. It is these I call, and I tell them this: “I invite you to the great adventure.”

It is not a question of repeating spiritually what others have done before us, for our adventure begins beyond that. It is a question of a new creation, entirely new, with all the unforeseen events, the risks, the hazards it entails — a real adventure, whose goal is certain victory, but the road to which is unknown and must be traced out step by step in the unexplored. Something that has never been in this present universe and that will never be again in the same way. If that interests you… well, let us embark. What will happen to you tomorrow — I have no idea.

One must put aside all that has been foreseen, all that has been devised, all that has been constructed, and then … set off walking into the unknown. And — come what may! The Mother

La Grace
Sri Aurobindo Integral Life Center
2824 Knighton Chapel Road
Fountain Inn, S.C.  29644
lagracecenter.com

Article by M.Dinesh Varma, published in The Hindu, PUDUCHERRY, NOVEMBER 10, 2021

READ ONLINE

From camps of close-knit indigenous communities to emerald lakes and moonscapes of the Lamayuru, the ruggedly charming Leh-Ladakh region served as an ideal locale for a documentary film-making workshop anchored in principles of deep ecology.

Hosted recently by the Auroville Film Institute (AVFI), the workshop at Phyang was capped by the screening of 15 short films made by 27 participants from 11 States — Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, New Delhi, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand. If that was not diverse enough, the participants also included six Ladakhis, two aspirants from Auroville and one from Italy.

The experiential workshop was a collaboration between the AVFI and the Himalayan Institute of Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL). An important outcome of the AVFI-HIAL collaboration was the decision to establish chapters in both institutions to foster bi-annual student exchange programmes.

The 45-day film-making workshop was anchored in an environmental philosophy where the self is deeply connected with nature, not disassociated with it, said Richa Hushing, a course director. “Like all AVFI workshops, this one too was designed in the exploration of 3Ss…self…surrounding and story. We encouraged the participants to look around in response to inner curiosities and concerns. We believed in the authenticity of narratives that would spring from an authentic interaction between the self and the surrounding,” Ms. Hushing said.

She, along with Rrivu Laha, a founding directors of AVFI and Gitanjali J B, co-founder and Dean of HIAL, designed and delivered the workshop. “We pushed ourselves to question everything, including our own perceptions,” said Rrivu Laha.

The brainstorming sessions threw up about 60 ideas for film. The hosts hoped to be able to make five films but ended producing three times more.

Cinematographically, the light and the landscape of Ladakh offered much to explore in a technical-aesthetic sense. “The landscape itself is extraordinary, and it transforms with the light,” said Ms. Hushing, referring to moonland sobriquet of the Lamayuru mountains.

In terms of sound too, there was great scope in villages, roads, marketplaces and monasteries. 

There were participants like Shiv who hiked his way to the workshop and made a film about the experience, which would be “the best thing I’ve ever made”. If Deepa Kiran, an oral story teller was pushed to discovering the kinship between the surrounding and the self. Hem Shah resorted to docu-fiction for his ‘Kane Duk Jor Jor’ that tracks the search for Jor Jor, a renowned comedian from Ladakh who mysteriously disappeared from public appearances over eight years ago.

Phyang, where the workshop was anchored was tributed with films like Avinash Kumar’s ‘Village of Warriors’ tracing the memory of Kabali attack in 1948 through a search trek organised by the ex servicemen and politicians of the village. Vanshika Bhatnagar and Abhishek Stalinn’s ‘Midnight Mirage’ came alive as visual poetry as it dwelt on the dreams of the young monks of the Phyang Monastery. 

In fact, Leh city and the larger rural landscape of Ladakh, contemporary culture and burning concerns were also explored by a set of films. In fact, these films were like little windows to Ladakhi culture, painting an insightful picture of the land. So much so that Sonam Wangchuk, founder Director of HIAL, felt that the young filmmakers had shown him a mirror to Ladakhi culture, while Sonam Dorjey, associate facilitator from HIAL noted that all films were contemporary and had a distinct identity.

Ms. Gitanjali, HIAL Dean found Ladakh and Auroville to be complementary in many ways. “What binds HIAL and AVFI is the value of integral education and commitment to an alternative life. The Auroville-HIAL collaboration will be a bi-annual student exchange programme, where we have Ladakh and Auroville chapters every year,” she said.

“We are preparing to screen the Ladakh films in the Auroville Film Festival in January 2022, flagging off the Auroville chapter,” added Ms. Hushing.

ArtCare- Tips For Family Heritage

• When: 6:00 PM (IST), 06 November 2021
• Where: Online
• Register

Over a lifetime we collect many keepsakes, which when passed down over generations become treasured artefacts that help us reconnect with stories from our past. Taking measures to care for these objects ensure that we get to hold on to them that much longer and revere the stories they narrate.

Empower yourself to take care of your heirlooms, photographs, paintings, antiques, jewellery, and textiles in this masterclass with art conservator-restorer Anupam Sah. Send us a picture of an artefact with your questions, or keep your objects beside you and ask your questions and he will answer them live, sharing tips and techniques for the care and preservation of your family heritage.

You can write to mehreen.yousaf@map-india.org with your pictures and questions or send us a message on our Instagram (@mapbangalore).

Art Conservator-Restorer 

Anupam Sah, an art conservation-restoration practitioner, strategist, and educator, is the Head of Art Conservation, Research, and Training at the CSMVS Museum Art Conservation Centre. He addresses art and heritage conservation issues with a network approach where judicious interventions in the networks can bring about desired impacts in the system. He designs and conducts conservation workshops and training programmes and teaches at universities. His primary interest these days is to help strengthen the art conservation profession in India by collaborating with motivated institutions and individuals. His services as a heritage conservation advisor have been sought by various national and international cultural institutions. He has been conferred with the ‘Sanskriti Award for Social and Cultural Achievement’, UNESCO commendations, and ‘Knighthood of the Order of the Star of Italy’ for excellence in art conservation. He has founded Anupam Heritage Lab (India) Pvt. Ltd., and the Himalayan Society for Heritage and Art Conservation.

Since the beginning of the Human Life, people from all over the world are connected with special shapes; the Mandalas are part of them.

Carl Jung, long time ago, discovered that the practice of drawing mandalas, in spontaneous way, it produces effects and a benefit on our own Life, harmonising and rebalancing whatever is in need. 

My role on all this is to guide you into the process of drawing, the mandala as a Sacred Circle, our own Universe, where to express our inner being of that moment, the moment we draw inside it, using different techniques, to reach spontaneously your center, your re connection with yourself.

• When: 11am – 3pm, 23, 24 October 2021
• Where: Lahe Lahe, Indira Nagar
• Ages: 14plus
• Fees: Rs. 1500 per person 
• Registration: You can book your tickets with Townscript/ Insider or Book my Show or book directly with Lahe Lahe @9886294444. Ticket Link

About the facilitator: 
Rosalba Cilleri is originally from Italy, has been living in India from past 13 years. She is a professional Mandala Artist. Her work not only gives pleasure to your eyes but tells you a lot about your conscience. Talking about consciousness Rosalba has been working for a psychiatric hospital for 25 years, she is a professional therapist.

“VARIANTE INDIANA” wants to point a finger at the effects of how social distancing has influenced our way of relating to one another. It aims to imagine how people feel about social distancing in their different activities while they meet, work, play, and live together. 

Social distancing creates empty gaps in the fabric of humanity, and forces people to separate, withholding the feeling of unity.

• When: 10am – 6pm, Tuesday to Saturday, 26th June to 10th July
• Opening : 4 to 6.30pm, Friday 25th June 2021
• Where: Porta Palazzo, Fotografia Km0 Gallery, Torino – Italy

The pictures were taken in Auroville, an international town set up in 1968 in southern India, inspired by the ideas of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. 

“The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity” (Mirra Alfassa, 1967).

Auroville  is today a community of 3500 residents, who went to live there from more than 100 different countries.

All around the world, as well as in Auroville, we have to find a way to overcome this and restart a new way of social proximity.

https://photoit.photoshelter.com/gallery/2021-Human-Unity-in-Covid-Times/G0000BREefhFTgGk/

About the Workshop:

By bringing all the attention onto another, truly listening and reacting, the workshop is focused on creating a whole network of automatic responses. Stripping away the artificiality of theatre and returning to one of the most primal humans abilities: to receive and respond to messages from others, and to allow the actions of others to be the principal determinant of how you, yourself, act.

About the technique:

The Mesiner technique was born due to a growing need for realism in acting in present day. A realism achieved by creating a connection with your scene partner built on real-life reactions of one human being to another, which dictates how the actor speaks, thinks and moves. This is an actual and present event in which the real and involuntary physical and vocal reactions of the actors to one another seduce the audience into suspending their disbelief. Through this, the rhythm of a scene doesn’t depend anymore on whichever actor happens to be speaking, but on the way two or more actors get into rhythm with one another.

The Meisner technique slowly reconditions the habits of the actor, bridging the gap between real life and the acting space. The beauty of it lies in its simplicity and its insistence on genuine truthful responses.


About the workshop facilitator:

Luca Serri is a film director shaped in Berlin. He began his career in Italy, with Borderline (2012) an experimental short-film awarded at the London IFF and Hollywood Short Film Festival. The short-films that followed have focused more and more on the actors and performances, slowly evolving from studio environments with artificial sets and production lighting toward a more realistic style, shot on location with natural light. This shift in process occurred thanks to significant work and research in acting. At the moment he is waiting to find the courage to make the jump and shoot his first feature film.

All classes and events in Studio Oorja are suspended except Morning Yoga until further notice. 

Saroja is an extremely talented Bharatnatyam dancer and has been living in Auroville for the last 42 years! She grew up under the loving guidance of Andre Tardel at New Creation who discovered her passion for dance and motivated her to learn Bharatanatyam under the able guidance of Krishna Kumar and Geeta Krishna in Kottakuppam.

Saroja further underwent a formal training in Bharatnatyam at Kalakshetra in Chennai and earned a diploma for the same. She is a renowned dancer who has performed at shows not only in Auroville but also, France, Italy, Norway and Belgium. She has also taught dance and conducted workshops in these countries. She continued with her career in Dance for more than 15 years and recently took a short break. With this performance, she has re-commenced her passion for dance!

Saroja is an extremely talented Bharatnatyam dancer and has been living in Auroville for the last 42 years! She grew up under the loving guidance of Andre Tardel at New Creation who discovered her passion for dance and motivated her to learn Bharatanatyam under the able guidance of Krishna Kumar and Geeta Krishna in Kottakuppam.

Saroja further underwent a formal training in Bharatnatyam at Kalakshetra in Chennai and earned a diploma for the same. She is a renowned dancer who has performed at shows not only in Auroville but also, France, Italy, Norway and Belgium. She has also taught dance and conducted workshops in these countries. She continued with her career in Dance for more than 15 years and recently took a short break. With this performance, she has re-commenced her passion for dance!

https://fb.me/e/3X1Ylhku7

This workshop is for advanced and serious enthusiast photographers who want to advance their knowledge. Nowadays the photographer has to go beyond the supposed quality of his single pictures, he has to think differently. Photographers need to be able to read and tell good stories rather than shoot beautiful images. 

What and how we should photograph to distinguish ourselves among the millions of wonderful images shot every day in the world? 

How can we develop a project that makes us feel authors and not just images producers?

The workshop will start with a quick reflection about the history of Photography up to the analysis of the work of contemporary photographers who developed good projects reaching the most famous galleries in the world. 

Then we will try to build interesting projects following the aspirations and the interest of each participant.

The goal is that at the end of the workshop every participant could have a good project done, and the tools to build new good projects in future.

Workshop schedule (7 days between Saturday 28th Nov to Saturday 19th Dec 2020)

Workshop dates:

Saturday 28 November, Wednesday 02 December, Saturday 05 December, Wednesday 09 December, Saturday 12 December, Wednesday 16 December, Saturday 19 December

Time:

5.00pm – 6.30pm.

Number of students:

Minimum 5 and Maximum 12 (students should have their own camera and should know the basics of digital photography)

Venue:

Multimedia room at Centre d’Art, Citadines,Auroville. 

Contact:

Email: centredart@auroville.org.in

Website: www.centredart.in

Instagram: centre.dart

About Marco Saroldi:

Marco Saroldi was born in Turin, Italy, in 1957. 

He continued his studies until he graduated from high school, and after two years of university he left his studies and began a part time job in order to cultivate his passion for photography at the same time. 

In 1983 he became a professional photographer and opened a photography studio dedicated mainly to industrial and architectural photography.

Alongside the work of a professional photographer, Marco Saroldi is dedicated to a creative research that leads him to exhibit in several galleries in Italy and abroad, and to have kept some images in public and private international collections, as the National Library of France in Paris, Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, Modern Art Museum of Yokohama.

From 1995 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2006 he taught Photography at the IED – Istituto Europeo di Design – in Turin.

Since 2015 he lives and works in the international city of Auroville, Tamil Nadu, India.

https://photoit.photoshelter.com/

This workshop is for advanced and serious enthusiast photographers who want to advance their knowledge. Nowadays the photographer has to go beyond the supposed quality of his single pictures, he has to think differently. Photographers need to be able to read and tell good stories rather than shoot beautiful images. 

What and how we should photograph to distinguish ourselves among the millions of wonderful images shot every day in the world? 

How can we develop a project that makes us feel authors and not just images producers?

The workshop will start with a quick reflection about the history of Photography up to the analysis of the work of contemporary photographers who developed good projects reaching the most famous galleries in the world. 

Then we will try to build interesting projects following the aspirations and the interest of each participant.

The goal is that at the end of the workshop every participant could have a good project done, and the tools to build new good projects in future.

Workshop schedule (7 days between Saturday 28th Nov to Saturday 19th Dec 2020)

Workshop dates:

Saturday 28 November, Wednesday 02 December, Saturday 05 December, Wednesday 09 December, Saturday 12 December, Wednesday 16 December, Saturday 19 December 

Time:

5.00pm – 6.30pm.

Number of students: 

Minimum 5 and Maximum 12 (students should have their own camera and should know the basics of digital photography)

Venue:

Multimedia room at Centre d’Art, Citadines,Auroville.  

Contact:

Email: centredart@auroville.org.in

Website: www.centredart.in

Instagram: centre.dart 

About Marco Saroldi:

Marco Saroldi was born in Turin, Italy, in 1957. 

He continued his studies until he graduated from high school, and after two years of university he left his studies and began a part time job in order to cultivate his passion for photography at the same time. 

In 1983 he became a professional photographer and opened a photography studio dedicated mainly to industrial and architectural photography.

Alongside the work of a professional photographer, Marco Saroldi is dedicated to a creative research that leads him to exhibit in several galleries in Italy and abroad, and to have kept some images in public and private international collections, as the National Library of France in Paris, Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, Modern Art Museum of Yokohama.

From 1995 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2006 he taught Photography at the IED – Istituto Europeo di Design – in Turin.

Since 2015 he lives and works in the international city of Auroville, Tamil Nadu, India.

https://photoit.photoshelter.com/

Unrehearsed Futures is a series of public conversations between heads of drama schools and leading performance trainers from across the globe to discuss and address the new realities of teaching drama. Through these discussions we will look at pedagogical approaches to teaching in the absence of presence, the benefits and challenges of alternative technologies, formats and mediums as well as planning long-term learning journeys against uncertain future conditions.

Sep 3, 2020 04:00 PM in India

TIME ZONES: 4:00 pm India
11:30 am UK Time, 8:30 pm AEST, 6:30 am New York (EDT)Time

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYtceirrTwvE9cCVLjh_oXpccYoF8rDoJ8V

Please place any questions you would like to be discussed in the meeting in the “Questions and Comments” section below for the consideration of the speakers.

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25 July, 6 pm |CClick here to register
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The ‘godmother of performance art’, Marina Abramović burst onto the ’70s art scene with cathartic performances that pushed the envelope on spectator participation and personal safety in unexpected and unprecedented ways.

In the last talk in its Art as Witness series, MAP is delighted to present her, in conversation with India’s most well-known performance artist, Nikhil Chopra. Together they will examine the ways in which, over the course of a five-decade-long career, Abramović has used her own body as subject, object, and medium; her relationship to the public; and the nature of witnessing in long durational and immaterial art. 

________________________________
Marina Abramović

Since the beginning of her career in Belgrade during the early 1970s, Marina Abramović has pioneered performance art, creating some of the form’s most important early works. Exploring her physical and mental limits, she has withstood pain, exhaustion, and danger in her quest for emotional and spiritual transformation.

Abramović was awarded the Golden Lion for Best Artist at the 1997 Venice Biennale. In 2010, she had her first major U.S. retrospective and simultaneously performed for over 700 hours in The Artist is Present at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She also founded Marina Abramović Institute (MAI), a platform for immaterial and long durational work to create new possibilities for collaboration among thinkers of all fields.

Her most recent publication is Walk Through Walls: A Memoir (Crown Archetype, 2016). Her retrospective The Cleaner opened at Moderna Museet, Stockholm in 2017 and has toured seven additional European venues, ending at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, Serbia in 2019. In September 2020 the Bayerische Staats Oper will present the world premiere of 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, which will tour to other venues. In 2021, she will also present the solo exhibition After Life at the Royal Academy, becoming the first female artist in the institution’s 250-year history to occupy the entire gallery space with her work.

________________________________
Nikhil Chopra

Nikhil Chopra’s artistic practice ranges between live art, theatre, painting, photography, sculpture and installations. His performances, in large part improvised, dwell on issues such as identity, the role of autobiography, the pose and self-portraiture, reflecting on the process of transformation and the part played by the duration of the performance. 

Chopra has exhibited and performed globally since 2005. Participation in important solo and group exhibitions include Fire Water, 2nd Yinchuan Biennale, China (2018); Drawing a Line Through Landscape, documenta14, Athens, Greece & Kassel, Germany (2017); Blackening VI, Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester, UK (2017);  Bhairav, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK (2017); The Black Pearl: the city from the river, Alchemy, Southbank Centre, London, UK (2016); La Perla Negra, La Bienal de Habana, Havana, Cuba (2016); Use Like Water, Sharjah Biennial 12 (2015); Give Me Your Blood and I Will Give You Freedom, Singapore International Festival for the Arts (2014); Inside Out, Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Italy (2012); Yog Raj Chitrakar: Memory Drawing X, Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai and the Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai (2010). The artist has also performed at Performa, New York (2008); the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009); and the Yokohama Triennale (2008).  
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www.map-india.org

Opening 30 Nov at 4.00pm – To 7.00pm at Centre d’Art, Citadine, Auroville.

Exhibition from 30 Nov to 14 Dec 2.00 to 5.00pm – Centre d’Art, Citadine, Auroville.

Please park your vehicle at town hall parking.

Journey of Sustainability                

Ok Jeong Lee

The term ‘Upcycling’, applied to art, dates back to the mid-90s. It means that the value of an object recuperated by the artist is greater than that of the object before it gets transformed (transformation that does not chemically modify the materials). Upgraded from waste material to a unique artwork, from post-consumer waste to a raw material shaped by a creative mind, the object undergoes a metamorphosis and acquires a new life, a new nobility, a new meaning.
Actually, the Upcycling Art was born in an anonymous form at the beginning of the 20th century, with the birth of the consumer society. Together with the latter, it unfolded into a poisonous symbiosis, like a shadow following all its movements, and we never really understand if it’s an accomplice, a symptom, or a judgement of such society. For it is the role of art and its paradox to tell its own version of the facts, and to deny them when we are told that everything works just fine. It is no coincidence that one of the most significant movements ante litteram of  the Upcycling Art, the Arte Povera (the rustic art born in Italy in the ‘60s), stems from the an arrogant wealth spreading in the post-war period. The artists expressing this art movement make use of natural or recycled materials. According to Pistoletto, one of its main representatives, Arte Povera is “a posture opposed to the futuristic fervor and the consumerist clamor, insofar as it emphasizes the saturation of a growth ideal that has reached its maximum”.
The act of creation applied to waste is both a denunciation and a search for transcendence.
Ok Jeong Lee uses these waste materials upstream out of necessity, for they are abundantly available, and restores them downstream in the form of magnificent creatures whose beauty evokes the danger. Her work is a wake-up call, as well as an invitation to project our consciousness onto ways to accomplish the future, based on new parameters.
Starting from magnetic tapes, compact discs, plastic packaging, she materializes before our eyes a world of spells, of zoomorphic and phytomorphic organisms suspended in an aquatic atmosphere.
As if we were walking on the bottom of the ocean, semi submerged shapes fluctuate from the surface above our heads.
The roots of an invisible tree cling to the molecules of air surrounding drifting jellyfish banks, which emanate light from their electric bodies.
In the wake of jellyfish do spin laser fish, swimming tangentially to their trajectories.
Lightning bolts and shadows revolve through the magic lantern of Ok Jeong Lee.
And in this aquarium of synthesis, of which we are the temporary and enchanted hosts, we follow eyes on the wall of the halos forgetting the shadows behind the glass, believing for a moment that maybe, finally, we too have gills, that it is only some light that we are inhaling, not poisoned air.
But if artists are right, if really, as they say, they are visionaries capable of creating worlds, then out there, somewhere beyond the wall that we call reality, a new way of breathing is already possible.

Dominique Jacques, November2019

Young European artist Trieste contemporanea award 2019

open call (deadline: 19 August 2019)

Eligibility: applicants may be eligible if they were born on or after 18 August 1989 in one of the following countries: Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.

http://www.triestecontemporanea.it/news.php?id_news=354&l=e&id_m=2

https://www.tokyofotoawards.jp/prize/

20 water colors and pastels on paper

The 50th Anniversary of Auroville in the coming months is not only an historical date for the city but a time that involves the whole world. To communicate the event to the earth, this project plans the design creation of ideal post stamps, as a symbol of communication between all the nations in the world, the essence of which is conserved in the urn at the Matrimandir, as well as incarnated in the presence of Aurovilian citizens, representing more than fifty nations.

The project is made up of a series of 20 paintings, water colors on big paper sheets (60x80cm), showing an highly typical point of view of Auroville, in an upside down play discovering two complementary realities. In the upper side of the stamp we can see the Visible, the image that Auroville features to the world, the symbols of its concrete réalisation since its foundation. In the lower side, turned down and latent, the Invisible, what is slowly emerging from a hidden level, to develop the shapes of tomorrow.

Dominique Jacques was born in Paris in 1965. She graduated from E.N.A ( Ecole Nationale d’Art de Cergy Pontoise) and from E.A.C.R ( Ecole d’Art, Conservation et Restauration) in Paris. In 1992 she moved to Italy and worked as a frescos-and-paintings restorer. At the same time she started exhibiting her own artistic work in France and in Italy. In 2015 she moved to Auroville. This is her first exhibition in India.

Text from Auroville OutreachMedia

At Centre d’Art Citadines, Auroville

1968-2018, don’t those dates ring the bells of change, revolution, metamorphosis? And even more, don’t they arise within you the undeniable feeling of hope?

Those are the numbers imprinted in the 20 stamps that artist Dominique Jacques designed for her upcoming exhibition “Visible Invisible”, in Citadines, commemorating the 50th birthday of Auroville.

The idea is ingenious. Stamps, a 19th century innovation, are an excellent primary source for the symbolic messages that governments seek to convey to their citizen and the world. Not only an historical source material, like coins, they are also a great tool of influence, and with art they reflect the spirit of an age and reveal much about the values of a society.

When the Indian government decided to print a stamp with the effigy of Sri Aurobindo for the creation of Auroville in 1968 and another one for the commemoration of the birth centenary of the Mother, Mirra Alfassa in 1978, it showed the impact these extraordinary people had on the nation and the world.

What makes these aquarelles and pastels so unique are their unusual composition. The expected theme is Auroville and the graphic game of the subject in each of them proves to be judicious, almost like a reflection of a wise message conveyed for each art piece.

Matrimandir, Solar Kitchen, Visitor Centre and more……each subject is exposed double on each frame, with a different colour, different tone, side by side or up and down.

The French born artist Dominique Jacques has worked on this project for the last two years. After graduating from the famous “Ecole Nationale d’Art“ in Cergy Pontoise, France, followed by a curating school, she spent many years in Italy where she remained until her move to Auroville with her husband. In Italy, apart from restoration, curing and reproduction, she removed and revealed in contraction fresco – an attempt to discover what once was and what can resurface to the eyes of all the world. It is this journey and the core of Dominique which transpires in each of her stamps.

In an analogy of her fresco yard, she wants to convey that all which is beneath is a symbolic representation of what works on the surface and what is on the top is only the appearance of what is under. The message is as physical as it is spiritual. Idealist, seeker and also finder, this refined, creative and ingenious work is a mirror of Dominique.

1968, with the creation of Auroville, the student uprising in Europe, the first travel to the moon and more, still represents a cliche for“ changing the world” and is an indisputable signifier of one the greatest aspirations for humanity. 2018, and the 50th anniversary of Auroville, is symbolic of the undeniable hope that all is still possible.

Chana Corinne Devor for AVArtS

Photos by Aurelie Fischer

Exhibition “Visible, Invisible” by Dominiques Jacques

Centre d’Art Citadines, Auroville

From 9th till 23rd of December, monday to saturday, 2:30 – 6 PM

Director’s Note:
RIP is an abbreviation used to wish well for the soul that no more occupies a human body. Interestingly, other meanings of the word are tear, split, shred, break, scratch, cleave. I stick to RIP as ‘restlessness in pieces’, a contrary context to its usual meaning. The performance is an inquiry into Rest in Peace itself. For a body that goes through so much restlessness in life, both within, and outside, in the world, how can there be Rest in Peace after death? Why can we not rest in peace while we are alive? How? By inquiring into our own restlessness, and releasing it out. Inquiry of RIP opens up an individual’s possibilities of living, where the focus is not on any final product or goal but rather on the person living, in that process. This piece evolved in inquiring into performance, space and actor-spectator relationship, looking for its form and content.

About The Director:
Savita Rani is a graduate of National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi (2008), with a specialization in acting. She started her theatre career in her native Rohtak, Haryana in 1999 with Jatan Natya Manch, a political and social theatre group. Savita also has a one-year diploma from Himachal Cultural Research Forum & Theatre Repertory & Academy.
Savita has worked with eminent theatre personalities like Anuradha Kapur, Anamika Haksar, Tripurari Sharma, K. S. Rajendran, Abhilash Pillai, Suresh Anagali, Adil Hussai, Harish Khanna, Vivan Sundram, Roysten Abel, Khalid Tyabji, Jyoti Dogra etc. Her work has given her opportunity to travel to countries like Peru, Italy, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Japan, Thailand, England. Besides, Savita has acted in many drama productions, and participated in many conferences, theatre festivals and workshops. She also participated in École Nomade workshop by Ariane Mnouchkine of Theatre du Soleil, France in Pondicherry. At present Savita is pursuing her Ph.D. in the Department of Performing Arts, Pondicherry University.

The varied programme, running through two days, Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 June, is organised by the ‘Chai Qi’ Cultural Association, with the sponsorship of the municipality of Velletri.

A wide variety of participants is expected, among whom the staff of the famous Borgian Museum in Velletri (one of the first European musea, originated at the end of the 18th century and dedicated to the East, it contains many Indian paintings and scriptures, old books and manuscripts etc.), as well as students and teachers of yoga, hatha yoga, aikido, t’ai chi, acupuncture, Tibetan students etc etc.

Paola’s talk will take place on Sunday 2.30pm. The complete programme can be perused on ChaiQi’s Facebook page.