Chennai: Auroville will come to the city with almost a month-long art festival. Answering “what is Auroville” is the motive driving the 37-day festival, say organisers. The festival is to have an array of events including panel discussions, exhibitions and lectures which would be on the lines of sustainable approaches and with a social angle. All of it would be by people from Auroville and will embody the spirit of the over four-decade old township. The festival intends to showcase Auroville in a nutshell, giving the participants a direct experience of the flavour and essence of it.
From March 1 to April 17, several events will be held as part of the festival across key locations in the city. Ms Elaine Philips, a member of the festival committee, says, “Auroville to outsiders is more like a group of foreigners living together in scattered settlements, attached to the Aurobindo Ashram. However, in reality, Auroville is a vibrant laboratory for conscious living and a testing ground for holistic evolution of humans in harmony with the earth. It is with this idea of sharing this unique experiment with the world that the Auroville Festival was conceptualized.”
Some of the key highlights of the festival include an international adult and children’s choir, exhibition of works by 35 Aurovillian artists, a seminar and panel discussion on a “Sustainable Future” and a series of lectures about “Auroville: a multicultural society for the development of human unity” Ms Vinodhini Joshi, one of the organisers, says, “Art is an integral part of Auroville life. In fact, Auroville was conceived as a place where the arts would be both a means and an expression of human progress.
Therefore events during the festival are dedicated to the arts and crafts of Auroville.” “Auroville is a universal township located in Tamil Nadu. It was conceived as a place where all life is yoga, all activities are both a mean and an expression of human progress,” says Ms Fabienne Marechal, a member of the festival committee.
Over 100 settlements of varying sizes from Auroville are engaged in activities like organic agriculture, educational research, small and medium-scale business, arts and craft and renewable energy. The township has 46 per cent Indians and the rest are foreigners.
