It has been almost 12 years since the first edition of this festival premiered. Done with an intention to provide a platform for upcoming artists, this edition will be happening in various cities like Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad.
Curated by the Prakriti Foundation, this festival started with just one city in 2007, and has now grown and expanded to six cities. Santhosh Manohar, the organiser says, “This a contemporary art festival where we have commissioned various artists from various fields like theatre, comedy etc.” Providing a platform for upcoming talents is one of the main aims of this festival. He adds, “This festival aims to celebrate the contemporary art scenario in India. We already have various classical cultural festivals but not a contemporary art one. Various contemporary artists apply for the PECDA awards. The artiste chosen as winner will get a chance to perform at this festival.” The audience can expect a vista of different genres being explored, “Bharatnatyam dancer Preeti Vasudevan will be performing Stories by Hand, Rajiv Rajaram and Utsav Chakraborty will add a comedic element to the show. There will also be a talk with Ana Lamata, and IndoSoul from Chennai will be performing.”
A performance by Preeti Vasudevan
IndoSoul, a Chennai based band will be performing a concert in the city. On what the band has in store for the festival, Karthick Iyer, the front man of IndoSoul says, “The release of our latest album Two sides of Karma is on going. In this festival, we will be playing a few songs from the album.” Preeti Vasudevan who first performed this piece in New York, says that one can expect loads of intimacy and vulnerability as the stories she will showcase are autobiographical. Preeti adds, “I am doing a theatre piece with a little dance added to it. It is basically personal stories that look for identity created by one’s memory. It maps out your own identity by drawing on your memories.” Comedian Rajiv Rajaram will giving a comedic element and he will be joined on stage by Utsav Chakraborty. Rajiv adds, “I have performed in the festival about five years ago but not as a comedy act. So being a part of this festival again is a great homecoming. It is really great to have an art festival approach a stand-up comedy act to perform in the festival. I will be performing along side Utsav Chakraborty” The previous editions of the festival have always had jam packed crowds who await the festival every September.
The festival starts on September 4 at various venues.
September 4: Stories by Hand by Preeti Vasudevan
September 5: Noise Over Artists a stand-up comedy show by Rajiv Rajaram and Utsav Chakraborty
September 6: To see or Not To See a talk by Ana Lamata
September 6: Two Sides of Karma by IndoSoul
