4.10.2013 > 26.01.2014 PRESS CONFERENCE A preliminary outline of the programme 6 November 2012 - Palais d’Egmont, Brussels www.europalia.eu 1 PRACTICAL INFORMATION PRESS Inge De Keyser [email protected] T. +32 (0)2.504.91.35 High resolution images can be downloaded from our website www.europalia.eu – under the heading press. No password is needed. You will also find europalia.india on the following social media: www.facebook.com/Europalia www.youtube.com/user/EuropaliaFestival www.flickr.com/photos/europalia/ You can also subscribe to the Europalia- newsletter via our website www.europalia.eu Europalia International aisbl Galerie Ravenstein 4 – 1000 Brussels Info: +32 (0)2.504.91.20 www.europalia.eu 2 WHY INDIA AS GUEST COUNTRY? For its 2013 edition, Europalia has invited India. Europalia has already presented the rich culture of other BRIC countries in previous festivals: europalia.russia in 2005, europalia.china in 2009 and europalia.brasil in 2011. Europalia.india comes as a logical sequel. India has become an important player in today’s globalised world. Spontaneously India is associated with powerful economical driving force. The Indian economy is very attractive and witnesses an explosion of foreign investments. But India is also a great cultural power. The largest democracy in the world is a unique mosaic of peoples, languages, religions and ancient traditions; resulting from 5000 years of history. India is a land of contrasts. A young republic with a modern, liberal economy but also a land with an enormous historical wealth: the dazzling Taj Mahal, the maharajas, beautiful temples and palaces and countless stories to inspire our imagination. India also has a booming contemporary art scene. We witness an increasing number of Indian artists in the international art market. This wonderful subcontinent counts 1.2 billion inhabitants of which 50% is aged 25 or less, an inexhaustible source of talents. Enough reasons to take a closer look at this immense country. Therefore, europalia.india will present several exhibitions destined to illustrate India’s rich culture, specially created in collaboration with ICCR, the Europalia team, its cultural partners and with leading experts on India and from around the world. As per tradition, Europalia will also honour the other artistic disciplines. India counts numerous traditional and contemporary dance forms, with strong spiritual meaning, that celebrate the body and life. Musical instruments, among which the sitar and tabla are world famous. Bollywood is one of the leading film industries in the world, but India produces countless other types of cinema which europalia.india will be thrilled to showcase. The flourishing Indian literature will also be presented, as well as oral traditions that have not lost their strength, as witnessed by the still living Rāmāyana and Mahābhārata. Europalia.india will honour India’s historical heritage as well as its young and dynamic contemporary art scene throughout all artistic disciplines and in dozens of cultural centres across Belgium and in surrounding regions. 3 ORGANISATION The europalia.india festival is a collaboration between the Indian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and its partners, Europalia International aisbl and about two hundred cultural organisations in Belgium and in Europe. Two General Commissioners, Dr. Karan Singh and Baron Philippe Vlerick, support the artistic and executive teams of europalia.india in India and in Belgium, led by Dr. Suresh Goel and Kristine De Mulder. Europalia.india can count on the very active support of the Indian Embassy in Brussels, the Belgian Embassy in New Delhi and the Consulate General of Belgium in Mumbai. It would be impossible to mount the europalia.india festival without the support of: FPS Foreign Affairs Belgian Science Policy FPS Employment Vlaamse Gemeenschap Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles Brussels-Capital Region Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft National Bank of Belgium Ackermans & Van Haaren Rosy Blue Solvay Negotiations are still under course with several other companies. 4 STRUCTURE OF THE FESTIVAL The organisation of the europalia.india festival has posed a number of challenges. How could we present a relevant image of Indian culture? Would our Western vision not result in a truncated depiction of India, the victim of stereotypes and clichés? India is so ancient and so complex, it has blended so many histories to create its own and comprises so many cultures – joined in a unique paradox of remarkable continuity and endless rupture–that it was difficult to decide which angle we should approach it from in order to distil its essential aspects and bring these to the public in a palatable- however not simplistic - form. To describe this great country, it was a question of reconstructing its essence of which we know so little beyond the usual clichés, largely inadequate to define India even if to some extent they reflect reality. During discussions with experts on Indian culture in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the UK, Switzerland, and of course in India, the theme of the encounter emerged. The general theme of the festival: encounters Encounters between India and other great world civilisations or between the different peoples and cultures that constitute the sub-continent have shaped India and continue to do so. But these encounters have also benefited the rest of the world: an encounter is never unilateral and each party can benefit from the occasion to extract elements and integrate them in their own culture. The encounter is also a fitting metaphor for India: it can be a shock, an exchange, assimilation, discovery, resistance, a source of progress or sorrow, and love. Who knows, it may be a little of all of these that inspire to discover this incredible country. Clusters within the main theme Again, it was in our attempt to decipher this multifaceted India that we identified seven sub-themes within the overall theme of encounters. These appeared to be enlightening and essential for anyone attempting to understand what India is. Each of these sub-themes, designed to facilitate a better reading of the programme, will be centralized as possible in one cultural venue or city. Each of the themes will feature all artistic disciplines: exhibitions, music, dance, theatre, literature, conferences and film. 1- The Body 2 - Indomania 3 - India Tomorrow 4 - Living Traditions 5 -Water 6 - Bollywood & beyond 7 - Diaspora The programme of the festival is unveiled as a general outline in following pages. It is still under construction and subject to changes and additions in coming months. 5 1. THE BODY Whoever admires Indian statuary or Moghul miniatures, who is interested in its tradition of physical culture, massage, the practice of medicine, dance, who observes Indian women dressed in their shimmering saris, their hands decorated with henna, or the pantheon of Hindu gods and their extraordinary bodies, who studies the concept of purity and impurity that is so crucial in Indian society… cannot help but be struck by the omnipresence of the body in Indian art and culture. Alternating between sensual, untouchable, adorned, sacred, tool or obstacle, it is because the body touches upon so many aspects of Indian culture that we have chosen it as the central theme of the festival’s opening exhibition and the accompanying performing arts programme. This also enables us to get to grips with India without reducing it to a single religion, region or historical period. In terms of exhibitions The Body in Indian Art (working title) at the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels will be the main exhibition of the festival and will serve as a gateway to Indian culture. Through masterpieces of ancient and contemporary Indian art, the exhibition will show the importance of the body and its significance in India and will introduce the visitor to several major aspects of Indian culture (see page 12 for a detailed description of the exhibition). And the performing arts, literature and film… Indian music and dance sublimate the eloquence of the body. Dance has its own distinct languages and strict grammar: each mudra (the codified and symbolic positioning of hands), posture and facial expression is significant. Likewise musical notes, the voice, the original sound of Om and vibrations represent a formal and non-verbal language just as expressive for those who understand it. And yet, the relationship with the body in India is ambiguous: if it is a communication tool, it is also a carnal envelope from which one must be able to abstract and free oneself, as evidenced in ayurvedic medicine, yoga and the martial arts, which via the body, address the spirit. Siddhapratima © MAS, Antwerpen 6 2. INDOMANIA “Indomania” sounds a bit like an agreeable disease, an obsession, and a fascination. That of the West for Indian culture and civilisation, in all its historical grandeur but also in the details of its knowledge, lifestyle and wonders. This attraction, which we already find traces of in the Roman world, accelerated after Vasco de Gama and later with British colonialism. It has spawned numerous studies dedicated to a wide variety of subjects, but also a passion for Indian textiles, objects, artworks and philosophy. Less well known than Egyptomania, Indomania is still alive and kicking today, often conveying an idea of Indian exoticism with its share of clichés, and resulting in very diverse works: from reinterpretations of Moghul miniatures by Rembrandt to the birth of “Krishna Pop” by The Beatles, amongst others… In terms of exhibitions In the second circuit at the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels, Indomania will for the first time retrace the history of contacts between the West and India and will illustrate through several astounding examples the influence India has exercised on the imagination of artists – writers, painters and sculptors, musicians, dancers, film makers (see page 14 for a detailed description of the exhibition).