OdishaLIVE Bureau
Smart city Bhubaneswar recently held the 5th edition of Bhubaneswar Urban Lectures. A two day visioning workshop on the topic ‘Art in the Smart City’ was organised on the occasion which came up with an inspiring vision statement that included five major goals of developing art and culture community spaces. It was pointed out that the said spaces should be inviting, interactive, safe, inclusive, and child friendly. The discussions were helmed by eminent artists, thinkers, city officials, urban planners, architects as several important suggestions came to the fore.
On the first day of the workshop, Vice-Chairman, BDA – cum- Commissioner, BMC Dr. Krishan Kumar elaborated on various initiatives planned and undertaken by the city to integrate public art as a vital component in the overall development of the city.
Notable suggestions like maintenance of space i.e. water bodies, beautification stretches around monuments, temple illumination and collaboration with the different temple trusts to include artists in the festivals round the year were highly appreciated by one and all. Creating space for artists and art based activities inside pandals or tents would facilitate artists to create more and more art work with contemporary ideas, said the experts participating at the two-days visioning workshop organised jointly by Bhubaneswar Development Authority, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited, through Bhubaneswar Urban Knowledge Centre (BUKC) of BDA in collaboration with Bhubaneswar Art Collective, an art advocacy forum comprising three leading art promotion groups of the state, Ila Panda Centre for Art (IPCA), Utsha Foundation and Jatin Das Centre of Art (JDCA).
Following the activities of the inaugural day, the second day witnessed participants and experts being divided into working groups to come up with suggestions to integrate art in the city development process. Refreshing suggestions from the discussion included introducing a Carrier Of Art (Kala Bahak) to help artists mingle with people across the city, to map culture clusters across the city, creating art trails and art parks including nature and heritage walks, branding and marketing through events were welcomed by one and all. One of the working groups also called for organised art districts along large water fronts, tracts and creation of a unique and world class open auditorium for art in the city, which has seen, experienced and has been maintaining the art traditions for over 4,000 years, from now.
The two days visioning workshop witnessed participation of several eminent artists, architects and thinkers including the likes of Prof Jyotindra Jain, Art Historian and Museologist, Architect Jyoti Rath, Artists Jagannath Panda, former Ogilvy & Mather creative-man V Sunil of Kochi Biennale fame, litterateur Dr. Haraprasad Das, Siddhartha Das, Ramahari Jena, and several others.
Bhubaneswar has already integrated Public art and mural installations in urban-scape of the city, as part of a dedicated programme Street Art and Mural Project (StAMP). The city undertook massive street art and mural campaign ahead of the recently concluded 22nd Asian Athletics Championships which saw major flyover underpasses painted with traditional motifs, contemporary art and sports graffiti.
Going forward, all suggestions and inputs received from the participants and artists will be collated to draft the Bhubaneswar Public Art Master Plan. The city has also accomodated thematic graffiti connecting famous Bollywood characters on the walls of public toilets to sensitise citizens against open defecation along with experimental 3D street art exercises.
