The practice of modern art A true work of art becomes complete only in the act of viewing, in the interactions that take place between it and viewer and in the stories that develop around this encounter. Indian Contemporary Art in Palais Benedictine, France is a curated show where each work is presented as a proposition that accommodates diverse readings, occupies a range of contexts and resists the conventional and exhausted binaries of East- West and global-local. It also aims to record a moment in contemporary Indian art that is defined by the interplay between speed and hesitation: two conditions of being that brace, define and animate one another. This articulates itself through works that are no longer artefacts confined to a frame or pedestal, or even to the gallery space; but which assume the form of “arguments, conversations, stories”. Ultimately, what comes through is the individual artist’s need to address the crucial question of how the self is shaped in relation to mythic and real structures, the resonances of the past and the templates of the future, aesthetic impulses from within art conventions and political stimuli emanating from the environment. What viewers get to see is an expanded conception of art-making, which attempts to cope both with the altered logic of art practice as well as the current pressures exerted by historical forces. Participants: Atul Dodiya (a painting by him appears here), Jayashree Chakravarty, Mithu Sen, Riyas Komu, Vivan Sundaram and others. Event: An exhibition of contemporary Indian paintings and sculpture When: Till January 5 (except Sunday); 11 am - 7 pm, Monday, 2 pm - 7 pm Where: Galerie 88, 28B Shakespeare Sarani

art

Till January 24 (except Sundays & holidays) at CIMA Gallery; 3 pm - 7 pm (Mondays) 2 pm - 7 pm (Tuesdays to Saturdays): Review, an exhibition of artworks that aspires to redefine our perception and understanding of art of the 20th century. Participating artists: Abir Karmakar, Alok Bal, Debraj Goswami, Farhad Hussain, Jogen Chowdhury, Kingshuk Sarkar, Mayank Kumar Shyam, Mithu Sen, Paresh Maity, Partha Pratim Deb, Rashmi Bagchi Sarkar, Samit Das, Santosh More, Sumitro Basak and Swarna Chitrakar. Till January 3 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 3 pm - 8 pm: Rendezvous Hyderabad, an exhibition of the works by 21 artists from Hyderabad. Till January 3 at Academy of Fine Arts, New South Gallery ‘B’; 3 pm - 8 pm: Textural Moment — an exhibition of recent paintings by Tarit Bhattacharjee. Till January 4 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 3 pm - 8 pm: Painters ’80 presents Black & White, an exhibition of the works of Amit Chakrabarti, Amitava Dhar, Alik Das, Bhabatosh Sutar, Debasish Chakraborty, Dipankar Dutta, Pradosh Paul, Tarun Dey and Tanmoy Biswas. Till January 5 (except Sunday) at Galerie 88, 28B Shakespeare Sarani, #2290 2274; 11 am - 7 pm, Monday - 2 pm - 7 pm: Indian Contemporary Art in Palais Benedictine, France. Till January 6 (except Sunday & holiday) at Tejas Gallery; 1 pm - 7.30 pm: An exhibition of artworks by various artists from Calcutta, Santiniketan and Vietnam. The collection includes acrylics, charcoals, woodcuts and small sculptures. Till January 7 (except Sunday) at Artline, 125 Rashbehari Avenue, 1st floor; 12 noon - 7 pm: An exhibition of paintings by Suhas Roy, Subimalendu Bikas Sinha, Samir Roy, Sumon Roy, Tapos Sardar and Sabyasachi Guha. Till January 7 (except Sunday) at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place, #2460 4245; 10 am - 7 pm: Wheel and Kiln, an exhibition of ceramic works by Indian and Japanese artists. Till January 10 (except Monday) at Anant Art Gallery, 18-A Alipore Road, 11am to 7pm: Beyond Convention: A Glimpse of Contemporary Trends in Bengal Art – an exhibition of paintings and sculptures curated by Mrinal Ghosh. Till January 10 at G.C. Laha Centenary Fine Arts Gallery, 7 Chittaranjan Avenue, #2228 9651: Scribble Artists Together presents an exhibition of paintings, sculptures and graphic prints. Till January 15 at Aakriti Art Gallery, 12/3A Hungerford Street, #22893027: Bengal 2009, an exhibition of art works by the city’s eminent artists. Till January 15 (except Sundays) at Ganges Art Gallery, 33A Jatin Das Road, #2465 3212; 11 am - 7 pm: sEe, an abstract solo show of Deepak Tandon in three versions: painting, photographs and video. Till January 17 (except Mondays) at Bose Pacia, Stephen’s Court, 18 Park Street, #40010148; 11 am - 7 pm: Recent works of Bari Kumar: Foreign Bodies. Till January 31 (weekdays only) at Masters Collection Art Gallery, G-7 Malalay Apartments, 3 Woodburn Park Road; 11 am - 7 pm: Small is Beautiful 3, an exhibition of miniature artworks by some of the greatest living legends along with some of the exciting new talents.

DRAMA FESTIVAL

Till January 4 at Nazrul Shatabarshiki Sadan, Madhyamgram, 6.30 pm: Aneek’s 11th Ganga Jamuna Natya Utsav. Today: Mukti (Dir: Usha Ganguli) by Rangakarmee. Till January 5 at Howrah Sarat Sadan & January 6 at Academy of Fine Arts: Dwandwik’s 11th Natyotsav in memory of its founder Achintya Chowdhury. Today at 6.30 pm: Kachher Manush (Dir: filmmaker Gautam Haldar) produced by Gandhar.

DRAMA

January 2 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.15 pm: Natya-Anan presents Satyajit Ray’s Hirak Rajar Deshe. January 2 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Purba-Paschim presents Manik Bandyopadhyay’s Diba Ratrir Kabya. Drama & direction: Arun Mukhopadhyay. Main cast: Piyush Ganguly, Soumitra Mitra, Rina Jana, Suranjana Dasgupta, Malay Saha, Mishka Halim and Writa Dutta Chakraborty. January 2 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Natadha presents Shakuntala, inspired by Kalidasa’s epic. Drama & direction: Shib Mukhopadhyay.

PERFORMING ARTS

January 2 at Nazrul Maidan, Baguihati; 6 pm: As part of the ongoing Baguihati Mela, an evening of cultural programme featuring dance-drama Madal by Tapobon Kala Sangam at 6 pm, drama Jeebaner Jadu by Angan, Belghoria at 6.55 pm; and folk dances Gotipua of Orissa and Pururlia Chhau at 8 pm. January 2 at Sri Aurobindo Institute, 3 Regent Park; 6.30 pm: Vocal recital by Shubhra Guha and poetry-reading by Joy Goswami. Being presented as part of Aspiration 2009, Sri Aurobindo Institute’s annual cultural celebrations. January 2 - 5 at Kala Mandir; 6.30 pm: Dakshinee presents Rabindranath O Probashi Bangali. January 4 at Rabindra Sadan; 6 pm: Dakshin Kolikata Nandanik presents a solo recital of Tagore songs by Ashis Bhattacharya and dance-drama Chitrangada, following the style introduced by Sangeetacharya Shailajaranjan Majumdar. January 4 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6 pm: Shibaranjani and Rhythmosaic, in collaboration with EZCC, present Filigree, an evening of classical and contemporary dance. Participants: Dipanwita Roy and Priyadarshini Roy (Odissi), Mitul Ghosh Sengupta (Kathak/contemporary) and Ronnie Sambik Ghosh & group (ballet/contemporary).

TALK

January 2 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6.15 pm: Swami Vishnudevananda will speak in Bengali on Sri Sri Ramakrishna-Punthi.

BOOK RELEASE

January 2 at Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi Sabhagriha; 6 pm: Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will formally release Nirbachito Jyotiprakash on the occasion of litterateur Jyotiprakash Chattopadhyay’s 68th birth anniversary. Poet Nirendranath Chakraborty will preside. This collection has been edited by Debesh Roy and published by Dey’s Publishing.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till January 3 at Academy of Fine Arts, South Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Nature Environment and Wildlife Society (NEWS) presents Inheritance — an exposition of nature and wildlife through an exhibition of photographs, a display of wildlife-related stamps and a presentation of handcrafted owls by its members. Till January 15 at Earthcare Books and Resource Centre, 10 Middleton Street; 11 am - 7 pm: Calcutta! — an exhibition of black-and-white photographs taken by Thomas Patrick Kiernan.

FESTIVAL

January 1- 3 at Ramakrishna Math, Cossipore Udyanbati: The Kalpataru Utsava of Bhagawan Sri Sri Ramakrishna Deva. Today at 1.30 pm: Devotional songs by Gourgopal Chakraborty; at 2 pm: Devotional songs by Sanjib Sarkar; at 2.30 pm: Geeti Alekshya Yugabatar Sri Ramakrishna by Aradhana Silpagosthi, Baidyabati; at 3.30 pm: Religious meeting (Speakers: Swami Swatantrananda and Swami Tyagarupananda); at 5.35 pm: Short drama Sarvamangala by the students of Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Sarisha; and at 6.30 pm: Yatravinaya Kurukshetre Sri Krishna by Ramakrishna-Sarada-Vivekananda Natyasanstha, Nimpith.

FELICITATION

January 3 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6 pm: London-based cultural organisation The Tagoreans will felicitate distinguished Rabindrasangeet exponent and teacher Maya Sen to mark her 80th birthday. On this occasion, Anandadhara, a CD of live recording of Maya Sen’s concert in London in 1984, will be formally released. Members of The Tagoreans will present From Sriniketan to Dartington - Phirey Chal Matir Taane, a composite programme of Tagore songs with dance.

EXHIBITION

Till January 7 (except Sunday) at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place, #2460 4245; 10 am - 7 pm: An exhibition of ceramic works by Indian and Japanese artists. Till January 12 (except Tuesday) at Halo Heritage Art Shop, 26 Ritchie Road, #24190133; 11.30 am - 9 pm: In collaboration with Soumya’s Creation, Halo Heritage presents an exhibition of textiles, jewellery and home accessories. Till January 15 at Design, 108 Raja Basanta Roy Road, #2466 4315: Paramita Viswanathan’s annual exhibition of silks from West Bengal and south India. Till January 20 at Genesis Art Gallery, 8B Middleton Street; 2 pm - 7 pm: An exhibition of Chinese ceramic works and paintings by Asit Patnaik, Bhagat Singh, Gautam Mukherjee, Shyamal Mukherjee, Seema Kohli, Harish Kumar, Phalguni Dasgupta, Dhananjay Mukherjee, Gosto Kumar and others.All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to: Time out, The Telegraph,6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001; Fax: 2234-8244

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All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to:

Time out, The Telegraph, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001;
Fax: 2234-8244