A question of freedom In today’s world, freedom is perhaps a chimera; a powerful myth that has been turned into a vain, foolish fancy in much of the real world. Using photography, video and installation art, Naeem Mohaiemen (Bangladesh; a photograph by him appears here), Shilpa Gupta (India) and Bani Abidi (Pakistan) try to breathe life into this chimera with Freedom is Notional, the ongoing art show. The artists view the concept of freedom at a time when neighbouring countries of the sub-continent are facing severe security crises. With locations and situations increasingly becoming representative of behaviour that raises questions on the realities of freedom, the show tries to define the insecurities of fear, chaos and disorder that individuals create to ‘protect’ themselves. This is not just a show about art; it’s about politics, power and rebellion. The artists use art as a means to force viewers out of their ennui. They seek to raise questions and demand answers about the world we inhabit and read about in newspapers everyday. Event: An exhibition of art works by three contemporary artists of the sub-continent When: Till January 16 (except Sundays); 11 am - 7 pm Where: Experimenter, 2/1 Hindusthan Road

ART

December 7 - 11 at Taj Bengal, The Poolside; 10 am - 5 pm: An art camp featuring 14 contemporary painters from India and Bangladesh. December 7 - 26 (except Sunday) at Ganges Art Gallery, 33A Jatin Das Road, #2465 3212; 11 am - 7 pm: A Study in Abstraction — an exhibition featuring works of Manjari Chakravarti, Shridhar Iyer, Prabhakar Kolte, Manish Pushkale, Deepak Rajvar, Partha Shaw, S. Harsha Vardhana, Deepak Tandon and Neha Chandria. Inauguration this evening at 6. December 7 - 12 at G.C. Laha Centenary Fine Arts Gallery, 7 Chittaranjan Avenue, 1st floor; 2 pm - 7 pm: An exhibition of paintings by Joydeb Bose, Karim Ali, Koushik Gupta, Mou Das, Prabir Chatterjee and Subir Kumar Banerjee. Till December 8 at The Halo Heritage Gallery, 26 Ritchie Road, Maddox Square; 3 pm - 8 pm: Painting and Sculpture on Landscape & Ganesha by Neha Bedekar. Till December 9 at Academy of Fine Arts, New South ‘B’ Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Sumantra Mukherjee’s first solo exhibition of paintings, Cloud 9. Till December 19 (except Sunday) at Gallery Kolkata, 41 Shakespeare Sarani, Duckback House, #2287 3377/88; 11 am - 7 pm: Mother and Child — an exhibition of paintings and sculptures conceptualised by Sunil Das. Participating artists: Anjali Ela Menon, Suhas Roy, Jogen Chowdhury, Prakash Karmakar, Sunil Das, Shuvaprasanna, Vasundhara Tewari Broota, Partha Pratim Deb, Sunil Kumar Das, Prasanta Sahu, Debabrata De, Chandrima Bhattacharya, Arunangshu Choudhury, Pratul Das, Murli Cheeroth, T.M. Aziz, Pradip L. Mishra, Debraj Goswami, Samir Aich, Mahjabin I Majumdar, Babu Ishwar Prasad, Ranjan Krishnan and C.F. John. Till December 20 at Sanskriti Art Gallery, 5C Alipore Park Road: An exhibition of sculptures by Debabrata De. Till December 26 (except Sunday) at Galerie 88, 28B Shakespeare Sarani, #22902274; 11 am - 7 pm, Mon - 2 pm to 7 pm: Modern Continuous — Works by Bikash Bhattacharjee, Dharmanarayan Dasgupta, Dipak Banerjee, Ganesh Pyne, Jogen Chowdhury, Lalu Prasad Shaw, Meera Mukherjee, Paritosh Sen and Somnath Hore. Till December 28 at Starmark, South City Mall; 11 am - 8 pm: Paintings by Nina Das. Till January 2 (Sundays by appointment) at Idiyas Gallery, 15 Dover Road, #65508418; 10.30 am - 6.30 pm: Portals of Perception — an exhibition of paintings by Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Chandrima Ray, Aditya Basak, Sanatan Dinda, Sukanta Das, Subrata Gangopadhyay, Subrata Das, Suhas Roy, Samir Paul, Gourango Beshai, Sibsaday Chaudhuri and others. Till January 3 (except Monday) at Bose Pacia, Stephens Court, 18 Park Street, #40010148; 11 am - 7 pm: B-Swarga — new works by Jayanta Roy.

DRAMA

December 7 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Pancham Vaidic presents A-parajita, based on three short stories by Tagore. Dramatised and directed by Arpita Ghosh. December 9 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Charbak will stage Apsara Theater-er Mamla, based on a story by Satyajit Ray. December 9 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Shouvanik presents Matlobi Paasha. Direction: Chandan Das. December 11 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Ensemble will stage Sonata, an Indian English play, written by Mahesh Elkunchwar and performed and directed by Sohag Sen. December 12 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Rang Roop will stage Jal Chhabi. Direction: Seema Mukhopadhyay. December 12 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Sayak presents Dournama. Playwright: Indrasis Lahiri. Direction & in lead role: Meghnad Bhattacharya.

TALK

December 7 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 5.30 pm: Sitanath Goswami will speak in Sanskrit on Bhagavad-Gita. December 7 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6.15 pm: Swami Vishnudevananda will speak in Bengali on Sri Sri Ramakrishna-Punthi. December 7 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra, DD-44 Salt Lake; 6 pm: Bishnu Pada Jana will speak on Sri Sri Ramakrishna Prasanga.

PERFORMING ARTS

December 7 at Jibanananda Sabhaghar; 5.30 pm: Chakrateertha presents an evening of recitation in memory of Premendra Mitra. December 7 at Rabindra Sadan; 6 pm: Association of Professional Performing Singers, West Bengal presents Gaane Gaane Shraddhanjali, a musical tribute to Salil Chowdhury, Nachiketa Ghosh and Sudhin Dasgupta. Participants: Dwijen Mukherjee, Sabita Chowdhury, Mrinal Chakraborty, Nirmala Mishra, Subir Sen, Madhuri Chatterjee, Pintu Bhattacharya, Banasree Sengupta, Adhir Bagchi, Haimanti Shukla, Shibaji Chatterjee, Arundhati Holme Choudhury, Sudhin Sarkar, Sreeradha Banerjee, Utpalendu Chowdhury, Lopamudra Mitra, Saikat Mitra, Indranil Sen, Meena Mukherjee, Srikanto Acharya, Susmita Goswami and others.

CHESS TOURNAMENT

Till December 8 at Gorky Sadan: 21st The Telegraph Schools’ Chess Championship, sponsored by Himani Sona Chandi Chyawanprash of the Emami Group. A total of 380 students from more than 160 schools are participating. Prize distribution ceremony on December 8 at 4 pm.

campaign

December 7 near Ballygunge Station, opp. Fern Road Bata store; 4 pm - 7 pm: Swayam organises a signature campaign for effective implementation of the Domestic Violence Act 2005 to protect women. Also, songs and recitation on issues of women’s rights and a drama on the domestic violence act.

EXHIBITION

Till December 7 at Sansa, 37B Ballygunge Place, ground floor, #4001 2934; 10.30 am - 7 pm: Sansa introduces four new designers in addition to its existing designer repertoire along with fresh collection of garments and accessories as part of its winter collection. Till December 8 at P-26 Shanti Neer (ground floor), Gariahat Road South, Dhakuria, #9333510008; 10 am - 6 pm: Sonali Adhikary’s authentic kantha and batik works along with an exclusive collection of cotton and silk. Till December 11 at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place; 10 am - 8 pm: Elevated: From Garment to Ornament — a new collection of textile-based jewellery by designer Eina Ahluwalia. Till December 12 at 5/1 Anil Moitra Road, Ballygunge Place; 10 am - 7 pm: Weavers Studio, on its 16th anniversary celebration, presents Continuity..., a wide variety of textiles, shawls and classy jewellery. Till December 15 at 8/2 Loudon Street, 2nd floor, #9830257819; 10 am - 7 pm: Earthy Myths presents its annual exhibition of saris and outfits.

PHOTO EXHIBITION

Till December 7 at Gaganendra Pradarshasala; 2 pm - 8 pm: Full Circle — A thought-provoking photographic exhibition, mirroring the fight to end polio in India. Presented by Prabha Khaitan Foundation.

BOOK exhibition

Till December 13 at Crossword, Elgin Road: Crossword-Penguin Fest (in association with t2). Attractive offers on Penguin Books for the entire period across five Crossword stores. Till December 13 at Girish Mancha complex; 3 pm - 9 pm: The Sixth Sutanuti Book Fair, organised by Sutanuti Boimela Committee. Today: Girish Memorial Lecture by Ashok Mukhopadhyay at 7 pm and Shruti-Natak by Bejoylakshmi Barman at 8 pm. Till December 15 at Starmark (Lord Sinha Road, South City Mall, Mani Square and City Centre); 11 am - 8 pm: Children’s book exhibition offers a wide range of titles.

writers’ MEET

December 13 at Rooftop, 120 Lenin Sarani; 7 pm onwards: Srijan hosts An Unprecedented Adda, a confluence of the sensitive writers from France and Bengal. Participants: André Velter, poet, David B. or Pierre-François Beauchard, representative of the new generation of graphic novelists, Laurent Mauvignier, writer, Olivier Germain Thomas, writer, editor & radio producer, and Philippe Vasset, novelist, journalist & editor, from France; and Amit Chaudhuri, Mahasveta Devi, Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Swapnamay Chakraborty and Utpal Kumar Basu from Bengal.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

---

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