The exhibition will be opened on Thursday, 25 July 2019 at 6 pm and will be on view until Wednesday, 31 July 2019.
What happens when residents, local organizations, artists and ordinary citizens come together to transform their everyday environments into art spaces? Could you imagine an art space in a little known mental hospital or through the back alleys of an abandoned colony? Art for All is a six-day exhibition that explores these questions through two community art projects - 'CPT Chalo Painting Tangai' at the Old Port Trust Colony in Taratala, and 'Across the Lines' at Pavlov Mental Hospital in Gobra.
These projects took shape over three months, with each collaborator stepping out of their comfort zone to make art together. The artists had the unusual challenge of working in unfamiliar spaces outside their studios, and had to find ways to make art interesting and accessible to children and residents with no formal training. The community members suddenly found their everyday schedules were altered as they spent more and more time immersed in paints and plaster, while local organizations worked tirelessly to build networks that could help secure the right permissions and raise funds. For a week in January 2019, the projects were brought to life, temporally transforming these peripheral corners of Kolkata into a hub of activity.
The exhibition is a culmination of the above-mentioned projects that explores the rippling effects of coming together and infusing our shared spaces with art. It makes a case for collaborative art-making in communities, while unpacking the challenges, and explores how artists, communities, government institutions and local organizations can start to make ‘art for all’.
Artists, Curators and Organizers:
Anjali - Mental Health and Human Rights
Art Rickshaw
Hamdasti
Jungle Crows Foundation
Laily Thompson
Ruma Choudhury
Srikanta Pal
Sunny De Wall
Tanmay Chakraborty
All are welcome.
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