The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival is a community celebration of the arts within one of the most beautiful and historic precincts of Mumbai, The Kala Ghoda Art District. It has been held annually since 1999 & has grown exponentially since it’s inception – I still remember my first Kala Ghoda Arts Festival two years ago, it’s amazing to see how much it’s grown since then!
Now that Kala Ghoda Arts Festival (KGAF) 2016 has recently concluded, I thought I’d talk about a few of the installations & activities there by the talented students of Pearl Academy…
It was Pearl Academy’s second year as design partner for Kala Ghoda Arts Festival & the students did a few really interesting art installations as well as a workshop. One of my favorite things was the Junk Genie initiative.
In preparation for it, Pearl Academy got together with Hindustan times to collect waste from the people of Mumbai, then Pearlites unleashed their creativity & set out to create Magic out of Junk! A lot of these innovative pieces of art were available to see & purchase at the Pearl Academy stall at KGAF, with the proceeds benefitting St Catherine of Sienna School & Orphanage.
The scrapped PVC pipes turned into musical instruments (above) captivated people of all ages!
India is being touted as a young nation, with a majority of it’s citizens being under the age of 35. To celebrate the free spirit & enthusiasm of young minds, Pearl Academy set up Tic-Tac-Toe, a huge canvas installation at KGAF.
The students first conceptualized the artwork based on the theme Magic & then worked on the massive canvas, which was over 15 feet high!
Prior to the fest itself, Pearl Academy Mumbai held the Design Thinking Bootcamp, a day long workshop open to all students class 11 & above. The aim was to transform students from just being bystanders to active agents of change in their communities. The participants were able to choose from socially relevant problems & had to come up with a prototype, with the winner getting to have their prototype exhibited at KGAF & also take home a trophy.
And now we get to my favorite part, the Cosmic Coalesce installation! It created illusion through layers of fabric representing trees, branches co-mingling in to each other and generating depth and colour synthesis. The embroidered motif on all the four sides of the installation represents a tree form whose branches grow & spread without any constraint, limit or fear. As the branches on different panels blend into each other, a symphony is formed and the music reverberates and takes the surroundings into its engulf … Celebrating the never ending blend of cosmos that knows no borders or end. This looked especially beautiful at night, when the luminosity of Cosmic Coalesce lent a magical aura to it’s surroundings.
That sums up everything Pearl Academy was up to at Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2016, I am already looking forward to next year! You can find information about Pearl Academy Mumbai (& elsewhere!) & the courses they offer on their website. x
