Thaindian News

New Delhi, Oct 18 (IANS) The Yamuna and its banks will become the venue of a unique multi-media art experience, “Yamuna-Elbe: Public.Art.Outreach” project Nov 9-23 to reconnect the people of the capital with the cultural history of the river.

The twin-art project involving the Yamuna in India and the Elbe river in Germany is part of the “Germany and India 2011-2012: Infinite Opportunities”.

It aims to create a synergy between the two urban rivers and foster greater cultural contacts at the people’s level between India and Germany with cross-cultural events.

The project here will be a collaboration between the city of Hamburg, the Goethe-Institut, Max Mueller Bhavan and the Delhi government.

The Golden Jubilee Park near the old Yamuna Bridge will be used as the venue for the project.

The project will strive to present a holistic picture of the religious-ethnic-urban culture associated with the river with public installations, live performances, screening of movies, inter-school debate competitions, music concerts, river walks and organic food stalls.

“The German edition of the art project was inaugurated on a boat afloat on river Elbe in Hamburg Oct 16,” co-curator of the project Ravi Agarwal told IANS over the phone from Hamburg.

He will co-curate the project with German curator and artist Till Krause.

“The installations in Hamburg are different from those in the capital. The focus of the Yamuna project will be more on outreach to draw more people to the river. The river in Delhi is part of the city… and yet not part of the city,” Agarwal said.

“Hamburg is one of the biggest river ports in the world and it flows through the middle of the city. You will find people walking along it, eating by its side and around it all the time. The Elbe is a part of the Hamburg landscape and life - and very modern unlike the Yamuna,” he said.

The Yamuna has a strong traditional cultural history, Agarwal said. “We want to retain the natural structure of the river in the capital and highlight its biodiversity, mythology and culture to reconnect people with history,” he added.

The project on Yamuna will promote awareness about the river and its surrounding ecology with the use of solar energy for power requirements and electrically-operated vans for transport and usage of recyclable material for production of art works.

Indian and German artists will install art works along the banks of Yamuna to comment on sustainability of river systems, environmental degradation and water pollution.

The Elbe and the Yamuna are central to Hamburg and Delhi’s futures respectively, Agarwal said.

The project will also include a photography documentary on the Elbe Project, a show of landscape artist Till Krause’s work and a performance, “Yamuna River Fragrance”.

Delhi-based multi-media artist Atul Bhalla will engage local villagers to make “kuans” (wells) connecting to the ground water table with reeds and grass.

Each well will be covered with a small tent. Each of these tents will have a question emblazoned on it in LED - about the people, river and the city.

The river exhibition will also feature works by artists Asim Waqif (India), Vivan Sundram (India), Nana Petzet (Germany), Jochen Laempert (Germany), Michael Clegg (Germany) and Martin Guttmann (Germany) and Ines Lechleitner (Germany).