The Hindu : New Delhi News : A weeklong carnival of arts and cuisine

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 13, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

A weeklong carnival of arts and cuisine

Madhur Tankha

NEW DELHI: For the fourth successive year, India International Centre here is hosting a special weeklong festival titled ‘The IIC Experience: A Festival of the Arts’ beginning October 24 at Max Muller Marg here.

The festival is described as distinctive and unique as it will host a multi-faceted range of programmes including dance, music, theatre, poetry readings, films and exhibition and offer special cuisine.

It will open with Bangalore’s Odissi troupe Nrityagram with their performances of ‘Ansh’ and conclude with Girish Karnad’s play ‘Nagamandala’.

A special attraction will be three separate exhibitions of photographs, installations, images and objects.

Works of noted photographer Benoy Behl, who travelled to Tibet, Ladakh, Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur documenting what is left of the legendary 108 monasteries built by Rinchen Zangpo, who travelled to Kashmir, will be featured in an exhibition titled ‘The Monasteries of Rinchen Zangpo in Tibet and India’.

Covering a distance of 1,600 miles linking to Peshawar (Pakistan) to Sonargaon (Bangladesh), the Grand Trunk Road holds special importance on the sub-continent. Now an exhibition, ‘Documenting the Grand Trunk Road’, will be hosted in collaboration with the Archaeological Survey of India. It will include photographs of archaeological sites of Taxila, Rajgir, maps, lithographs and plaster casts.

Another exhibition, ‘GTR Alive!’, will showcase the Grand Trunk Road through images, objects and echoes.

The theme of this year’s film festival will be the adaptation of literary works into cinema. A variety of specialised cuisine will also be on offer each evening. A wide range of programmes including performances of Kathak and Odissi recitals, Hindustani and Carnatic vocal recitals will also be showcased.

The international events include ‘Viennese Heurigen’ by the Cremser Selection who will present an evening of Viennese songs and dances (October 27), ‘Darb Al-Harir-The Silky Path: A Journey through North Africa, Spain and India’ by Indian and international artists (October 28), and ‘Contemporary and Folk Dances’ of Israel by artists of Hora Jerusalem (October 29).

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