The Treatment of Social and Environment Issues through Art
Report of National Conference
on
The Treatment of Social and Environment Issues through Art
(5-6 January, 2018)
A two-day National Conference on “The Treatment of Social and Environment Issues through Art” was organized on 5- 6 January, 2018 by the Department of Visual Arts, The IIS University, Jaipur with the following objectives:
· To spread awareness about the importance of art and aesthetic values.
· To understand the ethos of art.
· To educate people through art.
· To sensitize society through art.
· Imagining a more sustainable world through art forms
The conference contained of four technical sessions and three parallel sessions.. – 128 Delegates from Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Haryana,Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Bangladesh participated in the conference. Overall 62 papers were presented in various technical sessions. The resource persons were from renowned institutes like India Habitat Centre, Delhi, MS University, Baroda, Stella Maris College, Chennai, Jawahar Lal Nehru University, Delhi And University of Rajasthan, Jaipur.
A brief report of the conference is as follows:
The inaugural session of the conference began with lamp lighting and Saraswati Vandana followed by the welcome note by Prof. N.K.Jain, Conference Director, The IIS University, Jaipur. He was confident that the deliberations at the conference will help us to examine the Social and environmental issues through Art in a critical manner and lead to a better understanding of self, society, nation and the world. He also apprised the participants with the aims and objectives of the conference
Dr. Ashwin M. Dalvi , Chairman Lalit Kala Acdemy, Jaipur was the guest of Honour. He reflected on emotional aspects related to art.
Prof. Alka Pande, Art Consultant, Advisor& Curator, Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi was the key note speaker in the Inaugural Session. She said that in recent times we are witnessing social and environmental crisis and it is the need of the hour to unite the disciplines of art and environment. She emphasized that artistic practices are the immediate responsibilities of human participation in the ecological balance. She elaborated on the relationship between art, man and environment. In the end Dr. Ujjawala Tiwari delivered the vote of thanks. After a short tea break the first technical session started.
Technical Session I
The sub theme of the session was ‘Innovation, Creativity and Environmental Art.’ This session was chaired by Prof. Manjula Chaturvedi. The invited speakers were Prof. Jairam Poduval, Head, Dept. of Art & Aesthetics, MSU, Vadodara and Prof. Bhawani Shanker Sharma, Dept. of Visual Arts, The IIS University, Jaipur. Prof. Jairam Poduval reflected on Slumber of Aesthetic Perception: Innovation, creativity Public Interest in art. He said that innovation and creativity are the two pillars of artistic practices in India and all over the world. He stated that lack of public interest in art has proved to be detrimental for promotion of art. He discussed about various art forms.
Prof. Bhawani Shanker Sharma delivered his talk on factors responsible for origin and development of Modern Environmental Art. He discussed about green architecture, metal scrap and junk which is being used by artists. He also elaborated on use of digital technology in present scenario.
Paper presentations were made on the topics ranging from Role of Art in Material Culture, role of art in social and environmental consciousness and Environmental Communication and emerging roles of Art in Interior Decoration.
Technical Session II
The subtheme for technical session II was “Role of Art in Social and Environmental Awareness”. The session was chaired by Prof. Parul Dev Mukherjee, Head, Department of Art and Aesthetics, Jawahar Lal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Prof. Alka Pande, Art Curator, Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi and Prof. Ashrafi S. Bhagat prominent art critic and Art historian, Former Head , Department of fine arts, Stella Maris College were the invited speakers for the session.
Prof. Alka Pandey emphasized that Art can be of great value in the times of development and sustainability. She addressed several issues related to art and environment.
Prof. Ashrafi delivered his talk on Through the Artists Lens: Shaping Sensivity to Environment and Socio-cultural issues through Art. She stressed that visual arts can help in raising awareness and can evoke responses to environmental issues.
Various paper presentations took place later in this session and covered topics like Sustainable Development Through Art: A General Perspective of Students, Art as Narrative of Empowerment across ages,Environmental Conditions and its effect on art form, Traditional Touch in Contemporary Craft,and Santiniketan aesthetics and its timeless cultural relevance in art , craft and design .
Technical Session III
The subtheme for the third session was Traditional, Modern and Cultural Perspectives of Art. The chairperson for the session was Prof Jairam Poudval from M.S University, Vadodara and the resource persons was Prof. Parul Dave Mukherjee from JNU, New Delhi.Prof . Parul Dave Mukerji spoke on “ Figuring Eco - aesthetics for contemporary Art in India: Lessons from the Past. She talked about history of Eco- aesthetics. She stated that Ecology has been preoccupying artists as a compelling concern in today’s context of global environmental crisis and globalization of capitalism. She focused her talk on a recent sculptors’ workshop that took place in Ahmedabad in 2016 and shared with us how Eco-aesthetics offers a space for a counter discourse to reflect on our current crisis , both political and artistic. She also elaborated on relationship between politics and aesthetics.
A vast range of topics were covered in the oral paper presentations. Speakers discussed about traditional touch in contemporary art, Shantiniketan aesthetics and its timeless cultural relevance, environmental conditions and its effect on art forms and role of art in child development.
Technical Session IV
Fourth technical session was on the “The Broader Context of Indian Art.”
The chairperson of the session was Prof. Veerbala Bhavsaar, Former Dean, Department of Visual Arts, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur. The invited speaker for the session was Prof. Manjula Chaturvedi from M.G.Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi. Her expert lecture on was on the topic Indian Art in Global Context. She elaborated on various art forms and explained about the relevance of art in global scenario.
Oral presentations were made on varied topics like study of new approach in advertising in 21 century, Myths and Mythologies in Indian advertising and living culture of Indian mythological painting
Parallel Sessions
The 3 Parallel sessions were chaired by Dr. I.U. Khan , Head, Department of Drawing and Painting, University of Rajasthan, , Dr. Tanuja Singh, Former Head, Department of Drawing and Painting , University of Rajasthan, Jaipur and Prof. Bhavani Shanker Sharma, The IIS University, Jaipur respectively. Oral presentations were made on topics like Development of Paisley Motif, Swadeshi Movement, Sustainable Advertising Design, Study of social status of local artists in Jaipur, treatment of mental issues using art therapy, role of recycled art in social and environmental awareness and changing scenario of contemporary art in India.
We hope that the deliberation at the conference have added to our knowledge and has contributed in the field of research related to awareness about social and environmental issues through art.
Thanks to all making this conference a success.
