‘We are at the beginning of the road’

By Saket Suman

New Delhi, May 5 (IANS) Indias art world had never experienced it before -- a multimedia art exposition showcasing the works of eleven legendary avant-garde artists of the 19th and the 20th century with cutting-edge technology -- but its curator still finds it difficult to predict the future of the format.

The pioneering exhibition, titled "The Drifting Canvas," being showcased at Select Citywalk Mall in the capital, began on April 27 will be on display till June 15. It displays the works of geniuses like Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet, a founder of French Impressionist painting, in a light and sound spectacle that combines technology and canvas, science and sensibility in a dazzling tapestry of animated paintings and 3-dimensional art.

"A multimedia exhibition is a new experience with art and another prism for understanding cultural heritage. This format allows you to gain knowledge through visual perception. Using this idea, we created visual information that gives knowledge. Such a format, of course, will evolve, but it is very difficult to predict how this will happen. We are at the beginning of the road," curator Yasha Yavorskaya told IANS in an email interview from Russia.

She further informed that her team started working four years ago and developed 6 projects. At the onset, the basic idea was to combine classical art and new technologies, education and inspiration and impress the viewer with the amazing world of artists and their paintings.

"The main idea of the project was based on education. The multimedia technology allowed us to show more than 1,500 paintings by artists from all over the world in one hall. We wanted to show the process of changing art over 100 years: from figurative art to avant-garde; from the plot to the non-objective images," Yavorskaya shared.

She said that the audience of the exposition is much wider than a regular photo exhibition, the audience of classical museums and that their exposition is very attractive to the tech-savvy younger generation.

But how significant is the role of technology in such expositions?

"The role of technology is great but we should not forget that technology is only a way to convey the idea, the idea is main. The polygonal projection technology allows you to dive inside what you see; to get into the environment is a strong experience.

"These processes go beyond the national context, they are universal and, therefore, the market for such technologies is outside of local areas. This is an international product in terms of marketing," she added.

Yavorskaya finds it difficult to assess the Indian art market currently but said that a country with such a rich cultural heritage is obviously receptive to art and is interested in developing the direction of culture.

"At the same time, the combination of All-European and National local art in one place, makes it possible to understand what is different in us and what is common," she concluded

The two-hour show, showcasing more than 1,000 animated paintings, has been mounted with the help of 7000 sq ft of panoramic screens, state of the art laser projectors, 24 larger-than-life HD screens and neo-classical music that transport the viewers into a world that is immersive, enlightening and emotional.

(Saket Suman can be contacted at saket.s@ians.in)

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