AROUND A TREE - an Urban Tree Festival

AROUND A TREE - an Urban Tree festival
part of Khoj- Negotiating Routes initiative
26, 27June & 3, 4 July 2010
Bangalore

Trees have been the source of memory, inspiration and identity for old Bangaloreans but with massive changes in the infrastructure of Bangalore, a severe loss of the urban majestic greenwood is being experienced and grieved. Maraa & 1Shanthiroad collaboratively bring to the city AROUND A TREE, an urban tree festival to revive the spirit of trees and the role they played in the lives of the city’s inhabitants.

The festival is unique and participative, involving local artist, academic and activist groups, art & media forms, communities of children and talks in Indian languages. Amongst activities proposed for the festival, some interesting activities include

- Travelling mobile poster gallery : 26th June, 2010, Citywide

Since the city has seen an outpouring of concerned citizens’ activity around tree felling and loss of green in the city, it made sense to call for creative posters from various quarters, artists to activists, from adults to children.
The response has been overwhelming, with a lot of artists sending in posters to the event. A set of curated posters will travel the city in a mobile van and be hoisted at different public places like street corners and public parks that will work as instant open gallery spaces.

Experimental visual protest:
Public art installation : June 26, 10am, Sampige road, Bangalore
Video art screening : June 26, 6.30pm, 1Shanthiroad, Bangalore

While a duo of visual artists, Pallavi and Mithali work towards an art installation as a form of protest around trees marked to be felled for road widening,
Siddharth Pillai from an active film club from the city, Bangalore Film Society helps put together a short video art montage of scenes with tree images from world cinema!

- A series of talks have been organised on the evening of 27th July at 1Shanthiroad- on historic perspectives of greening of the greater Bangalore region, indigenous tree species of this region and the conflict between trees and traffic decisions in the modern metropolis. Mr Vijay Thiruvady, Mr Sheshdri and representatives from the Hasiru Usiru collective present SHORT TALKS.

- On the evening of 3rd July come over to Cubbon Park’s Bandstand for soul stirring songs of Kabir, the 16th century saint’s dwellings on the natural world. Performed by filmmaker and artist, Shabnam Virmani.
4th of July evening will see a jamming session of various bands at Jaaga as a tribute to the strong and solid image and spirit of the tree.

* Pl. Check attached POSTER for COMPLETE SCHEDULE. And do circulate!
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1.Shanthi Road Studio/Gallery